Two, Five & Seven

[spikyfairy]

A huge bouquet of squished rose petals: Bulgarian rose, Somalian rose, Turkish rose, Damascus rose, red and white rose, tea rose, wine rose, shrub roses, rose, rose, rose…
…and just an itty bitty bit of green grass.

I really expected / wanted to like this one, as I adore Alice in Wonderland, and roses. I already have some other rose BPAL scents that I love, but this is not one of them - it is somehow both too sweet and too sharp at the same time.

In the imp: Sugared roses. Very sweet and girly.
Wet on me: Sugar and coconut oil???? As it dries, becoming less sugary but still very sweet business-lady-type perfume..
Dry: Okay, I get the roses now, and the coconut has gone away. I'm liking it more the longer it's on, but something isn't working. I think the problem is that it is such a cacophony of different rose notes, and only one or two of them actually work on me. The most prominent note (tea rose, maybe?), is still far too perfume-y for my taste.

Almost no throw on me either, even if slathered. My skin tends to drink the stuff though, so YMMV.

-- Edited to include description for top of page. Not sure if I did it right, though!

[joopjoop]

Guys... I don't know.... I think maybe this is TOO rosy for me. Ahhhh.....what is happening?! How can this be?!

 

I do like it, but once applied it starts off with a very sweet sugared quality and then, well, it just stays that way. And stays and stays. A lot of staying power, which is nice, but one of the roses - I'm not sure which one (maybe the Tea Rose?) is just completely dominating all the others. I was hoping for a little more rose variety and a bit of a green dimension to balance it all out.

 

I guess I'm more of a citrus and rose or herbal rose person then straight-up rose-rose-rose person. Although this imp is brand new - it might need time to mellow. I think I will age it a bit and see how things develop.

[Casablanca]

A darker, heavier, and sweeter blend than The Rose, with less green. At least one of these roses leans in its fragrance toward cherries and wine -- maybe those both come from the listed wine rose, or maybe they are from different roses.

The dark cherry wine-like rose note persists on me for about a half day, albeit with low throw.

[lizardskin]

For some reason this smells like incredibly sweet Easter candy on me, not roses at all . . . I think I'm just not familiar enough with some of the varieties of rose to be able to pick them out from the sugary sweetness, and the type of rose I do like is overwhelmed by everything else.

[Kay Torres]

I expected a heavy rose scent from the notes listed, but I don't get that at all. In the imp and wet, this smells like a bouquet of roses. And it's lovely, but surprisingly FRESH. Once dry on my skin it turns into aggressively tart fruit punch with rose petals. I'm not sure how that happened or which rose is doing it, but it's decidedly fruity. And very, very red. I'm undecided as to whether or not I need a full bottle of this because I have to layer it to tolerate it. I will say that it layers like a dream tho.

[maudlinrose]

Simple rose with depth and a definite green...grass note seems to amp as it dries. I haven't decided if this a good thing. Ther's something powdery and something sharp - rose cacophany, but maybe will mellow with age. The drydown stage is a little awkward but it turns into something sweet and a little green, maybe similar to white rose.

Edited September 23, 2016 by maudlinrose

[lizabelle]

I expected something like The Queen's Croquet Ground atmo out of this, but actually they're pretty different (at least, as different as two rose-only scents can be). While QCG is green and a bit sharp, with soft velvety rose underneath, this is a huge, smack-you-in-the-face-with-rose rose. I guess that should be obvious from the description, but this is all petals. No stem, no leaves, no grass. It's actually really fruity on me, which is another surprise--it reminds me pretty heavily of Jo Malone's Red Roses, which I believe has a fruit topnote to exaggerate that aspect of the rose. Because I already have Red Roses I don't feel I need a bottle of this, but it's a beautiful rose single note.

[Bassmastadroog]

WOW. I ordered a 5 ml unsniffed because it's very rare that a Bpal rose doesn't work on me, and I've heard so much about this particular perfume, I had to give it a go.

 

A whole bunch of multicolored, fresh roses...a tad milky...and it's just bright and beautiful. I think I originally expected deep, voluptuous blooms...but this is so much more bouncy! It has the same feel as Alice to me, slight milk and that particular rose in here somewhere! I am soooo glad I got a bottle!

[Pardona]

So yeah; I got this one for my mom for Christmas 2 years ago, but neither of us had gotten around to trying it yet.Just the smallest touch on our wrists for both me and her, but the difference couldn't have been more enormous. Her judgment was pretty much one word: 'Artificial-smelling'. The furthest I got with her (we smelled each other's wrists as well) was an association with Rose potpourri. To which she said to 'Oh, right, those are also very artificial'. Comparisons to cheap perfumes from when she was a kid were made, and I just sighed...

 

On me, I mostly smelled the soft scent of a large tea rose bush, which was then later added to by the smell of the leaves and stems of the bush and the soil in which the bush got planted - I guess this was the grass, as I didn't really smell it otherwise.

 

Right now on me, about an hour after putting it on, it's still there, but more the softness of a rose garden that isn't trying to impress so much as lure you in with a soft sweet scent. I like this one, and I can see myself wearing it again in the future.

 

 

ETA: Another hour-ish later, and it seems to have pretty much faded. Oh well, I applied pmuch just one little stripe with the applicator in the imp, so I suppose that's not bad. Best it can do now is give me sweet dreams.

Edited December 2, 2017 by Pardona

[VetchVesper]

This is probably my favorite GC rose. It's a sweet, light rose, despite the multitude of different roses the blend boasts. It's a summer sort of rose with a fresh, minty sort of greenness to it. It's not perfumey or fussy like some "rose" products, and it seems ageless and timeless. I could see dabbing this on a rosy cheeked child or wearing it at 50 with a sun hat while you walk in the garden. In my brain, 2, 5, & 7 belongs in the same family as Hope, but is less sugary and more green. Well worth checking out for anyone looking for a good rose perfume.

[purestmaiden_]

I first ordered my current bottle in 2009, so I just wanted to provide a bit of a comparison on how it ages.

 

Fresh, this scent had a green and sugary quality- the effect was somehow one of candied roses, and it was a light and sweet scent that almost had notes of sugar cookies and sugared grapefruit. On the skin, the food notes faded and I was left with sugared roses. It had low throw but decent wear time, though it faded quite noticeably by the end of the day.

 

Now, the scent has almost an earthy and fruity quality. Upon opening the bottle, the first whiff I get is of roses mingled with jammy pomegranates. These roses arent buds, though- theyre lush, vegetal roses in full bloom, perhaps in the early stages of decay.

 

On the skin, the fruity scent fades completely and Im just left with a rich, voluptuous, and sexy rose scent. Perhaps its just the age, but it smells almost as though a resin note is present in the background.

 

The scent just gets deeper and rosier as it dries, and the scent actually seems to intensify throughout the day.

 

It started to take on these qualities after about a year, for what its worth, and has merely gotten better with age. I first bought this scent when I was 19, and the light and fresh scent was the perfect girlish perfume. Aged, its the perfect mature rose, and I get so many compliments on the scent. I dont own anything quite like it, and I will be so depressed once I finish this current bottle.

[spookyumbrella]

When it first goes on, it's pure, sweet rose petals. As it dries down, a slight fruitiness (perhaps plum?) appears to compliment the rose. Overall, it smells very "pink" - sweet, rosy and slightly tart. Two, Five and Seven is genuinely beautiful.

[monocainsheresy]

VERY rosey - pink pink pink! A tiny bit of green in the background. A beautiful scent, but not something I'd personally wear.

[FebruaryOwen]

Just got this in a swap!  I've become partial to roses.

In bottle: ROSES

On skin: still strong roses.  Hint of fruitiness?  

After a few hours: the rose smell is pure and strong with this one, lol.  I may not be at the level of loving roses yet where this perfume is for me, unfortunately.

Will perhaps keep the imp.

[follis]

Rose rose rose. Stays strong, Good throw long wear. Did not get grass but did get something fruity earlier on. 

[RobberBaroness]

This is what I wanted Peacock Queen to be- a big rose bouquet, pink and sweet and almost overpowering.  I'm a little self-conscious wearing it, hoping it isn't bothering other people, but there's something so fun about being so purely rosey!

[alyelle]

In the imp: Rose with the strangest tang of fruit - raspberry, blackberry, cherry, apricot - and freshly cut green grass.

 

Wet: A sweet, rich, red rose with a Turkish delight backbone and undertones of cherry musk.

 

Dry: The most beautiful bush of roses you ever did see. Vanila-bark stems, dusky thorns, dewy musk, with flowers of sunny yellow and rich apricot. I have tried many BPAL rose scents over the years, some of which worked, many of which didn't. This could well be the best of the best. It has a very generous lifespan (8-10 hours or more) and a strong throw to boot.

 

Stars: ★★★★★

[Faralle]

In the imp: fresh-cut stem and pink rose with some fruity undertone.

Wet: The stem scent is very strong with all the roses but not strong as the rose there

Dry: Stem has taken a back seat and the roses themselves start to be more layered in scent.

Rose on top of rose, as the description says. This reminds me of rose sweets. The grass is obviously poking out of here, and it smells more like rose stems than grass. Overall, I don't believe the rose is overpowering or overbearing in this combination, but rather really enjoyable. To me, this smells more like a summer day perfume than Zombi, which I reach for all year

[bellumed]

This is a garden party. Yes, a bouquet of roses, but also some pretty pink cupcakes to go with them! Two, Five, and Seven reads very young to me, not quite "childish" but definitely a rose a teenager could wear.

[crystaltongue]

On me, this is the precise middle point between Rose Red and Peacock Queen. Sweet, heady, freah roses, a bit more cultivated than the wild Rose Red, but with that little bite of green grass to keep it refreshing. Not as much throw as Rose Red, but more than Peacock Queen. It's lovely to have found a GC that is close to those two Yule favs.

[AbbyNormal]

Rose is my absolute nemesis (only rose scents, I do love fresh cut roses, go figure). I almost didn’t want to even open the imp when I drew it today for the daily test, but I did and it was instant regret, just as I suspected. I didn’t even try it on because it would have been a waste of soap and scrubbing. I wish I could tolerate rose notes, and weirdly enough there actually is rose in my beloved Snekhellden, but this is just too much damned rose. Blurgh 😖 

[Assimbya]

I totally adore this scent, as a devoted lover of rose.

 

In the bottle it's sweet and a little heady, slightly overwhelming, but then on my skin it brightens and opens up gradually - it feels like walking through a rose garden and smelling bloom after bloom after bloom, each subtly different but mingling together. On my skin I don't get the sweetness others mention, but I amplify astringent notes, so that might just be me. What I do get is a tart undertone that reminds me of that almost citric edge that fresh roses can have. The green is just a hint, like the glimpse of a lawn outside the bounds of the rose garden. I get reasonable longevity on this for a floral, with a hint still of fragrance five hours later.

 

While I haven't yet tried that many of BPAL's rose blends, this feels like my ideal of what I was hoping a rose perfume would be, and I look forward to being able to wear it in the winter when I am lamenting Persephone's absence. I look forward to trying more rose scents, but I am so glad to have this one.

Edited October 23 by Assimbya