Monna Vanna

[shelldoo]

 

Monna Vanna, Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Russian rose, mimosa, gardenia, bois du rose, parma violet, calla lily, red currant, ambergris, and bourbon vanilla.

 

in the bottle, mostly rose and violet.

 

wet:lily and violet w/ a splash of rose.

 

 

i amp up rose, lily and violet and really that is drowning out all the other notes.

[Heavenlyrabbit]

A lush, dare I say royal, perfume.

 

This reminds me of the best of the best traditional French floral perfumes.

 

So many of these notes would play the Diva. You'd figure they'd all be trying to steal the spotlight. but actually I get a fabulous woman's perfume.

 

I love this wholeheartedly.

 

THIS would be the scent I'd get that Sub Rosa perfume topper for. Or splurge on an antique glass bottle.

[clover]

Such a beautiful rose scent. Rose is definitely the dominant note - front and center, no question about it. Beyond the rose, though, this scent is seamless. I know there's a whole bunch of good stuff going on there, I can tell, but I have no idea what it is. I'm just imagining all of the supporting notes as slaves, carrying the rose around on an elevated pillow like the queen that she is. Juicy, natural, classical, colorful, rich....and yet small, and intimate. Truly gorgeous.

[supremegoddessofall]

The chemical rose. Alas. Somewhat earthy, which is probably the ambergris.

[Eemia]

This starts out with that same fresh, sharp, natural rose that I smell in Rose Red. It immediately reminded me of that blend. I love that heavy, freshly picked scent that borders on dewy and green. It's fairly fruity too in the beginning. I want to say that this feels so romantic, but I'm leaning more towards lush and opulent.

 

The violet appears quickly and soon tones down the rose so that it becomes more powdery and soft, and the sharpness of the rose fades a little. The bourbon vanilla is the perfect touch. It adds just the right amount of sweetness. There is also a touch of a clean type note here that I think must be the calla lily....I think it's lovely, which is saying a lot for me since I usually can't wear calla lily at all (it tends to be soapy on me).

 

I know I am trying to pick out every note here, but honestly that is only because I am really trying hard to do so. This is gorgeous and too smoothly blended for me to do anything else but just bask in it. I put this on today because I love the Pre-Raphaelites and wanted to elevate my mood to something more ideal, glossy, and splendid...like Rossetti's painting.

 

If all the new Salon blends are like the ones I've bought so far then I am in big trouble.

[Little Bird]

When I first got this, it was perfumey rose with powdery violet and soapy lily. After aging, this has gotten a lot sweeter & warmer smelling. It almost kinda reminds me of hazelnut or chestnut and rose with a bit of powder and violet candy. It's okay, but not my favorite rose scent.

Edited November 12, 2012 by Little Bird

[siddal]

I adore Monna. This makes me happy, as Rossetti is one of my favorite painters. This is one of the best BPAL roses I have tried. Generally I like the fruiter ones like 2,5,7 and Persephone. And I love the lush red qualities of Peacock Queen. But Mona is simply delicious, even with my dreaded floral gardenia nemesis present. I dont know if the label colors are influencing me, but I see it as spicy, yellow and soft. Gorgeous.

[dawndie]

Wet: alcohol-y rose

 

On skin: yum, rose blooming in all its glory

 

Half-hour later: if there are other florals present, I can't tell -- I just get creamy roses

 

In conclusion: I'm an unabashed fan of the BPAL Rose blends and this is another stellar example. Much like Parlement of Foules with a touch of cream instead of dusty resins. I was concerned about the violet, gardenia or calla lily amping on me, but if there here in this blend they're only to bow down in service to the rose. Beautiful!

[cuervosueno]

Yup, there’s some rose in there. In case anyone was wondering.

 

In the imp and wet this rose with something sour behind it, though I have no idea what the sour note could be. The next stage is rose soap.

 

Finally it smells like crushed roses with a touch of soap and violet candy.

 

Not my thing.

 

But luckily for me, it fades fast!

[edenssixthday]

Monna Vanna - When I first smell this, I keep going back and forth between "it's rose!" and "it's violet!" As it dries down on my skin, it becomes a warm, ambergris-based rose and lily scent, and the violet all but fades into the background. I can't discern any of the other notes as unique parts of this blend, but it's obvious there's more than just rose, violet, and ambergris in this. Overall, it's a very rich and pretty floral, but I have to be honest and say that it's a lot like many other rose blends I already own, so as lovely as it is, I'm not particularly drawn to it.

[PurringPulsar]

Monna Vanna

 

In the imp: very faint! Almost nothing, but I smell rosewater in here.

Wet on skin: ah, now the scent blooms. Rose and violet are most obvious.

Dry on skin: interesting! This strikes me as being a traditional or historical floral perfume, along similar lines to Marie, but more complex. The rose, rosewood and violet are dominant, but there's a tangy bite of currant adding a juicy fruity touch. I also smell mimosa and a hint of lily (not too much though), and the gardenia in this scent doesn't do the nasty thing on my skin (I think the gardenia notes in Salon scents work nicer on my skin than most). There's the barest hint of vanilla sweetness.

After a while: oh, now I smell the vanilla, it smells so lovely with rose! The rose note here has a watery quality to it which makes me think of rosewater, cool and fluid, and the scent isn't as powdery as I expected it would be. The rosewood forms a nice solid base for all the flowers, and adds a feel of age to it, the note is faded and a little bitter, but the overall scent isn't as dusty or old fashioned as scents of this rose-violet-floral genre can sometimes be. And the vanilla makes it very pleasant indeed.

The rosewood gets stronger in this scent, taking over the rose itself and developing an unusual nutty-smoky scent. The violet, vanilla and mimosa are now more apparent as well. The bitterness of the rosewood is contrasted by the gentle sweetness of the vanilla.

Eventually I get a scent that reminds me of the Siamese Twins, the sugared rose of Hope and the violets of Faith, with rosewood and mimosa and now gardenia. I think it's that wonderful bourbon vanilla which reminds me of the sugared note in those scents. Now it smells like the older, more demure sister of the twins. The drydown is more of the creamy vanilla-rose and less of the austere rosewood. This is really nice!

Verdict: this scent could have gone either way-turned to old fashioned 'granny perfume' like some scents with rosewood, violet and rose can do, or turn to one of those gorgeous rose-based complex floral-oriental scents. This walks the line between the two but then goes firmly into the 'wonderful complex rose' category when the vanilla comes out and works wonders on the scent. At first this scent is grand and rather haughty, like the painting, but very complex and not dry or dusty at all. It was rose with currant and violet and rosewood, a nice traditional scent with a surprisingly juicy rose note. There were a few moments when I thought the rosewood would take over and make this scent a little dusty and musty with a hint of sourness, but then that quickly faded as the vanilla took control and turned this into a wonderful vanilla-rose along similar lines to Hope. I can always count on Bourbon vanilla to make things better…the rosewood was now calmer and the rose and vanilla merged into a delightful finale for this fragrance. I'm not sure if I need a bottle as I do prefer Hope, but I'm keeping the imp. This scent gives off a nice feel of opulence and luxury without smelling stuck-up.

Emoticon rating:

Is it a keeper? the imp, for sure.

If you like this, try: Marie, Séance, Helena, Viola, Hope, Faith, Le Serpent Qui Danse, Venice, Melisande

[Ajila]

In the bottle – Pink rose petals floating in champagne

 

Wet on me – Sweet lush roses

 

Dry on me – Sugared roses

 

Overall – This is a little how I hoped Hope would be on me. I’ll hang on to the imp, but I doubt that I would wear it enough to buy a bottle

[alicia_stardust]

This is a breathtaking rose scent. While wet I can detect the subtleties between the rose, gardenia, and violet. It's as if they're swirling through the air in separate clouds and only from farther away does my nose "mix" them.

 

As this dries, my skin amps the rose until that's all I can smell. No other notes.

 

This is going to be one of those that I keep for scent locket purposes but never wear on my skin. It is so lovely until my skin chemistry messes it up.

[moon_lemming]

The notes listed made Monna Vanna sound like it could either go really, really right, or turn into FLORAL DOOM.

 

Instead, it is just... hmmmm. That's my feeling regarding it. Oddly enough, I have the same wishy-washy feeling about the painting, which isn't really one I dig, but I don't hate it either.

 

In the imp, it's sort of a squished pink rose, but once on my skin it picks up a pretty fruity note that has to be the red currant, and the rose turns a little more "red."

 

Then it sort of just... hovers. It doesn't really morph any more. It's mostly pinky-red rose transposed over the juicy red currant. I like it, but I have tons of rose scents, so I won't be getting a bottle of this one. Yet.

[The_Merf]

In the imp this one smells like rose and gardenia with maybe the slightest touch of ambergris in the background (but I tested this right after sniffing another blend w/ambergris, so perhaps I'm quite tuned to it). However, once I put the perfume on, it vanishes down to a very soft rose/lily right away. As it is wet and drying, it smells like I've had it on for hours and hours--quite hard to detect. It holds to that level of scent, with the lily becoming more dominant than the rose as it dries.

[theseagrows]

this scent is very evocative of the artwork! it's very rosy, indeed. the calla lily and red currant sweeten it up a bit and the ambergris and vanilla add a nice warmth. at first i mostly get rose, but once it dries the depth of the scent comes out more. it smells very classically floral and feminine. it's so pretty, i will definitely keep my imp.

[filigree_shadow]

This is mostly rose at first. I don't mean a rose scent. I mean it smells exactly like a rose. The flower. Then as it warms up I get more violet and a little ambergris. At first I thought it was going to be just a rose perfume, but that's definitely not what it's doing. It's all blending together very well. I could swear I can smell just a hint of bourbon vanilla, too.

 

It's very pretty. Not a straight-up floral, but mainly floral. It seems a little brighter and sweeter than rose scents usually are -- I bet that's from the mimosa and violet, but I'm not sure.

 

I like it.

[zankoku_zen]

This a lush and very regal rose blend. It's not entirely rose, but on me, this is definitely a rose-dominated scent. There is a muted floral background upon which this rose is blooming, and there a hint of earthiness to it.

 

Very pretty.

[batsy]

In the vial: strong roses. A little sour.

 

On the skin: Creamy on the skin. The lily starts to pop almost instantly, followed by the vanilla. It's another lovely floral scent, heavy on the roses for me. Kinda bubbly too.

[hkhm]

imp: very faint rose with a light mixture of other florals.

 

wet: rose. rose going soapy in a flash. there is a teensy hint of other florals i can almost detect as an afterthought but the rose is drowning everything out pretty completely.

 

dry: rose. though this is a softer, gentler rose, not quite as soapy as usual, it is still soapy on me.

[cecelle]

In the imp: a light floral mix

 

Wet: Rose

 

On dry down: A light rose, with the other notes providing a blended background that I can't pick any other single note out of.

 

I have disliked other Bpal roses (2,5,&7) and liked others (Peacock Queen). This one seems like a more classical type perfume - I can imagine my grandmother wearing something like this. Genteel, quiet, refined, not something that seems like the perfume is trying to club you over the head with a giant bouquet of roses.

 

4 out of 5 stars - there are definitely days I will be reaching for this one.

[porcelina]

powerfully soapy. like i stuck my nose into a tub full of frothy rose-scented bubbles. certainly not an unpleasant experience, but not my style of perfume, either.

[soonyi]

wet, i smell rose, slightly sour--prolly the mimosa. the sharp sour-ness fades and the rose blooms; it's very alive and regal, like Peacock Queen but less dusty than She.

 

the violet is coming out more and i think i am learning slowly (esp. after Melisande and Hope/Faith) that i don't like violet as much as the idea of it. violet becomes too 'urinal cake' on me.

 

it's mostly a rose scent, tempered by violet. i dont really smell the other notes in here, but i am sure they do color the tone of this lively rose scent.

----

i like bpal roses and this one is nice. ....but, the violet comes out enough that i am going to keep the imp and forgo the bottle.

[PersephonesChild]

My goodness!

 

In the imp, I caught a strong whiff of rose, underscored by darker flowers-- it really reminded me of a richer version of Marie, which is really what I was hoping for. However, one my skin every last one of those flowers opened, and for perhaps the first time ever, I got out-floraled-- in fact, I couldn't put my wrist near my face without catching a serious headache.

 

This has ambergris in it, and I was hoping it would better help me to understand what ambergris smells like, but the florals were just pummeling me. I decided to wiki ambergris (I'd been discussing it with my boyfriend last night, and wanted to confirm that what I'd said was correct) and saw that wiki claims that ambergris smells like a less sharp isopropyl alcohol-- bizarre. I started to wonder if maybe that was why this blend was coming off as so sharp to me. In reality, I think this gardenia just has fangs.

 

Oddly, I kind of liked it, even though it was causing me pain-- it had a department store sort of aura to it, in the kind of way where I hoped people smelled it on me and were impressed by it, so I didn't wash it off. Finally, after an hour and a half, it settled down into a close-to-the-skin floral-- a thickly filled vase full of vibrant and living flowers with a touch of hautiness that gives it an ever so slight sting.

 

This may be too much excitement for me to wear on a regular basis...

[Laurel the Woodfairy]

Dante Gabriel Rossetti

Buried all of his libretti,

Thought the matter over - then

Went and dug them up again.

 

~Dorothy Parker

 

 

I love Rossetti. I love rose. Can't miss out on trying this one! On me, Monna Vanna is an absolutely magnificent rose scent while wet--very strong, very pure. On drydown, the other notes come out, especially the vanilla and violet. I just tested Rose Moon, and there are similarities, definitely. However, Rose Moon was a bit subdued. Monna Vanna is most certainly not! The rose is so much stronger here that this is my favorite of the two, and thus the keeper. A romantic, rich, heady scent, perfect for a Pre-Raphaelite lady.