Rose Recommendations - which blend is for me?

[Torrilin]

Sorry if this has been asked already, but the thread is six pages long, so...

 

Anyways, I'm looking for a rose scent that's not too girly and flowery and not too musty, just...rosy. A light scent, rather than a heavy scent. Red rose sounds like it would have been perfect, but since it's no longer available, is there a buyable scent that's similar?

 

On me, Whip is the winter version of what you're describing. It smells a lot like Lincoln roses, with a new leather purse somewhere in the background. Very green and red feeling.

 

Maiden is a lovely fresh summery rose. The tea adds a citrussy element, and the carnation makes it a bit more old rose feeling.

 

I separate these two scents by season because on my skin, they behave very differently based on the season (which is a laughable thing to say in southern California but...). In the summer, Whip is liable to go FOOMP and smother you in roses and leather, even if you dab it delicately. Maiden will feel much less overwhelming. In the fall and winter, Whip does pretty delicate things, and Maiden is liable to go FOOMP and be a stiffling scent.

 

Kalli

[ivyandpeony]

I thought I would resurrect this since we've had new scents come along and new members join since the last post.

 

I love the rose in Silentium Amoris, but the ylang ylang overwhelms it for me. It makes me so sad. It's a really beautiful, simple but elegant blend though... I hope lots of people get to know it and love it now that it was resurrected for the Lab's anniversary.

[Teggy]

I have horrible luck with rose. I love fresh rose (I adore Rose Red), but it ALWAYS goes soapy on my skin. Seance almost didn't...but it does. Does anyone else have this problem who has found a solution? Could it just be a BPAL roses thing?

[fiddledragon]

I have horrible luck with rose. I love fresh rose (I adore Rose Red), but it ALWAYS goes soapy on my skin. Seance almost didn't...but it does. Does anyone else have this problem who has found a solution? Could it just be a BPAL roses thing?

 

There are only a few rose blends that don't go soapy on me, and even then there's about a week where they still go soapy or sharp. Rose Cross is the one that works most consistantly. I'd recommend either putting them in a diffuser or getting a scent locket. I've heard good things about putting scent on hair, but for some reason my hair is the Black Hole of Perfume and I can't smell it.

[northatlantic]

Teggy, have you tried any of the blends listing white rose or tea rose, instead of just rose? Every single blend I've tried with just rose or Bulgur rose listed has gone screamingly shrill rose and nothing but on me, but when I tried Ophelia (white rose) and Euphrosyne (tea rose) the rose was definitely present, but played nicely with the other notes and actually smelled like roses, not rose-scented air freshener.

[darklorelei]

I would kill for Red Rose to come back. I was so disappointed when it wasn't here this Yule.

[Teggy]

Teggy, have you tried any of the blends listing white rose or tea rose, instead of just rose? Every single blend I've tried with just rose or Bulgur rose listed has gone screamingly shrill rose and nothing but on me, but when I tried Ophelia (white rose) and Euphrosyne (tea rose) the rose was definitely present, but played nicely with the other notes and actually smelled like roses, not rose-scented air freshener.

 

Yeah. The Reaper and the Flowers has white rose I believe. I love it in the imp, but it goes soapy on me there too. I do enjoy mixing some Rose Red with carrier oil and putting them in a lamp ring. Makes my apartment smell goreous. I just wish I could replicate that on my skin. I do use a scent locket regularly...but it's just not the same...you know?

[gloom bear]

I think I'm going to have to re-try 2, 5 and 7 because the imp I got was just gross. Must've been a bad imp. Didn't get it from the lab or a forumite here, so who knows what happened to it...

 

but I do think London is pretty straight rose, but a bit dry for my taste. I love Peacock Queen the best. I would love Rose Red too, but it goes balsamic vinegar on me.

 

 

 

 

I'll second (or third or fourth...) 2, 5 and 7. It's the purest, fresh rose scent in the GC. It can go a little plastic depending on skin chemistry. Persephone has the same rose note, made juicier with pomegranate, so you may want to try that. I adore roses, but found London too heavy on the tea rose for me. It didn't stirke me as fresh, but that could be chalked up to that dang skin chemistry thing.

[darklorelei]

Mm. Rose red is a very true neutral rose, but Peacock Queen is just lush. It smells vaguely like raspberry like the very best roses do. Unh. Soooo nice.

Edited November 9, 2006 by darklorelei

[Donnababe]

Two, Five and Seven. Sweet, bright and glorious.

[Chrysantza]

While I love love LOVE rose, I also have a problem with it going soapy on me in some blends.

 

My solution is to choose a rose with some musk or resin note to balance out the sharpness. Black Rose is a very true rose on me and I think it's because the amber and musk tone down any sharpness, leaving the rose note much more full and round. I do not know what the sekrit ingredient is in Peacock Queen but it rounds out the rose, de-soaping it and leaving it a true and pure rose. Rose Cross - also a very true rose on me with the frankincense as ballast.

 

Spellbound, All Saints - same with the prominent musk and resin notes. Less of a pure rose in this case, but no soap, thankfully!

 

Finally, Euphrosyne is one of my very very favorite scents but I get much more of a gardenia from it and not rose - but in any event, it's not soapy.

 

If you like rose but find that it goes to soap, seeking out roses with the secondary ingredients of musk, amber, resins, or a VERY sweet rich floral like gardenia or frangipani (which is in Delight) can help, IME.

[talula_fairie]

I usually hate rose blends -they almost always go soap-y and grandmaish on me, and they go straight to my head making it pound. That said, Mata Hari is probably the best smelling floral I've tried yet -it's not straight rose (probably why I like it) but soft rose tainted with Jasmine and warmed by vanilla, mahogany, fig, and tonka with a touch of coffee. BRILLIANT.

[whitemyrrh]

While I love love LOVE rose, I also have a problem with it going soapy on me in some blends.

 

My solution is to choose a rose with some musk or resin note to balance out the sharpness. Black Rose is a very true rose on me and I think it's because the amber and musk tone down any sharpness, leaving the rose note much more full and round. I do not know what the sekrit ingredient is in Peacock Queen but it rounds out the rose, de-soaping it and leaving it a true and pure rose. Rose Cross - also a very true rose on me with the frankincense as ballast.

 

Spellbound, All Saints - same with the prominent musk and resin notes. Less of a pure rose in this case, but no soap, thankfully!

 

Finally, Euphrosyne is one of my very very favorite scents but I get much more of a gardenia from it and not rose - but in any event, it's not soapy.

 

If you like rose but find that it goes to soap, seeking out roses with the secondary ingredients of musk, amber, resins, or a VERY sweet rich floral like gardenia or frangipani (which is in Delight) can help, IME.

 

Chrystantza, these are wonderful insights! I've already worked with Black Rose and Spellbound, and like them quite a bit. The jury is still out on Euphrosyne.

 

Sometimes I do want something more purely rose. I tend to amp resins, especially amber, so after an hour or two that's what I get with Black Rose--and Spellbound.... it shoots off this rosewater lead that almost seems separate from the body of the perfume? It's lovely, but not always what I exactly want. I'd love to find a rose with that... fleshy depth, velvety petalled... roseness that lives in my most viseral understanding of roses--the darkness between the petals? "Heart rose" is how I describe the scent to myself. Rose Red is so lovely, but it's very much fresh cut--more of a greenhouse rose than what I'm thinking of, and it vanishes on me very quickly.

 

I'm wondering if what I want is Peacock Queen. I'm also wondering if I'll ever get to try Peacock Queen. Angst! Angst! What I want but can not have!!

[Cariad]

Why is it that certain rose blends turn funny on my skin when others smell so gorgeous?!

 

London was rose heaven on my skin, but a bit too straight *rose!* for everyday wear. The roses in Moscow and Rakshasa were just perfectly-blended hints of floral softness, which I loved. I think Harlot was a good rose, too, but it didn't stick around for long enough for me to find out

...but my skin seems to turn some of my other rose blends into cloying petrochemical hell. I picked up an imp of Rose Cross, thinking that I couldn't go wrong with two of my favourite notes, and it turned so cloying on my skin that I had to wash it off. The same happened with Parlament of Foules. I'm beginning to think that roses + resins = disaster on my skin.

 

There are so many more rose blends that I want to try, but I'm scared of the dreaded BAD rose. I'm mostly after that 'hint of floral softness'. I might try following Chrysantza's advice and go for rose blends with a base of musk... Spellbound is one that comes to mind - anything else that people think I *have* to try, while I'm being enabled?

 

eta: I completely forgot about Santa Muerte! The rose in Santa Muerte is beautiful but subdued. I'm beginning to think that earthy roses are the way to go for my skin.

Edited December 19, 2006 by Cariad

[glass_cat]

If you're looking for a more innocent rose, I'd definitely recommend Lucy's Kiss` to you. It's one of my all-time favorites. You can certainly smell the rose in it, but there is a delicious "clean" note in there as well... like freshly laundered linens... that makes it seem girlish and innocent to me. Persephone and Magdelene were two other rose blends that stood out to me as being very nice and feminine, yet a little different than just your average rose blend. You might check them out as well.

[talula_fairie]

Gypsy Queen has rose in it and it's probably the only rose scent I like. Mata Hari wasn't too bad, but once my nose cleared a little (I had a cold that day) it smelled *awful* to me

[fiddledragon]

Why is it that certain rose blends turn funny on my skin when others smell so gorgeous?!

 

London was rose heaven on my skin, but a bit too straight *rose!* for everyday wear. The roses in Moscow and Rakshasa were just perfectly-blended hints of floral softness, which I loved. I think Harlot was a good rose, too, but it didn't stick around for long enough for me to find out

...but my skin seems to turn some of my other rose blends into cloying petrochemical hell. I picked up an imp of Rose Cross, thinking that I couldn't go wrong with two of my favourite notes, and it turned so cloying on my skin that I had to wash it off. The same happened with Parlament of Foules. I'm beginning to think that roses + resins = disaster on my skin.

 

There are so many more rose blends that I want to try, but I'm scared of the dreaded BAD rose. I'm mostly after that 'hint of floral softness'. I might try following Chrysantza's advice and go for rose blends with a base of musk... Spellbound is one that comes to mind - anything else that people think I *have* to try, while I'm being enabled?

 

Yeah, I do that, too...most rose blends go horribly weird, but then when they do work it's so beautiful! Rose Cross was the Platonic Ideal of Rose, and I've now worn it so many times in lovely situations that I actually don't mind when it's a little off that week because it now has so many good memories attached to it. But most others go soapy, sour, rotten, you name it!

 

If the rose in London works, why not blend it with something complimentary that you like? While you're being enabled...how about Othello? Roses, spice, and musk. That was one of the sour/musty roses on me, but the spice and musk were lovely. It's firmly on the "masculine" side of floral musks, though, if that's offputting for you.

[Antaria]

Well, the most beautiful rose-scent from my point of view has not been mentioned here yet! (or I was not reading properly):

 

HYMN!

 

It's so wonderful, feminin and perfect. On my skin it is very similar to London, but somehow deeper, rounder, a more complex yet simple rose. And it lasts longer on my skin. It just melts so wonderfully ... perfect combiantion of skin and rose - so in love with it You really should give it a try!

[ivyandpeony]

Why is it that certain rose blends turn funny on my skin when others smell so gorgeous?!

 

...

 

I don't know if there's anyone who has had every BPAL rose work on them... if so I wish they would post!

 

I have rose blends that I adore, and there have been rose blends that have just been stale and icky on me. For the most part, I think it has to do with the particular rose that's used in the blend, except in those cases where there's a rogue note that goes weird on me. I would love to ask Beth just how many different varieties of rose she uses in all of the different blends - I know there are tons.

 

Sometimes Beth tells us specifically what varietal she's using. White rose hasn't made it into many blends but it's beautiful. Some blends mention Bulgar rose, Bulgarian rose, tea rose, wine rose, musk rose, Sumatran rose, imperial rose, damask rose, Damascan rose, Moroccan rose, wild rose, shrub roses, Turkish rose, Somalian rose, and black rose (this was in the gorgeous and much-mourned discontinued Noir as well as the much-coveted Formula 54, but can currently be found in Sophia. Gotta try her again!). Some of these may just be descriptive terms but for the most part I think they're true rose types.

 

There are three roses in Harlot, Bess contains five different roses, and who knows how many are in Two, Five & Seven (I once heard a rumor that it was seventy-something )

 

If you are the type who likes to keep notes and spreadsheets, you can cross reference blends that contain the same type of rose and predict which ones may work on you and which won't, you can track which smell similar to your nose (handy when the description just says "rose") and guess what varietal mught be in those blends where they aren't named.

 

I adore rose when it works on me, and I did those things I just mentioned for a while. But since I've been around long enough to hoard some Rose Red and Parlement of Foules and since Two, Five and Seven is readily available, I don't fret too much. Other favorite rose-heavy blends of mine are Harlot, Marie, Ode on Melancholy and Rakshasa. I was really sad that Delight, Moon Rose, Blood Rose, Black Rose, London and Lucy's Kiss all made me smell like a stale old rose sachet. But that's the breaks.

[halcyon_flight]

I’m looking for blends where it’s instantly recognizable that _is_ rose, but they needn’t be rose-centric blends. For example, I really like Rome, which has rose peaking out from between some spicy greenness and creamy chamomile. And I’m so tackling Faith and dragging her home, meddlesome sister and all.

 

Specifically I’m looking for…

 

Rose with spices

 

Rose with green

 

But I'm up for anything that doesn't involve tobacco. Any suggestions?

Edited January 3, 2007 by halcyon_flight

[forspecial_plate]

Thanatos!...I just put some on this morning. "Dry white sandalwood and soft Siamese benzoin over a lugubrious blend of myrrh, Moroccan rose, mastic, tomb moss and a thin whiff of Greek incense".

 

The rose is pretty strong on me, but there is a little bit of sharp green note (the tomb moss?), sandalwood, and the incense. I don't know what mastic is. It's one of the few rose scents that I can wear...maybe the only one?!

[zankoku_zen]

Third the Spellbound recommendation. That's the best rose scent in my opinion (not counting LEs like Rose Red).

[juniperus]

I love the rose in Wicked, especially after it's aged some and the myrrh mellows and warms. (and fourth for Spellbound!)

 

For LEs Rose Red and Parlement of Foules are two of my beloveds.

 

 

(edited. can't count)

Edited January 3, 2007 by Juniperus Intrepidus

[portalkat]

Some of my favorite rose blends are Two, Five & Seven, Seance, Ouija, Desire, Les Bijoux, Hymn, Rose Cross, Rakshasa and Thanatos as FSP had mentioned. The LE Parlement of Foules is another of my favorites if you can get a hold of it.

[Lit Chick]

2/5/7 is the best rose blend EVER

I love it madly. It's a super rose explosion, but the green notes just make it so refreshing and wearable.

Get some. Get some now.