London

[freyasfae]

Venerable Victorian Tea Rose… twisted, blackened and emboldened with wickedness.

 

Testing from an imp I received in a swap, so year unknown. This was all prim tea rose on me - no lurking wickedness, which was a bummer, and it faded very quickly. Not a keeper.

[PrinceofcatS]

Comparing this to Maiden, so I'm probably going to post this review to both threads.

 

I want to decide which of my ~spiced roses~ I want to buy a 5 ml of, since I love them all but the end result is so similar it seems foolish to put them all on the Big Bottle list. Today I tried Maiden versus London, since they seem the most similar to me.

 

Wet, I was baffled that I had ever thought they were the same. The rose in London is that perfumey, aquatic tea rose note - which I adore - but is so light and gentle and watery, with barely a hint of any of those spices that I think are intended to make it "dark". Maiden, on the other hand, is all heady, intensely sweet rose, dark, almost edible, with the tea note distinct from the aquatic feel I get from tea rose. The carnation is where I think the spiciness and some of the sweetness comes from in Maiden?

 

My imp of Maiden is rather old at this point, though. I don't know what London's intensity is like aged.

 

When they dry down I realize why I thought they were similar: they really are! The spiciness and sweetness in Maiden calms down a bit and the tea note comes out more, which does, to my nose, mimic the aquatic tea rose note in London. London is sweet, dewy, perfect rose; it's more "perfumey" than Maiden, largely because Maiden's crisp white tea and heady carnation notes make it intensely sweet.

 

As they wear on further, the differences become more pronounced - Maiden is darker and sweeter, London lighter though not less rich and rosy; "perfumey" is the only word I can think of, not artificial but smelling like something meant to be elegantly scented with rose.

 

I had thought for the longest time I preferred London, but in some ways I liked Maiden's rose note more, it's more the carnation I take issue with. I don't know. I need to try them both against Lucy's Kiss.

[sunlitgarden]

I just got this as a frimp from the Lab. My initial thoughts are that I enjoy rose notes but am not really a fan of smoky or ashy notes most of the time, so the "blackened" comment makes me nervous.

In the imp: Tea rose, primarily. I tried the Fainting Couch atmo spray recently and this smells like the same tea rose note, although Fainting Couch also has rosewater and some other notes. The tea rose to me smells like a combination of "old fashioned" and "little girl", in a way that's nostalgic and pleasant.

On my skin: Tea rose still, with maybe a little bit of violet? There's something giving it a slightly chemical quality that I usually associate with violet. Whatever that chemical note is, though, it goes away pretty quickly and I'm just left with pure tea rose.

Overall, this is pretty light on me compared to some other rose scents. I think I prefer the Fainting Couch atmo for tea rose. I'm still not sure what the "blackened" was supposed to be.

[Casablanca]

On the wand: ROSE. Tea rose. I fear this treads into old-lady territory. I didn't even know older women who wore rose, and I'm still getting that vibe. There's something in this that smells old and moneyed.

Wet: This isn't a fresh, full rose. This is a papery old rose, the smell that goes with the delicate rose-painted tea set, the dark underbelly smell of the tea house. Is that also licorice or violet lurking? Or both? That's contributing.

Dry: I don't get wickedness from this, just cloying venerability.

I've never been to London, but this seems an overly limited representation. Pass.

[lady_pandora]

Tea rose!

 

I swear this is what that old Body Shop tea rose used to smell like. I hoarded a bottle of that and got it back out to test against London, but WOE, the Body Shop one has gone off, which really should not surprise me because it's probably 15 years old and really I should wear my pretties and not stick them in a box for 15 years. But this is what I think it used to smell like. It's my early 20s in a bottle.

 

I get the wickedness for just a few minutes, maybe at about the 15-minute mark, and then it goes away again and we're back to Tea Rose. I think the wickedness may be some sort of wet wood note, I don't know. It doesn't stick around or amp up enough for me to identify it.

 

I really like this. Definitely an imp keeper at least. Do I need a bottle? IDK. I do have a lot of BPAL roses, and big bottles of many of them. On the other hand, this passed the #1 keeper test, which is that if I test an oil in the evening, and then wake up the next morning wanting to wear it as the scent of the day, it's a keeper. And I've got it on right now.

[roseus]

Blind bought a bottle to take on a trip as a nice staple rose, and I wasn't disappointed. This a very proper, and full tea rose. A little greenness like in Rose Red but nowhere near as chilly. As others have said I don't smell any wickedness. A great staple rose for lovers of the flower.

[Cali]

It's like a calm, rainy day in London city. Very imagery evocative!
Lovely and mature. Won't need a bottle as I've already found my perfect rose-scent (if you like the rose in this you might like the peacock queen!), but it's a pleasure to sniff!

[Bassmastadroog]

Tea rose in imp...lightly sweet. Parliament of Foules rose! I'm still familiarizing with roses.

 

A wetness peaks out on skin. Grows a tad darker.

 

Nice! I might order this. Not a morphed.

[Spaztic]

This one smells wonderful in the bottle/vial - a straight up tea rose.

but on my skin the "tea" aspect completely disappears and I'm left with a rather soapy rose.

Not a fan, sometimes I like soapy but this is "bathroom hand soap" type of soapy

I you're lucky and your skin doesn't ruin it, it would be wonderful

[Coldfire]

Imp: OMGS this is old school air freshener rose. It 'rose' up out of the imp and smacked me hard! To the trade pile!

[achildoftime]

It's a super sweet and strong tea rose. It reminds me of when candies are rose flavored they taste the way they smell, but a little sweeter. This smells edible despite being floral. Nothing dark and twisted here. Just sweet tea rose.

[Lucchesa]

London is all venerable tea rose on me, and I'm beginning to understand that tea rose is the rose note that doesn't work on my skin. "Venerable" translates to old lady, apparently. I think I smell some myrrh -- could that be the black twisted part? At any rate, this one is not me. If you like tea rose, give it a whirl!

[elinox]

First Sniff: Roses in the morning with a hint of fresh, cool mint. (I think?)

 

Initial Wet Application: I thought I was smelling more lemon at first, but then recognized the rose. It’s lovely and soft so I’m sure it’s going to fade.

 

Dry Down (first 15 minutes): As it dried, this stayed gentle, fresh, dewey roses.

 

My Reaction: Having recently been in London, I can say that while the city definitely doesn’t smell like this, I did like it for the association. I enjoyed the tea roses, but it faded within an hour. I didn’t get any ‘wickedness’ either which would have been interesting.

 

Rating: 2

[monocainsheresy]

Simple pink/white rose. Not getting the "wickedness". Low throw and wear length.

[cyborgutena]

I love this scent. But then again, I love tea rose.

 

The rose is pleasant and dry. Like dried rose petals in a box, but not musty.

 

As for the 'wickedness': I do get something but I'm not entirely sure what. There's something vaguely dark. I don't really know how to explain this in a way that actually sounds good, but it gets this kind of earthy mushroom thing going in the background as it develops. In a good way. Maybe wet soil. I can't tell if that's my nose totally misinterpreting the note or what.

 

On me, decent throw and wear length. Especially long wear length in fabric because my wrists rubbed against my coat while the scent was still wet one time and hung around for weeks (I didn't try to remove it because it was nice).

[Aveya]

Sniff: Black dripping rose

Skin: SHEW rose. Nothing black or twisted about it just straight up ROSE.

 

Dry: There we go. Dark rose. It's still strong and deep, but fades back to give room for something damp, airy, and dark. I cuncur it's something myrrh-esq mixed in there. This phase though doesn't last long, and before I know it the rose is vanishing into my skin. Which is insane. This is ROSE we're talking about. The amper of all ampers. The world-taker. The End All... well you get the point.

 

Whatever is blended with this rose made it lose the ampage. Yay for those who dislike amp rose? But then there's not a lot left behind. Just a sort of musky dark warm-moist creepy thing.

 

Verdict: Strong black rose, drowned out by empty sorrow.

[AmberPanther]

It came to me as a frimp, and at first sniff I labeled it as "Roses, I like how the smell, but it's not my style of perfume" and then dismissed the case thinking of ancient grannies.

 

Later on, I was catching whiffs of it (on me it has a long life, and stays pure and sincere all the way) and each and every time, these roses surprised me pleasantly, made me think of an interesting feminine and distinguished but mysteriously magnetic woman. Probably the qualities London would have if it was a woman !

 

l love this fragrance , and it's excellent layered on top of any of my other favs (for instance Bewitched or Medea, that are my current crushes) it just sends a whiff here and there and makes me feel feminine and like I mean business. I cannot help but feel attractive when I have it on, and imagine that any man worth of this name would send me a second glance of admiration, curiosity and respect if they catch it around me...

 

Definitely very classy in a non-boring, actually quite hot kind of way.

[MolyH]

I love rose. Rose perfumes always work on me, and I've irresistibly ended up with a huge collection of rose scents. But this one? This one smells like rubbing alcohol. It's astringent and chemical and almost nose-burning, with only a hint of rose. Like someone had dripped a bit of rosewater into industrial cleaner. I have no idea what went wrong.