Red Rose

[Aldercy]

Red rose buds, with amber, clove, tonka, Indian musk, fir, and tobacco.

White Rose is one of my all-time best rose scents (coming from someone who "doesn't like" rose), and now I find that Red Rose is coming along pretty close behind it. Haven't layered yet, but am very interested to do so.

This is a throbbing, deep, medieval sort of perfume, kind of gritty and spicy but with a little dollop of velvety, woodsy rose oil thrown in. It doesn't have a wide throw and stays shadowy and close to the skin. The clove doesn't actually smack me in the face... in fact, no one note does. It seems very well-blended. I'm really liking it. Edited July 16, 2010 by Aldercy

[NicoleJoy]

Oh my gosh, I *adore* this scent! I'm not typically a rose girl per se, but the rose blended with the spicy cloves and the rich tonka... I think I've died and gone to heaven! This is sexy and sensual. I can see myself getting a ton of use out of it! This scent is *very* well-blended. I don't amp the rose like I expected to, but I'm not amping the cloves either. Instead, it's this utterly perfect, beautiful blend.

[blu°]

This must be the most masculine rose I've smelled so far. It's still pretty wearable for women, but somehow the character of the rose is the least feminine I've encountered. Say, even in rose blends that are supposed to work for boys, such as Thanatos, if you concentrate on the rose, the single note carries this femininity with it. So, femininity is a part of those blends in form of the rose. It's not like that in here at all.

 

The red rose has a very different character... I lack the words to describe it... strong, stately, refined, distached, unmoved, steadfast... with a backbone...

 

The second strongest note to my nose is the clove and it works perfectly with that red rose note.

 

I cannot make out any of the other notes, but I guess the fir, tobacco and Indian musk add to the masculinity of the scent while amber and tonka smooth out the edges.

 

I really like this, and I love it in combination with White Rose. Those two really smell perfect when worn together.

[blueroses]

Sweet clove-y red rose. A little spicy, fir undetectable on me. I like this much more than I thought I would, better than White Rose. This does not strike me as particularly masculine.

 

With White Rose:

 

I like both scents individually but weirdly don't like them together very much. It's all clove and coconut on me.

[absinthetics]

Spicy, cardamom rose. Very lovely as I adore spicy. The rose is certainly still there but, like her sister, if I had to wear any rose scents, these would be them. She does go babypowdery on me though, in the way that Storyville did ; ;, something similar about them in the background in the spices and babypowder morph.

[calivianya]

I agree that Red Rose is a "masculine" sort of rose. I usually don't like scents without some kind of strong sweetener - honey, sugar, vanilla, etc. - but this is delicious. I also don't much like rose, so this is a rule-breaker in more than one way. It is mostly clove and rose on me, with a hint of fir. While it's drying down, it smells extremely Christmas-y to me, so much that I almost thought I wouldn't be able to wear this any other time because it would be too weird. However, it leaves that stage pretty quickly and just stays a spicy rose. This is definitely more of a cold weather scent than a warm weather one, so I predict it will see much more use in the fall. I like it.

[Ghost of a Rose]

I was delighted to find a set of decants of this and its companion scent, White Rose, from another forumite! A big thank-you to her!

 

In the imp: Oil is a clear, light golden brown. Amber and musk with rose. If I sniff the wand, the rose is the dominant scent.

 

On me, wet: Again, rose is the dominant scent, but is closely followed by amber, musk, and clove; with tonka pulling up in the distance. Ooh, this is beautiful!

 

On me, just dried: Clove takes over and now rose is second; then all the others.

 

After 10 minutes: Same as above, but now with the addition of a slightly smoky tobacco, like really good pipe tobacco. So far I haven't noticed the fir.

 

After 20 minutes: It's gone powdery, like spicy clove with rose-scented powder and a hint of smoky tobacco. BTW, I don't consider powder a bad thing.

 

After 1 hour: The same as above, just softer.

After 3 hours: Still the same, but more faded.

After 4 hours I can still smell it a little.

 

Verdict: I love this one! Rose is clearly noticeable, but some of the other notes share the spotlight equally with the rose. I never did pick up the fir, but that's okay because there are plenty of other notes to add interest to the rose. The clove and the smoky tobacco are a great combination with rose. And it lasts longer on my skin than many of the BPAL perfumes.

 

My rating: 5 stars

 

Later ETA: Layered

Red Rose and White Rose were designed to be worn together as well as separately.

 

On me, wet: The vanilla from the White Rose overpowered everything else when I put them on in equal amounts (1 drop of each.) So I added another drop of Red Rose and now they are nicely balanced. Vanilla, rose, amber, and musk are the dominant scents, but I am already picking up some of the spice from the Red Rose.

 

On me, just dried: The vanilla is still the strongest, but the other notes have enough oomph to keep it from being obnoxious or overly foody. The musk and the spice from the Red Rose blend very nicely with the vanilla from the White Rose.

 

After 20 minutes: The spice has come out much more strongly and helps to tone down the vanilla. I am liking this more and more as drydown progresses.

 

After 35 minutes: Still getting better - now the vanilla has come into equal balance with the clove, amber, and musk. I prefer vanilla in a perfume to be a subtle accent in the background, though, not one of the main players.

 

After 50 minutes: Now we're talking! The vanilla has subsided into the background just where I wanted it, and the fragrance is gorgeous now. It's clove, amber, and musk, with just a hint of vanilla and coconut to add creaminess. It's almost the perfect scent - if only I could still smell the rose. It never was the main note, and it got lost completely somewhere along the way.

 

After 1 hour: It's gone powdery, but still very beautiful. In fact, I like the powdery aspect - it makes the fragrance softer, gentler, more feminine.

 

After 2 hours: Still there, but much fainter.

 

Verdict: I like this better than the White Rose alone, but not as much as I like the Red Rose alone, until an hour has passed. For the first hour on my skin, it's still too much vanilla - and it's never enough rose - for me. After an hour, I do like the layered combo even more than Red Rose alone. Next time I'll try 3 drops of Red Rose to 1 drop of White Rose. Or better yet: 2 drops of Red Rose, 1 drop of White Rose, and 1 drop of a strongly-rose-scented or single-note-rose oil to give the rose more presence. Although that might be waaay too much perfume. I should mix up my own custom scent of these in an empty imp and then just use a drop or two of it.

 

My rating for the layered combo: 5 stars

Edited September 23, 2011 by Ghost of a Rose

[Ajila]

In the bottle - An almost candied rose scent

 

Wet on me - A harsh dry fir underneath the soft rose petals

 

Dry on me - A soft clean incemsy note, with a faint touch of rose

 

Overall - On me the rose just got overwhelmed. Not to my taste

[ziggystardust13]

I love this scent. Its sweet, spicy, sexy, and sophisticated. The clove keeps the rose in check, which can sometimes take over on my skin. It's beautifully blended. This has instantly become one of my favorite bpal scents!

[LiberAmoris]

Red Rose is an achingly gorgeous blend of rose, amber, clove, Indian musk, and fir—with tonka and tobacco subtly supporting. I'm down to a few drops from my bottle and I'll be so sad when it's gone! It's a great incensey, meditative rose. Whenever I wear it, I feel focused and alert, but also very relaxed. I would love, love, love to see this come back at some point, in any form.

[theseagrows]

right off i think i get the indian musk, clove and a hint of rose. it smells dry and spicy to me. after a minute or two i get the amber and maybe a liiiitle bit of tobacco. this is such a pretty scent, reminds me of some older BPALs from my past that were loved. in essence, this is a spicy, clovey rose. love it.