White Rose

[CynicalPink]

White rose buds, with vanilla tea, benzoin, orris, coconut meat, and frankincense.

Imp:

Wet: The idea of a white rose. It's soft and sweet and ethereal.

Drydown: The vanilla tea is sweet and the rosebuds are a great team. The rosebuds must be bringing in the green-ness. Not getting much coconut, but the creamy feel is still there.

Drydown: This is wonderful. Looks like I need to get a unity set. Edited April 13, 2009 by Shollin

[jessu]

This is very light! I get mostly coconut and benzoin, which is sad because I love coconut and it so rarely loves me back!

 

I don't think I would ever wear this on it's own. Even though it is so light, I still find it to be cloying and headache-inducing.

 

[catattack]

Wet: Smells sweet and tart. This is starting out a fruity scent, not a floral scent. I am not smelling any florals yet.

Drydown: I'm beginning to smell something green. Somrthing about this reminds me of Obatala. Maybe it's the coconut meat.

Overall: This is really good. At the end, a tiny bit of floral popped up, but it's mostly a sweet coconut scent on my skin.

[voodoocatwoman]

I get a creamy vanilla with a hint of rose. Lovely.

[thelaurenator]

Nice! I'm definitely getting sweet white rose, coconut and benzoin. It's very very light and feminine-- a bit too wallflowery a scent for me all by itself, but with red rose this is just gorgeous! It really mellows out red rose and turns it into a really unusual, refreshing rose blend.

[tapestry]

In the bottle, I actually find that I don't smell very much at all. Not so with Red Rose, which is spicy and strong -- White Rose is soft and barely there. Wet, however, is another story entirely. The listed vanilla tea is, as so many others have already mentioned, very Dorian. It lacks the added twang of musk or fougere, and where those notes are in Dorian, in White Rose we have -- surprise! -- a pale and soft rose.

 

I love the smell of real roses, but in perfume I'm usually a bit hesitant. White Rose lands me in middle ground territory since it doesn't smell real to me and does in fact make me think of perfumey roses, but not in a way which is actually unpleasant. At first I was unable to pick up any kind of coconut, but after huffing my wrist a couple of times I think that it's there... just faint and in the background, rounding the scent out without making its presence known. That's clever as hell, IMO, because it prevents things from getting too cloying or so over-the-top feminine that I get the vapors.

 

When it comes to identifying notes that aren't common as dust... er, well, I'm piss-poor at it. So I can't find much of the frankincense, orris or benzoin in this blend -- it's too sweet, too pale and airy. Drydown sees White Rose turning a bit creamy, and methinks that might be the vanilla and coconut more than anything. It's sweet and girlish, something I would encourage ladies to wear in the springtime with cotton dresses and bare feet. I haven't layered this with Red Rose yet -- that'll come after wearing both blends separately -- so I'll update my review to reflect those thoughts later.

[jewelbug]

Bottle: Coconut crème and pale rose. Gorgeous and sweet and feminine and gentle! I’d say its “angelic.”

 

Wet: Very similar to the bottle. A smooth creamy coconut underscored by gentle clean flowers.

 

Drying: A powdery sharper scent comes out—like a rooty amber—I realize that its the orris making its presence known. This is orris covered by a creamy delicious coconut creme. The orris and coconut combo make this feel like a fine white velvet.

 

Dry: Settles into a soft fuzzy orris and gentle vanilla/coconut scent. If I had my way, I’d rename this White Orris, and that’s fine with me, as I generally like orris more than rose. Its really lovely. Occasionally I feel like there is a deep berryish tone wisping round the edges.

 

Special Notes: Combined with its partner, Red Rose, this is equally beautiful. The combo provides a perfect balance of sexy spicy rose musk and pure, sweet coconut orris, and I swear I get a light berry tone from it. Awesome creation!

 

[Lamia]

I can see why everyone loves this one.

 

Soft, delicately sweet, with lemon. It's drops of fresh-squeezed lemon mixed with white sugar into a paste before adding to lemonade, at a table beside a lush rosebush, on a warm summer day. The roses are soft, the lemons sweet, and it's heady without being dizzying. This is the scent a fragile woman should be wearing, like Meiglan from the Sunrunner series, but it also smiles with the reminder that lemonjuice burns, and roses have thorns.

 

I will be going to a wedding this afternoon, and am eagerly anticipating layering with this scent's mate, Red Rose.

[edenssixthday]

White Rose - Oh wow! I had no idea this would smell so good! This decant has been sitting in my pile for a long time, totally untested because I didn't feel particularly compelled by it. I've been really missing out! The first thing I smell when I open the vial is the white rose, followed immediately by the scent of sweet tea. After I apply it and it's been on my skin for a couple of minutes, I can smell the coconut meat, and the sweet tea takes on more of an identifiable vanilla note. The vanilla-tea is the strongest note, with the rose and coconut tied for second place. This is a fairly subtle fragrance, not overpowering in the least. It's feminine and sweet, and the type of fragrance I tend to prefer to wear a lot in the spring and summer. I'm so glad I finally tried this one!

 

[papermaker]

This is the the creamy feminine one of the two roses. It is the tea from Dorian mixed with coconut. Way deep under the mix of the tea and cocumut is a beautiful soft rose. This makes me happy.

[ForeverLastcXs]

I rarely ever go for rose blends because they often go horribly wrong on me, but I'm really glad I sprang for the Unity set. White Rose is not offensive on me at all - in fact, it's smooth, creamy, feminine, delicate and pretty. I love it! I never thought I'd say that about a rose blend! I think what really makes the difference here are the supporting notes, especially the coconut. They all keep the rose from beating me over the head and going all old-lady-musty. I'm so glad this worked on me, because it's an amazing scent.

[gingiemay]

The white rose seemed thin and powdery to me, and the coconut turned sour. The first time I tried it I got a fearsome headache. Thankfully my skin seemed to drink it up and it was gone after two hours or so. I'm sad I struck out on the Rose set because I loved the idea and hoped to blend the two, alas it was not meant to be.

[Aldercy]

But... but... I HATE rose! This can't be happening to me! Damn your eyes, BPAL!*

 

White Rose is WONDERFUL.

 

It's angelfood cake topped by airy whipped cream, enjoyed with a warm Dorian-like tea... dewy, soft rose petals scattered throughout. It's not powdery or sugary or seriously floral, just incredibly rich and layered. This is what seraphim and demi-gods smell like. *faints into the arms of White Rose*

 

 

 

*Not really.

[cranberry]

Wet, this smells of creamy milky rose water. Vanilla too. It smells like a fluffy, sweet cloud. There’s a faint aquatic note here, not salty, but maybe just slightly of the ocean.

 

Now that it’s dry, there’s the sweet vanilla tea. It does remind of Dorian. It still has that sense of being fluffy and whipped, if anything it’s even stronger. Quite lovely really. I’m glad I got the Unity set. I debated as rose can often go horribly wrong. Luckily both there and in Red Rose, it stays lovely and sweet. I prefer Red Rose and they are gorgeous layered together.

[isisonearth]

Imp: Sweet and creamy with just the slightest sharp edge.

 

Wet: A delicate almost foodie rose like frosting made with rosewater.

 

Dry: Enticingly sweet and girly. Just a hint of musky orris keeps it interesting. I actually don't get much rose at this stage, more vanilla cream.

[Monster]

I was very lucky to snag the Unity set from a lovely forum member.

In the bottle: Very similar to Antique Lace...just not as musky (much nicer actually).

 

Wet: Orris at first and very quickly after I smell beautiful vanilla mixed with just the faintest bit of rose and coconut. Maybe my nose is playing tricks on me but I think I may smell amber in this. Wow, gorgeous. I can't stop sniffing my hand. This is like a smoky, vanilla rose incense.

 

Dry: This hasn't changed much, all of the notes sort of just settle into my skin and meld together creating a beautiful, resinous vanilla with just a hint of rose. There's the slightest bit of powderyness which makes me think amber MIGHT be in this but...that could also be the orris.

 

Overall: LOVE! This isn't white rose, but more of an interpretation...and a beautiful one. Something about this reminds me of MB: Underpants and Antique Lace with just a drop of rose. I will cherish my bottle.

[topazphoenix]

This is quite faint on my skin. Coconut meat and frankincense with a little bit of rose peeking its head through This is pretty but indiscernible, and in my mind serves as the support of the pair of Red and White Roses when I layer them. It adds weight and an underlying smooth sweetness.

[fairnymph]

Light golden oil.Sweet and creamy, a rich ivory sort of feel that's kept from being too rich by the brightness of the rose and the fresh, citrusy-piney tea note. I get a surprising amount of lovely vanilla, a bit of darker honeyed benzoin, surprisingly LITTLE creamy-sweet white coconut, softly white and only very faintly powdery orris. The rose note is there and doesn't smell like typical white rose to me (which is often sour and or soapy), but gentle and girly, and fortunately I get no frankincense at all!

 

Not much different, but the tea note amps and makes this blend seem less sweet overall and much fresher and lighter, which I enjoy. A little more rose, but still very soft and light and youthful - not a rose to overpower by any means. Sniffing more closely I get a bit more depth and heavier sweetness from the benzoin but it seems to meld with sweet, pure and creamy vanilla. The orris is a touch stronger but still behaving and not turning powdery on me - in fact, I LIKE the very subtle powdery edge it has. I really cannot pick out any coconut, and I have to struggle to pick out the frankincense, which isn't really distinct as such, but there is bit of darkness here with a smoky-sweet edge which must be due to it. I am very pleasantly surprised by this blend for many reasons!

 

Wow, my skin seriously ate this up. It does not appear to have morphed much, other than the orris amping and turning a tad more powdery - still pleasantly - the sweetness, rose & tea fading a bit and still not coconut or frankincense to be found, thank god - there is depth, but it is in no way something I would blindly attribute to frankincense or any dark resin. It's a pretty 'medium' weight scent, with the resins providing some depth, the tea and rose some brightness, and the sweet and creamy aspects round it all out and keeping it firmly middling. I am just testing Roses, Pearls and Diamonds on the other arm, which has a very similar note profile and they do smell very similar - but this is sweeter, less rosy, gentler and fainter and more a matte white feel. The tea presence, lack of musk and the faintness of the rose are what makes this scent noticeably distinct from RPD, though they are clearly still sisters.

 

Gradually, the orris seems to amp into the strongest and most distinct note, though it never goes truly powdery. I think I am beginning to rather LIKE orris! *shock* This has become a very well-blended and seamless scent, like its sister RPD, and so no other notes pop out overtly. But if I hunt for them, I can find a bit of of soft white rose, truly like baby buds and a unique rose note to my nose - really lovely, but woefully faint. More strongly I can pick out the vanilla tea, which has merged into a whole note, as opposed to the initial vanilla + tea. The tea has only a faint whisper of its initial crispness, and is a smoother, rounder note now that blends beautifully with the delicately sweet and creamy vanilla, backed up by a bit of faintly honeyed, softly sweet benzoin depth. Really sniffing hard I get a tiny, tiny bit of coconut but not enough to bother me, and still no frankincense. This is unique from any other blend I own, and I think I need a bottle. Low throw and rather fast to fade - definitely a slatherer.

 

Totally shocking how wonderful this turned out to be. I am utterly amazed! Yet again - why one should try EVERY blend.

[Lorelai1945]

In the bottle I smell a soft, semi-sweet floral tea. It's lovely. There's also a smidgie of vanilla there somewhere. I can draw a connection between this and Dorian in the cool, tea feeling. When wet on the skin, this reminds me even more of Dorian. Definitely sugared tea (only not as sweet as Dorian and not as much vanilla) with some florals. It's very pretty and feminine. Actually, at this stage, I think this scent is the child of Dorian and Sybil- it smells like an exact mix of the two. The more dry this becomes, the more I get rose from it, to the point where it's almost single-note white rose. It's relatively soft, and it's one of the prettiest roses I've come across, but I wish my skin wouldn't eat all the sweetness and any trace of vanilla there was. Once it's been dry for a long time, I get a bit of the sweetness and tea back, but it stays mostly rose. Sometimes I sniff and get a lot of rose and sometimes I get some of the tea and sweetness. I'm going to keep testing because I really want to love this one.

[blueroses]

This is almost super, a creamy vanilla white rose. I was hoping for more frankincense, but it's almost absent on me. Coconut does funky things on me though so the scent goes buttery, which I don't like. A little bit of tea peeps out as I wear this, reminding me of Dorian. There was something cloying about Dorian that made me ultimately sell my bottle, and it's bothering me here too. I wish this had worked but alas it doesn't.

 

With Red Rose:

 

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

[absinthetics]

I just finally decided to let this one and her sister go. From both of these blends I do get rose. I'm relatively sure my skin amps rose in general, which is one of the reasons I rarely purchase blends with it (and thus can't remember exactly why haha). This blend is very interesting, and the coconut is there in a Tiki Princess way. Similarly you can smell the vanilla as she peeks out on dry down. This is one of the best Rose blends I have ever smelled, but.. she's still rose!

[Ghost of a Rose]

I was delighted to find a decant set of this and its companion scent Red Rose from another forumite!

 

In the imp: Clear, bright yellow oil. The scent is vanilla with florals when I sniff the imp. When I sniff the wand, I get a very bright impression - I'm guessing the benzoin?

 

On me, wet: It has a lovely light, bright, and floral scent in the first seconds. Then the vanilla kicks in and it becomes a deeper, warmer scent. Vanilla and florals with the spiciness of frankincense in the background. The vanilla note continues to strengthen as it dries.

 

On me, just dried: I'm not picking up any actual rose note, just some generic florals. I'd call this a vanilla blend, rather than a rose blend. It seems almost buttery - maybe that is just something my mind associates with vanilla? I can get a hint of the coconut if I try, but it's mostly submerged in the vanilla. When I smell my wrist, the color image I get is golden rather than white. But I do get the sense of purity, and I enjoy the cleverness of all the white ingredients in this.

 

After 30 minutes: All vanilla and butter. I'm not getting any floral note at all anymore.

 

After 1 hour: Pretty much the same. But the vanilla has lightened up a little, so that if I try really, really hard I can pick up the faintest hint of rose. I'm hoping for rose and frankincense on the final drydown.

 

After 2 1/2 hours: The scent is very faint now. And yes, it's about half frankincense. But the other half is still vanilla.

 

Verdict: Nice, but not really me. I expected a rose blend, and I barely picked up any rose note at all in this. I'm not a fan of vanilla-based blends. I don't dislike vanilla, but even in food I find it rather boring - best used as a base for other more interesting flavors rather than the only flavor (such as in the cakes and whipped cream for strawberry shortcake.) And I don't care for it as the main note in perfumes. The last thing I want is to walk around smelling like I've been eating cookies and white cake all day long. Still, this fragrance is pleasant enough, and I'm sure that the many people who love the scent of vanilla would love this.

It will be very interesting to see what this is like when layered with the Red Rose as it was designed to be!

 

My rating: 3 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

[WidgetAlley]

Bottle: A sweet white rose rather like Katrina Van Tassel, and dusty orris, bitter frankincense, dry coconut, and sweetly creamy, tangy vanilla tea along with a hint of resiny goodness.

 

Wet: At first blush this is a creamy, citrussy white rose strongly backed by resinous vanilla and sharp tea. After a moment the frankincense, coconut and orris come out to play, giving the whole thing a dry, perfumey edge. This isn't the lush gorgeous floral I thought it would be, it's actually kind a still, quiet scent, feminine but a bit reserved.

 

Dry: This dries down into a lovely, soft rose and vanilla-tea scent, but sadly the frankincense and orris are just a bit too strong and make it go slightly sour. Sad panda! Oh well, I'll always have Katrina van Tassel.

[angelamaria]

In bottle: oh beautiful rosy vanilla. There is a high rose note at the end as well, pure and white. A slight sweet coconut meat note too, if I think about it.

 

Wet on skin: beautiful white rose and creamy vanilla. There is a hint of plastic though--we'll see if it will develop, right now it's quite indistinguishable. The rose IS powdery, but it's not overwhelming the scent and I can still get the rose somehow too.

 

Dry: faintly rosy vanilla. Beautiful and understated and elegant. Later on, I'm quite wowed by the drydown of this vanilla, an Antique-Lace-y quality that's fabulous. Sadly, a little bit further from this stage, my old nemesis the rose just steals everything away again, and I'm left with a faintly rosy powder.

 

Verdict: I included this in my keepers for a while, but after maybe three all-day uses I've had to bow my head in defeat: the rose just won't let things be. It's a very beautiful scent while it lasts, though!

[stubbornfire]

A very sweet, feminine scent. It's largely rose and vanilla, when it's first on and as it dries. Once it does, however, it gets to be a bit harder to pick out notes separately? They mix very well. I don't know what orris or benzoin smell like, but there's almost a candy sort of sweetness to this when it's dried that I'm chalking up to the benzoin after having googled its uses.

 

There's... kind of.. kind of a something in the background I know must be the frankincense, but I don't get the usual 'frankincense' smell from it. It's sort of like if there was a vanilla ice cream cone scented incense stick. I don;t get any sort of coconut anything, which is fine; this is a sweet, light-hearted perfume just as it is. Something I'd wear in the summer maybe, to an amusement park or something.