Roses are red
Violets are blue
They are actually purple
Color blindness has a prevalence of 7-10% in the male population
Red roses! The perfect way to tell your significant other “I know very little about your individual preferences” this Valentine’s Day! If you learn only one thing from this blog, let it be this: DO NOT EVER GIVE ANYONE RED ROSES. EVER EVER EVER. (But please learn at least one other thing, which is to not wear Aquolina Pink Sugar in public.) Red roses are about as impersonal a gift as it is possible to get. As Blazing Saddles’ Lili Von Shtupp says, “Red roses. How ordinary.” AND LILI VON SHTUPP IS ALWAYS RIGHT.
Rose perfumes, however, are a perfectly acceptable Valentine’s Day gift. They are less cliché than rose bouquets, and infinitely less likely to wilt after a week. They are also less likely to be eaten by your cats (although not by much). So today I’ll be reviewing some rose fragrances and, as my Valentine’s Day gift to my beloved readers, will be giving away three 10 ml roll-on bottles of Stella McCartney Stella. These are the ones in the pretty purple glass. I bought these myself at an outlet; they were not provided to me by any company. This giveaway is open to anyone, regardless of location. The three winners will be chosen randomly using random.org. To enter the giveaway, please leave a comment telling us your favorite rose perfumes or your Valentine’s Day plans.
Stella McCartney Stella
Rose fragrances are typically lush, womanly affairs. Stella, however, is a stark, severe rose scent. Stella is a rather steely perfume that just barely manages to stay on the right side of sharp. I like to wear it on days when I need to intimidate people. Goes very well with tightly pulled-back hair and an all-black outfit.
Ormonde Jayne Ta’if
A darker, drier rose with saffron and an amber dry down. The good news about this one, at least for those of you who hate sweet perfumes, is that it is not in the least bit sweet. There’s no vanilla, just saffron, rose, and amber. The bad news is that Ta’if is somewhat heavy and dense. But it’s certainly worth a try for anyone who prefers an oriental rose to a floral rose.
Bulgari Rose Essentielle
A terribly sensual honeyed rose. This is somewhat similar to Chloé Love, Chloé, but the Bulgari is softer and more refined. Despite the girly pink bottle, Rose Essentielle is a classic and sophisticated perfume best suited to a full-grown woman.
Diptyque Eau Rose
Eau Rose is a vivid tea rose scent with flashes of leafy greenery. It is bright, lively, and a little loud. I am not much of a rose fragrance aficionado, so it is possible that Eau Rose is not particularly unique and I am getting too worked up over it. However, until someone tells me otherwise, I am very impressed with Eau Rose.
L’Artisan Parfumeur Safran Troublant
The perfumes that we love best are often the ones for which we have the fewest words. I only have one for Safran Troublant: sublime. Safran Troublant combines the richness of saffron with a rose note so radiantly pure and clear that I initially mistook it for some strange new citrus. The dry down is pure sandalwood. Safran Troublant is the most expensive perfume I have ever owned, but I feel that the price is fair because there is nothing else like it. It is rapturously beautiful.
SCENTS OF SELF 
My favorite rose perfume is Stella, but I have never tried the roll on’s. I tried to wear Chloe, but it’s just too harsh of a rose. It almost gave me a headache. My Valentine’s Day will be a total surprise, but I hope he made reservations. 🙂
Love Chloe definitely seemed harsh in comparison to the Bulgari. I hope that you have a wonderful mystery Valentine’s Day!
You would think I would have given Stella a try by now, given that I am a hugh Paul McCartney fan. Stella is something I definitely wish to try. Thank you for the reviews on the other scents as well. I do love the OJ Ta’if and your description is right on. I tend to save Ta’if for occasions when I’m not in close quarters. I also love Teo Cabanel’s Oha. It tends to blossom the longer on the skin. Really elegant fragrance.
No Valentine’s Day plans yet, but I’m sure the BF and I will end up going out to dine.
Oh, I tried Oha recently and liked it too! I hope that you’ll get a chance to try Stella, I know that Ms. McCartney has a new perfume named L.I.L.Y. coming out soon too.
My favorite rose perfume is Stella, but I have never tried
Lots of Stella lovers on here today! Thank you for entering the giveaway!
I like the Juliette Has a Gun rose fragrances a lot, particularly Lady Vengeance. Citizen Queen is nice too, but it feels dressier and more grand than I ever am. Stella is also great and doesn’t feel as intimidating.
I still haven’t had a chance to try the JHAG line, they all sound awfully exciting (at least from the names). Thank you for entering the giveaway!
Dear Ari , I completely agree with your opinion of Safran Troublant, sublime is the only word. Unfortunately for me it disappears on me after about 20 seconds.
Oh no! The most beautiful things are always the most fleeting 😦 I have the same problem with Chanel 28 La Pausa.
I like Stella but it’s not really one of my fave roses. I’m a big rose person so it’s hard to choose even just a few favorite roses. My favorite rose perfumes tend to be either sweet or green hyper-realistic roses, I think. I’m not in love with many spicy roses.
I love Tauer’s Une Rose Vermeille, but it took me a while to really appreciate that one. But it’s aaaaaaamaaaaaaazing. I like Dawn Spencer Hurwitz’s Beach Roses for a nice salty summer rose. For a cheap rose thrill, I recommend L’Aromarine’s Rose, which basically smells like rosewater. By Kilian’s Liaisons Dangereuses has recently rocketed to the top of my rose list, too. I’ve only sniffed L’Ombre dans L’Eau briefly, but it is a very pretty green rose and I’d like to spend more time with it.
I really want to try Guerlain’s Nahema. I never have and I feel like it would be something I really love. It’s on my “must-try” list for 2012.
Yaaay! A rose lover to educate us! 🙂 Both of the Tauer roses sound really wonderful. I know that I have tried Nahema, but I have to say that I can’t remember much about it. I’m sure that says more about my memory than it does about Nahema!
Hands down, Portrait of a Lady by Dominique Ropion for Editions de parfums Frederic Malle. A really classy scent. 2nd place: Secrets de Rose by Parfums de Rosine. 3rd place: Rose 31 by Le Labo.
The wonderful Undina is giving me the opportunity to try Portrait of a Lady! I can’t wait to try this “really classy scent”!
… I think you’ll be captured!
To me it’s not that ‘classy’ … ‘ladylike’ rose at all … but a dark, bohemian, deep throbbing, blushing rose, almost embarrassing and voluptuous, like in the Henry James novel representing the complex psyque of Isabel Archer, and the dramatic tension of her character who is being trapped by conventional rules of deeply troubled ambivalent society despite her willing in finding freedom and happiness.
I think Dominique Ropion is always playing between the irresistibly sensual and the refined.
I have a sample of Czech and Speake’s Dark Rose, which plays around with the saffron + rose idea and adds oudh. When I first tried it, I wasn’t thrilled; however, I keep coming back to it and love the feeling of being mysterious when I wear it. I just looked and it’s not on luckyscent anymore! I hope I can find it later when I have a more disposable income…
I don’t comment on Makeup Alley, but I do read other people’s reviews, and I remember some really enthusiastic reviews of that Dark Rose. I’m sorry that it’s been removed from Luckyscent!
Ta’if may be my top rose scent, though I like all the ones you mention, except Eau Rose, which I just don’t know. However, until you tell me otherwise, I am also impressed by this one.
Other fave roses include PG Brulure de Rose, Rose Kashmirie, Lady Vengeance, most of the Agent Provocateurs and Armani Rose Alexandrie.
The wonderful Natalie of another perfume blog was going to make me a sample of Brulure de Rose, but her bottle broke during her recent move!! 😦
I’ve never tried Stella… but it definitely looks nice! My Valentine’s plans are to go out to eat with hubby and then off to a movie if it is not too late. Or out to eat, then a quiet night at home watching a movie. He works nights and I work days, so any time we get together is nice 🙂
Your Valentine’s Day plans sound great! I adore cozy nights in, and the important thing is that you’re making time for each other. Thank you for entering the giveaway!
These all sound great! My husband and I are spending our first Valentines Day together with a romantic candlelit dinner at home.
Mazal tov on your first Valentine’s Day together, Michelle! 🙂
I’m not much for rose fragrances, but I have fallen for two recently.
Samarkand by Possets is a spicy, resiny, full-blown rose, almost at the point when the petals are falling off.
Bollywood or Bust by Smell Bent goes on very “beery”-rosy to my nose, then settles down onto a base of warm, creamy wood.
“Bollywood or Bust” is such a great name! I’m really curious about the Smell Bent line, it seems like a lower-budget Etat Libre d’Orange.
I love this Stella one I got a couple of summers ago because it just smells like roses.
Stella is a lovely rose, isn’t it? Thank you for entering the giveaway!
My beloved rose is Tauer’s URC, followed closely by APOL . I briefly tried “L’Ombre dans l”eau” and liked it a lot
No plans for VD
thanks for the draw, Ari
Thank you for entering it, Irina! Lots of people are talking up the Tauer roses, I’ll have to try them soon.
I have to say, I really loved Eau Rose – it was just subtle, and very…just nice in the best possible sense of the word. You know my love with Liaisons Dangereuses is CLEARLY documented…so there’s that one!
From what you’ve said about Safran Troublant, I really want to try it! *What’s this strange new citrus? OH!! It’s rose!* EauMG’s Valentines entry really makes me want to try Sonoma Scent Studio Velvet Rose. I’m also dying to try Serge Luten’s Fumerie Turque.
Valentines Day – Al and I are really low key, plus I’m scheduled to work. (We really tend to make the big deal out of our Anniversary…) I’m sure he’ll send me some flowers to work (white roses..which are my favorite in all the land), and I’ll make him a mix cd of interesting love songs…last years had “The Bad Touch” by the Bloodhound Gang. Yes, ours is a love for the ages! 😀
Yes, Eau Rose was wonderful! And I would be more than happy to send you a sample of Safran Troublant!
Congratulations on your epic love for the ages- no amount of Valentine’s Day presents can create that if it’s not already there.
Yay! Thanks! I will gladly take that sample of Safran Troublant! 🙂
My favourite rose perfume is Quartz Rose by Olivier Durbano. His rose is not a sweet one, in fact it turns from green, to woody, to spicy, and so on. A brilliant masterpiece, it can be worn by men as well.
It sounds incredible, Rob!
You should try it!
That Stella bottle is gorgeous!
I’d love to try the Stella roll-on because although I’m very drawn to roses in real life — at least the real ones with a scent rather than those horrible florist roses that are indeed not desired at Valentine’s or any other time — I don’t currently have any real rose scents. Well, there is Cannabis Rose, but that’s more about the patchouli. And in the (far) past, I’ve leaned toward mossy roses such as Coriandre and loved the bath products of the powdery Ombre Rose. Since, as a dominant note, rose can sometimes go rather sharp or sour on me, I have tended lately to use rose more in bath or body products such as Thymes Kimono Rose.
My Valentine’s Day (week) plans are to play nurse for a friend who will have just come out of hospital following hip replacement surgery — they only keep patients three nights!
Then in March I’ll be doing that again for another friend. And later again for the first friend who has to have the other hip done once she heals from the first. Nothing like looking into one’s own future.
The Stella bottle is SO pretty. Stella McCartney usually releases a summer edition with an even more stunning bottle. http://www.fluxmagazine.com/index.php/beauty/sheer-stella-mccartney-perfume/
I hope that your friends’ hip surgeries go flawlessly, they are so lucky to have a wonderful friend like you taking care of them.
To me, the stunning masterpiece of all times is YSL’s Paris, to me there’s certainly no other stuff like that… although I haven’t owned a bottle since quite a long time, due to the reformulation ‘warning’ made by some bloggers. Despite all of them, though, I still ADORE Paris when I’m smelling it in the stores and in somebody! -when this happens, I don’t hesitate to compliment the perfume if I have the chance!-
For another womanly, allure&enveloping rose, I find FM’s ‘Portrait of a Lady’ gorgeouuus…
For a more minimalistic, quiet, mossy mysterious, greener faeric one… L’Ombre dans l’Eau’, by Diptyque, a charming one! And I love their ‘Ofresia’, too.
For a ‘bad girl’ one… Voleur de Roses by L’Artisan, which is basically the same that Lady Vengeance but more discrete.
Actual closet: my favorite classic rose (chypre smoky) is ‘Beautiful’ by Lauder, which is absolutely perfect, and layers perfectly with my second all time favorite rosey product: that’s Latte per il Corpo by SMnovella.
*Sorry, but I simply can’t stand Stella… I would like to… but instead I’ve got an intolerance to it, and it turns my stomach every time I get a whiff… There’s something inside that I find it too much sharp, extremely pungeant, and it annoys me terribly (I owned that bottle once and I had to give away… :()*
I’d love to enter in the giveaway of the other three, but if possible, not for Stella.
I still don’t know Ta’if, and that Dyptique’s Eau Rose either!! 🙂 Safran Troublant: always too much sniffs spent in others… and still no chance to pay the attention that it deserves!!
I knew the most glamorous Broadway singer who wore Paris. It was suggested to me as an alternative to Lipstick Rose, and it’s not quite that, but it’s wonderful on its own merit.
Don’t ever apologize for your nose! I agree that Stella is quite sharp, but that is part of its appeal for me.
🙂
To me, the closest thing to Lipstick Rose ever to exist, and certainly I consider it ‘Their Biological Parent’: is Lorenzo Villoresi’s Teint de Neige, a contemporary classic (a child born in the new millenium, year 2000), and in my opinion, a truly reference for the next years following its creation up to now.
I’d love to send you a sample in short, so please tell me if you already know that!
One thing I must say: and is that I never had the chance to try the Guerlain’s Méteorites perfume… 😦 so I hope Teint de Neige won’t be a new version of the classic Méteorites (since your description of this, I’m wondering about this question!)…
Thanks for the drawing! 😉
I have never tried Stella, but my very favorite is Rose Flaminca by Rosine. It is a bright yellow rose and neroli fragrance.
It sounds lovely, dremybluz! I was in the Parfums de Rosine store extremely briefly when I was in Paris this summer, but I don’t think I got a chance to try that one.
I love Safran Troublant, but I don’t think of it as a rose fragrance for some reason. I do love some fluffy roses – PG Brulure de Rose, L’Artisan Drole de Rose, and YSL Paris. Thanks for the drawing!
Right??? The rose note in ST doesn’t feel like a rose, just something clean and gorgeous. Thank you for entering the drawing! 🙂
LILI VON SHTUPP!!!
Love me some roses. No need to put me in the draw, though – I’m kinda stocked up on rose scents.
Funny, I was looking over your list and several of them I haven’t tried: Stella (I’m thinking the patchouli would probably kill me, though I could be wrong), the Diptyque (that one’s new, right?), and the Bulgari (haven’t run across it). Ta’if I owned a decant of, and loved, for about a year, and then one day I overdosed on it, four spritzes, and couldn’t bear to wear it again. Swapped away my decant. Don’t miss it. And Safran Troublant was very, very faint to my nose, so I didn’t love that one either.
So my favorite roses? Hm. Okay, I’ll toss out five picks:
1) Parfums de Rosine Rose d’Ete. Light, fruity-powdery summer rose – it smells like yellow roses to me, and those are my favorite, and they truly do have a fruity aspect to them. This isn’t FROOT, it’s a tiny bit of apple, and not Jolly Rancher Green Apple either. My first niche purchase three years ago, and still a favorite.
2) L’Arte di Gucci. Roses with thorns. Lots of thorns, all Estee Lauder Knowing on Miracle-Gro. Be careful, the roses might be cannibalistic. Sadly discontinued. Ungaro Diva is similar and still pretty good, BTW.
3) Gres Cabaret. Rosewater, a bit of incense, and a big pillowy musk like that in AG Heure Exquise. It’s nice on me, very friendly and undemanding, but absolutely captivating on The CEO.
4) SSS Velvet Rose. Big armfuls of dewy red roses, probably the closest thing to a fresh red rose that I’ve ever smelled in a bottle. Unsubtle, and perhaps just a bit cliche, but then in contrast to your injunction I’d TAKE red roses. (In terms of romantic gifts, a bouquet of red roses beats a dual alarm clock any day. As I said, I prefer the yellow ones anyway, but I’d still take red ones.)
5) (grits teeth. doesn’t want to choose just one more rose scent) Amouage Lyric Woman DSH Perfumes Rose Vert Caron Parfum Sacre YSL Paris Jacomo Silences.
CAN’T YOU SEE SHE’S EXHAUSTED????
Thank you for this wonderful list! I will have to try the Velvet Rose, it sounds so beautiful. I love yellow roses, too. Stella has no noticeable patchouli, so you might be safe.
The funny thing is that a fancy alarm clock is exactly what my mom bought herself this Christmas due to not being entirely satisfied with my dad’s present to her. (It was a Paul McCartney coffee mug. She doesn’t even like Paul McCartney!)
I love roses! And these are all excellent choices. I would add three: PG Brulure de Rose (so yummy!), SL Sa Majeste la Rose, and Montale saiid Queen Roses. Now all my favorite roses are in the same page together! Oh, well, maybe add JHAG Lady Vengeance too…. 😉
Thank you, Dee! Brulure de Rose has gotten at least three mentions now, I clearly need to try it.
I love love love Safran Troublant and I never even realized it had a rose note! Lol I do not particularly like rose scents, though the other day I was poking around my samples for a swap and found a by Killian Rose Oud and I have to say it is quite pretty, nothing I could wear, as it just doesn’t work on me, but quite pretty nonetheless. The dry down I liked better as the rose softened and the oud came to the forefront.
I wonder, does anyone make rose scents by color, like a yellow or lavender rose vs a red rose?
I’ve never heard of a line based on rose colors, but it sounds like a great marketing concept to me! Get on it, Sujaan! 🙂
It does sound like a great concept, if only I love roses enough to dedicate my life to them. I will happily pass along that idea to anyone intrigued enough by the idea to make it happen. 😊
Juliette Has a Gun Lady Vengeance is my favourite rose. I wore it for almost a month straight after purchasing it back in late November.
That was the one your fiancee loved too, right? I tried it very quickly at Scent Bar and remember finding it instantly pleasing.
Yeah, he’s really partial to rose fragrances for some reason. I think it’s because I was wearing Midnight Poison the night I told him I was interested in him even though I sort of loathe Midnight Poison these days. It’s so cloying. Lady Vengeance is a dark rose but very pleasant.
I love love love roses too. Too hard to pick an all-time favorite but my favorite rose that I own a full bottle of is Rossy de Palma.
My opinion on Etat Libre d’Orange changes every day, but I have to say that they pick the best celebrities to collaborate with!
Ha! I may be a non-entity, but I love me some red roses. As a matter of fact, the only time I would (and did) prefer white roses was at my wedding. I had a bouquet of all white roses.
And red roses are my faves for Valentine’s day 🙂 so send all your rejects to me — I won’t even care who they’re from 🙂 I hope it’s OK to disagree — I disagree with you on Jane Eyre as well 🙂
My hands down favorite rose are Hermes Rouge and Guerlain Nahema.
Sadly, I can’t wear Taif, nor can I wear L’Or de Torrente (rose and coffee) – they both share a note that comes across for me as something very unnatural. My nose registers it as a dangerous alien, screams “alarm, alarm” and next thing I know I’m in the shower washing the offending agent off. Never fails.
Among the Rosines I love Rose d’Amour, Rose d’Ete (I do get apples and pears with whiffs of roses though) and Secrets of Rose.
NO DISAGREEMENT ALLOWED ON THIS BLOG
JANE EYRE HATERS ONLY
I hope that you get some wonderful red roses for V-day, my dear non-entity! 🙂
You now have me terribly intrigued about L’Or de Torrente, even though you said it was unnatural- I love coffee so much that I must risk it anyway.
LOL, shoot, I better run for my life! 🙂 Red roses and Jane Eyre — what a lethal combo! 🙂
Oh, you absolutely should try L’Or de Torrente. I don’t think there’s even risk involved. I am a minority (NOT AGAIN!!) in smelling anything artificial in it. I smell the same note in Ta’if, so since you have no problem with it, you’re safe I should think.
Coffee and rose sounds absolutely wonderful to me as well! All my fave coffee scents would’ve been perfect with just that — a nice rose… sigh… L’Or should’ve been perfect! In a perfect world, I guess. I am sorry but I have no sample – I sent the rose samples that did not make me happy to a friend, the pack included L’Or de Torrente and Ta’if, and Ta’if broke in transit (the only time it happened to me so far, knock on wood!). It propelled my friend to buy a decant of it since the whole package smelled divine, as she reported 🙂
I’m into Tresor Midnight Rose by Lancome…that pretty fruit-‘flavoured’ mixin with sweety rose scents are adoorable and give me the feel that I’m a blooming orchard =)
Btw I’ve never tried Stella but always open to become a real charming flower*_*
I haven’t tried the Midnight Rose yet! That’s the one with Emma Watson in the ads, right?
I don’t really have many rose fragrances. I think Kelly Caleche would be the closest. Just got a sample of Safran Troublant and it is very nice – need to give that more skin time! And I should get out my sample of Lyric as well. I sniffed Eau D’Italie Paestum Rose in a shop some time ago and really liked it – a nice dirty rose. Way back in the day, I had a bottle of Perfumers Workshop Tea Rose, which is a super realistic rose.
Me and the husband are not the most romantic types, so we will probably have a low key V Day at home. He is incredibly sweet and crafty, so I may get something handmade. Last year’s valentines were cut out old school superhero valentines!
I honestly can’t imagine anything more romantic than old school superhero valentines. This isn’t sarcasm. I demand superhero valentines!
And you will have them!
http://phoenixpen.tumblr.com/post/3153212225/here-is-a-reason-i-just-cant-hate-valentines
Husband printed out the Aqauman and Plasticman ones and laminated them.
How about some darker rose scents. Rose d’Homme by Rosine is beautiful, so is a strange combination of dark/heavy/light Rose de Nuit by uncle Serge. Czech & Speake’s No 88 starts beautifully and so does the more masculine Domenico Caraceni 1913.
Just thought we should move over to the darker corner 🙂
Oooh, we’re steppin’ to the bad side! (Insert awful rendition of Dreamgirls here) Thank you for these dark suggestions!
I think you are one of a select few who doesnt want to get flowers on valentines day. I am getting my girlfriend roses, and they will probably be red. I also got her something else, but that’s a secret.
Oh no, I love flowers! Red roses are just not a particular favorite of mine. My favorite flowers are tuberose and bird of paradise. Your girlfriend sounds like a very lucky lady!
Don’t enter me into the drawing (but I think it’s very nice of you to hold it).
One of my favorite rose perfumes is mentioned above Portrait of a Lady (as you said, you’ll be able to try it soon 🙂 though I’m not sure if you’ll like it).
I love flowers but I completely agree with you about roses. Too impersonal. Unless somebody actually knows that the recepient LOVES red roses.
Red roses are, of course, wonderful! But they have just become such a cliché. I think white roses are probably the most reasonably safe choice these days.
I’m so excited to try Portrait of a Lady, thank you so much again for helping me to!
Dying to try Diptyque Eau Rose. I love a true rose scent. I often wear rose water but it’s scent has no staying power.
I like using rose water in pastries every now and then! The pastries have a great deal of staying power (on my hips, anyway 🙂 )
I really was committed to the idea that I loathed the smell of roses, now I see I don’t really hate them, it was just an uneducated prejudice. I keep finding myself returning to my sample of Paestum Rose again and again, maybe it’s the spice that keeps me coming back in spite of the rose? I’m almost ready to make a bigger purchase, but suspect there are more I should try before I make that commitment. (I was so anti-rose I almost refused to carry my wedding bouquet when it was delivered and was full of ivory ROSES, when I had expressly, in bridezilla fashion, demanded that there be NO roses at all, not a one, not even a bud, blah blah blah. Glad I outgrew that phase…)
Ooooh, a rose diva bridezilla! I love it! I just heard another perfume blogger praise Paestum Rose the other day, it sounds really wonderful.
My favorite rose perfumes are Ta’if, Drole de Rose, and Agent Provocateur. Thanks for the giveaway!
Thank you for entering it, Katherine! I’m so thankful to Natalie of Another Perfume Blog for giving me the opportunity to try Ta’if and some other Ormande Jayne fragrances.
I feel like the Rose Essentielle really doesn’t get the love it deserves. It’s such a perfect scent to me! Sophisticated, elegant, understated but still sexy, never boring, just beautiful.
I agree that it’s the scent of a full-grown woman – Grace Kelly comes to mind, graceful and glamorous but more approachable than, say, Marlene Dietrich.
I’m not that woman, but wearing this makes me feel like I could be.
What a lovely description, Luisa! I wholeheartedly agree, Rose Essentielle is really wonderful. I actually like it more than the original Bulgari Pour Femme.
(please don’t enter me, as I’ve previously won on your site and want to share the love with others. btw, I’m loving the daily posts! Keep it up!)
Ta’if is my favorite rose, followed closely by Rose Ikebana. I agree that Ta’if can be a bit heavy, but on my skin, there’s this slight touch of orange blossom that gives it a tinge of sparkling light. I get compliments on this one more than most others that I wear (great sillage is probably part of that).
Oooh, I’ll have to try Rose Ikebana next time I’m at a Hermes boutique (which, God willing, will be sometime soon!) Thank you so much for the encouragement! 🙂
I need to get to one myself to try the Santal. They have stupid hours though (they close at 6?) so have to remember to go on the weekend.
How could I forget Ikebana? It is a delightful light rose – definitely my favorite rose!
Um…well, let me put it this way: if a man wants to give me red roses, I will NOT turn them down! They are certainly better than a bottle of applejack (which my husband gave me one Christmas. I don’t drink applejack. If anything could say “I’m shooting in the dark here”, that gift certainly did). I’m not a fan of rose soliflores, but I do like YSL Paris. The violets tone down the cloying aspects of rose. I wouldn’t mind trying Stella’s “dark” take on the rose – thanks for the drawing!
LOL! My mom had a very similar gift experience this Chanukah- my father bought her a Paul McCartney coffee mug. She doesn’t particularly like Paul McCartney. Oy vey.
Have you tried Frederic Malle Lipstick Rose, Patty? I think it’s the ultimate rose-and-violet scent.
My favorite rose perfume ever has got to be Paul Smith Rose. The combination of violet and green tea notes with rose is just amazing. To me it’s the most romantic perfume that i’ve ever owned. I don’t know I always connect rose scents with romanticism. haha! I love wearing it with pink dresses and whenever I wanted to go out feeling more feminine than usual. Thanks for the drawing!
Ooh, that sounds wonderful! Paul Smith is somewhat difficult to find on this side of the pond, but now I’ll know to look out for that very unique-sounding one. Thank you for entering, Lia!
Is a weird contraction for me because I do not enjoy roses when I receive them as a gift. I mean the ones in flower shop because they have no smell and they are overrated. The big contradiction here comes because one of my favorite perfumes of all times is also Stella. I have only a few ml on the bottom of a bottle and I cherish it and use it on very special occasions. Another favorite of mine but much more cheaper is Yardley English Rose. The bad part about this is that being so cheap it smells only as roses for the start to the end, it has no layers. As for Valentine’s Day I do not celebrate it cause in our country we have another holiday similar to this one- Dragobete but on 24th of February.
Doesn’t strike me as a contradiction at all, Simona! Do you have limited access to Stella in your country? Even if you don’t win the drawing, I am happy to try and help you find some!
Maybe you are right because in a perfume you have top, middle and base notes and these switch your attention from one note to another and never let you get bored. I believe that what I like in Stella is not necessarily the rose, but the peony or the amber note. These make this perfume simple but in the same time sophisticated. When I wear it I feel just like a Holly Golightly.I think that Stella will be the perfume that I will wear on my wedding day, that’s how much I love it. Ari, thanks a lot! You are so kind! Usually I prefer buying my perfume online because they are way cheaper than in department stores (sephora included – this must be one of the most expensive in our country). Sorry for getting carried away and thanks for the giveaway.
I’m rather partial to YSL’s Paris. I have to be in just the right mood for it, though, because the combination of roses and violets is so completely feminine that I can’t pull it off all the time. I’m more of a jeans and blouse kind of person, and if I wear Paris when I’m wearing jeans, I can feel it judging me. Thanks for the give-away!
Will just be staying home and making a nice dinner for my husband! lilsis_75@hotmail.com
Oh what a lovely post – reminds me that I may just have to get a small bottle of Safran Troublant. It smells a bit like a sweet Indian dessert, so it’s not too surprising that I love it so much. Come to think of it, I don’t usually go for such gourmand fragrances – I suppose this one just teeters on the edge of gourmand.
My favorite rose, however, has to be By Kilian Rose Oud. Sadly, I do not own a bottle due to the outrageous price. Maybe someday…
I’ve never tried any rose perfume though I love rose smell 🙂
I will use rose essential oil in an oil burner in my room. It’s a very feminine scent.
Anyway, since I am still single, I guess Valentine will be an ordinary day to me.
I actually quite like rose scents from L’occitane.
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