Blood Rose

[countessmouse]

Sensual, robust, and silken: voluptuous red rose bursting with lascivious red wine and sultry dragon’s blood resin.

No rose at all here. Just a cloying mix of grape and resin. Bleh.

[boxinghelena]

I love the smell of roses so much but most rose scents tend to turn soapy on me like in Harlot. I was hoping Blood Rose would have the rose that's in Rose Red or The Peacock Queen. Thank goodness I think it's a similar rose because it's amazing on me! I definitely get the wine too, not so much dragon's blood.

 

This is a keeper!

~

[lilyliza]

In the bottle: An intriguing mix of rose and wine with just a little tang of dragon's blood.

 

Wet: Rich wine with rose and dragon's blood behind it. Soon the rose takes center stage, and the effect is a beautiful, deep rich rose. Then the dragon's blood really comes into play and it's just smoky-sweet seduction. Very beguiling.

 

Drydown: It continues to morph as each note comes to the surface, but each incarnation is sweet but mature, rich but not overdoing it. It settles on a wine-centered scent complemented by powdery rose and a light base of dragon's blood.

 

I love it. It's a very attractive and unique scent.

[JunkieCosmonaut]

When I first put it on it smelled powdery, 15 minutes later and it smells amazing. I can't even describe the scent, floral and cool maybe? It's fascinating! I keep sniffing my wrists

 

5/5

[yakiguri]

Looks like I amp wine, as all I smell on my wrist is grape. Blegh.

[sabrebabe]

In the bottle: definitely the deep red rose and red wine hit first, in that order. I can even feel the “bite” of the wine in my nose. No sign of the dragon’s blood.

On the skin wet: oh, there’s the dragon’s blood. Lightly, though, still overpowered by the wine and the rose.

Dry: The rose has won out over the wine for strength, and the dragon’s blood seems to have disappeared completely.

20 minutes: slightly soapy rose smell, but it’s all gone now. In fact, all I have left is a very light hint of rose soap. Very nice overall scent in the beginning, but there’s nothing to show for it.

 

I am verklempt. This was such a lovely one in the beginning. Into the Trade pile for you.

[Ghost of a Rose]

In the imp: I don't notice the rose. Mostly it's dragon's blood (somewhat fruity), with a bit of headiness that must be the wine, but without any sourness or fermentation. The oil is a beautiful pale brownish pink.

 

On me, wet: Same as above at first, but the rose starts to come out as it dries.

 

On me, drydown: Now it's so perfectly balanced that it doesn't come across as either a fruity nor a rosaceous scent, just its own lovely self. There's a bit of spiciness. It's gentle. I could probably get away with using 2 drops rather than my usual 1 for essential oils.

 

After a couple of hours: What remains of the scent is just a hint of spicy resin. This doesn't last as long on me as most essential oil perfumes. I might want to tuck the imp in my purse for reapplications.

 

Verdict: I wanted a rose fragrance, and I didn't get that. I can smell a little rose, but I don't think that anyone else around me would notice rose if they didn't know it was in the perfume I was wearing. But that's okay, because it is a lovely scent anyway. It's sophisticated - a designer scent that is unique to itself rather than smelling like something identifiable. I don't perceive it as sexy (as per the description); to me it is elegant and classy instead. It would be very appropriate for professional or dressy occasions. I'm really glad I got it even though it turned out to be something different than what I expected.

 

My rating: 4

[Maleficium]

Imp: first thing I smelled was wine.

 

wet: the rose immediately wakes up and jumps out of the bottle of wine. not in an intrusive way either. it smells resiny and soft, and quite wonderful!

 

dry: resin, and soft rose. A delicately powerful and sensual smell, if that makes any sense. I love this!

[alyelle]

I just got a freebie of this from my Halloweenies order, and I have to say - I simply cannot smell it from the imp. It's awful, like rotting compost and baby sick. But I did some digging and saw that most of the people who've said the same thing actually had better experiences once it was on, so I put on the tiniest swipe and:

 

WET - Roses. Better than the smell I get from the imp, kind of wet and heady, but like all rose scents on me, overpowering.

 

DRY (5 mins) - Much better. The rose backs off a little in the initial drydown, and something darker comes out, which I assume is the dragons blood. It's certainly not the wine. The effect is a warm, amber/incense fragrance, sweetened a little by the roses.

 

DRY (20 mins) - And all those roses are back again. This time with a sticky sweetness. All I can think is thank god it's not the normal baby powder rose I usually end up with.

 

DRY (40 mins) - The roses and incense seem to be having an all out war over whose going to win dominance on my skin. Unlike the other rose fragrances I've tried, this one seems to increase in strength the longer I leave it on; I'm really glad I only put on a teeny bit. If it keeps up, I'll have to wash some off, because it's almost giving me a headache. (And come on amber incense! Go go go.)

 

I'll edit this with the final verdict later. Overall, it's a pleasant enough scent... once it's out of the bottle. For anyone else who does get the awful sickly smell (and how I wish I was one of you who got spiced wine and dark roses), just hold the imp well away from you and give it a go. Hopefully you'll be surprised the way I was.

[Morsigne925]

Another of my first order of imps!

In the imp: Smells like sweet, alcoholic juice, almost like a tangy cranberry blend of some sort

Wet on skin: Smelling like a really sweet, tart rose, if that makes sense, like if there were a rose cocktail with just a hint of cranberry - the red wine is lending it a sharp, yet warm tangy note, and while I don't know what dragon's blood resin smells like on its own, I detect a sweet, warm note underneath the rose. I immediately love this even wet, and it's different from the other scents I've reviewed so far, which mostly have had vanilla/sweet/spicy notes - I love this fresh, yet warm, sweet-tart rose.

Drying: The more it dries, the more the rose comes out on me, to the point where it's actually getting quite strong. I still smell some of the tart notes from before, but not quite as much. I think it gets a 4, just because florals aren't my first choice of scent category (if there exists a vanilla-rose-spice combo, someone let me know. Because I want to try it.) though I love this scent. I can see this being quite good in Spring/Summer, or even early Fall.

End of the day: Oh, I'm in trouble already. My first imp order and I keep adding to the list of big bottles I want. This one's definitely on there, though, unless I try some other rose scent I like better before I get to order it

 

Revisit AUG 2014:

 

Imp/wet: definite fruit punch thing going on at first. We'll see how this shakes out - I do definitely detect the rose in there too.

 

Rose, rose, and more rose as it goes. Not an unpleasant smell, but I just can't get behind rose. There's something a bit cloying about this particular one as well for me. I don't hate it, again, but I think this one may be for the swaps pile. 2.8/5

Edited August 23, 2014 by Morsigne925

[bibzerneth]

For me both rose and dragon's blood are hit ot miss scents. When it's good its great but when it's a miss its usually pretty awful. This one was unfortunately a miss. It smelled delicious in the bottle, warm roses and dragon's blood, I didn't smell any wine. On me however, it was all soap soap soap and some mystery chemically smell after the dry down period I couldn't smell any dragon's blood over the soapy rose.

Too bad. I was really excited for this one.

[milo]

Lot's of DBR at first, then it turns int a sweet, musty rose. After awhile, the rose becomes more clear, and the dbr smells like cherry, so it's a cherry rose. Kind of pleasant, but not really me.

[anaengel]

I seem to get spotty with both wine and dragon's blood, both go super sweet on me, so I try not to expect much overly pretty from anything that has them. Most roses do well on me, but occasionally I get soapy rose. This was actually fun to wear.

I couldn't smell much from the imp when I sniffed it because I didn't first apply it where I normally do (work instead of at home). But, when I put it on, my first thought was candied sugared roses. I kept walking around with that thought in my head as it dried a bit. Then, I got a little soapy on the rose for a few minutes with a background of cherries. Finally it faded to a soft rose, soapless again, scent. Very nice to keep in the imp, but not sure of bottle. I'll have to see how much and often I use it.

[Soniadevi]

I can t even begin to describe how much I love this scent! I m a rose lover, and this is just that: a big, juicy rose. Red, fruity, heady, ROSE! Definitely my go to scent when I want a rose hit!

Edited February 22, 2012 by Soniadevi

[LightLikeKnives]

Starts off with a powdery rose, shrubby kind of scent, and ends up as Freeze-pop orange mingled with uninspiring rose. Definitely not my thing.

[Marie_Nightingale]

It seemed too sweet in the imp, and continued to be nothing but cloying dragon's blood on the skin. After about five minutes, it mellowed down and turned a bit powdery on me. Pleasant. But not my thing, I think.

[BoneBone24]

Wet: A luscious and juicy rose.

 

Drydown: Sweet wine paired with bright red Dragon's Blood

 

Dry: The red musk starts to amp on my skin to the point where the other notes disappear and all that's left is super musky Dragon's Blood. It's quite strong and long-lasting.

 

 

 

 

 

This just isn't me.

 

2 out of 10 bones

Edited July 2, 2013 by BoneBone24

[ami226]

On the skin: Rosy grape! Smells lovely! This is a sweet, perfumey blend. Not a foody grape in the slightest. After a bit the rose does try to take over and nearly masks all the other notes on me. Somehow it manages to smell like perfumed suntan lotion. It never gets headachy in my opinion and always stays a fairly smooth, lovely blend.

 

Not for me sadly.

[icarus suraki]

I'm not entirely sure what to think of this one yet. I'm still not quite over Akuma going all grape Children's Tylenol on me last night, so maybe I've set myself up for a fall.

 

See, rose scents and I have a history: every rose scent I have tried thusfar from BPAL seems to smell the same: a sticky, sweet, "high pitched," pink (always pink) rose--it smells like sugary Turkish Delight. Which can be fun, but it's not always what I want. I'm beginning to think it's me, that I just tweak out these rose scents to something insane (London, Zombi...now Blood Rose).

 

So that was my initial impression: oh no, here we go again with the screaming pink rose. And, yes, that's pretty much how it was when I first put it on: pale pink sugary roses. Lots of 'em. Roses everywhere.

 

But, all right, that was at first. It's since calmed down and it now seems to have gone a bit more wine-like. It registers to me as grape or fruit (not artificial grape, mercifully)--almost plum-like or cherry-like, a dark fruit like that. The rose is still there, still being pink, but it's tempered a little with the fruity wine scent, and it's all still quite sweet. It's more wine than rose at this point.

 

I really wanted to like this one, but the screaming pink sugar rose is making it difficult.

 

The weather's quite humid and I spent more time in the humidity than anticipated, so I think I've spoiled today's test a little. So, bearing that in mind, I may try this one again in the hopes that it'll mellow a little with time.

 

Either that, or I just need to get over my obsessive search for The Perfect Rose Scent.

[becca_s]

This was a frimp from the Lab. On me this is a sweet, powdery rose scent. It smells like pink jelly beans and roses. It's quite light and girly, it's a bit too powdery for me though.

[fufu_berry]

This was a frimp from the Lab.

 

In the imp: Grape Kool-Aid?

 

On: Went through a brief soap phase, but after about 10 min it did exactly what it says on the tin - rose and wine. A very bright floral/fruity scent, with just a touch of something powdery underneath. It's very interesting and would serve rose lovers well, but just not my style.

[Saffrin]

Imp: Smells like yuck sour wine. Almost wondering if the imp is rancid, though it shouldn't be. It might just be my hate of wine, and unsureness of dragon's blood. Really don't want to put this on my skin, as it smells horrible, but alas, science calls.

 

Wet: Oh, good. The horrible note has mostly disappeared right away. Nevertheless, it smells... like dirty soap.

 

Dry: Dirty, sour wine soap.

Definitely not rancid, but not something I find pleasant at all.

Edited September 29, 2012 by Saffrin

[January Garnet]

In the imp: Alcohol soaked red roses. Not the best smell in the world.

 

Wet: Wine and roses mixing beautifully.

 

Dry: Its mostly red roses for a little while,but then the wine peeks back out and mixes in evenly with the rose.

 

I was hoping for more of the rose smell, but I like this one too. Its interesting. I'm going to try The Rose for my true rose scent.

[kaberett]

In the imp: HOLY SHIT FLOWERS the moment I removed it from its plastic bag. Open the cap, and it smells like... floral soap.

 

Wet: ... sour grapey-floral soap. Rose stems, and really aggressive pollen. And powder. Lots of powder.

 

Dry: Possibly beginning to get some tannins through, but unfortunately the impression I got when wet is sticking with me on this one. Ah, wait: it's had about five minutes, now, and it's beginning to blend a little better... in ways that are bringing out the grape other people have mentioned. And 10 minutes in it's beginning to turn into wine. As it gets to age a little more it starts to make a bit more sense as a scent... it really is starting to blend better. Well, I'd better give it a little longer, then... ah, yes: very sweet rose with powdery undertones. I do see what people mean about it being quite sexual, in its way. [Edited again: several hours on, it has actually settled into quite a pleasant deep rose-and-wine scent, the powder having faded - but it still doesn't suit me, and I don't fancy going through all of the drydown every time to get to the nice-enough.]

 

Doesn't have a terribly aggressive throw on me, but does seem to be lasting reasonably well!

 

This isn't really me, alas. Think I'm going to try to find it a home where it will be loved, poor thing.

Edited April 9, 2013 by kaberett

[JasminDreams2010]

I can't believe I never reviewed this before! It's one of my first bpals, and definitely in my top 5 and grapples for first place.

 

In the bottle it is tart and juicy, and goes on much the same to start out. The Rose is dominant on me with the wine and dragon's blood playing supportive backup.

It has a medium throw and wear length, my one complaint is that it disappears completely when it goes.

 

It is paradoxically simple and complex. The wine and resin keep

Blood Rose from being a straight up rose, and the dragon's blood makes it more mature, deeper than Persephone.

 

This is good for any season- a springtime picnic, summer date night, autumn jaunt or a winter blanket. I wear it when I want to feel feminine, mysterious, romantic. Love!!!