Rose Red

[cranberry]

The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

I'm terribly behind on reviewing LEs, I've been focused on GCs when I do write the occasional review. So, Rose Red 2005.

In the vial: This is the scent of fresh, dewy rose. Beautiful.

On the skin: Roses, fresh, crisp roses, dewy with a long, green stem. This is an amazing rose scent and one of the few rose scents that I enjoy wearing. Dry, this is the quintessential rose scent. It doesn't get any better.

Overall: Breathtaking and simply amazing.

[supremegoddessofall]

Tried this at a meet and sniff. This is *the* perfect rose scent. It's that smell you get in florist shops - fresh cut roses misted in water. This is one of my new loves, which is unfortunate since it's an LE and hard to get a hold of.

 

*cries* why do I have to love this so??????????

[niobe]

In the Imp: sharp, a lot of green over the roses.

 

On the skin, wet: lingering sharpness, but roses are already blooming.

 

dry on skin: rrrrrrrroses. Oh so many glorious roses. just a touch of green.

 

This is still going strong (figuratively speaking) 4 hours later. I adore it -- it's a beautiful rose scent without the cloying sweetness of a rose fragrance like, say, Crabtree & Evelyn's Evelyn. It is also less green and sharp than Creed's Fleurs de the rose Bulgare. Just a soft, gorgeous, fresh rose. I quite love this and plan to buy a 5ml!

[noumenon]

Oh my gosh. This is stunning, not just for those who love rose, but for those who would love the surreal experience of smelling something so real, so authentic, you'd think the object must surely be right in front of you.

 

It's not just authentic floral rose; it's the green of the stem, and the velvet, meaty texture of the thick, lush petals. It's the coolness of the leaves and the scent of the silver droplets of dew that have gathered on the bloom.

 

And the scent is so strong that you feel like you're pressing the rose right up to your face. It is so strange to be smelling Rose Red and not be standing in a botanical garden. Surreal, even.

 

So, wether you want to hallucinate legally or just smell like Rose, wow. You can't go wrong with Rose Red 2005.

[astridclaire]

~THE 2004 VERSION~

 

I happened upon a decant of this right before we found out it wouldn't be released with the Yules this year. My intention was to try it and see if I liked it enough to buy a bottle when it came out this winter. But now that it's not available this year, I *almost* wish I didn't get the decant because then I wouldn't know what I was missing! It is so f-ing beautiful!!! It makes me want to cry that I can't buy a bottle or two or three!

 

Rose Red captures that just-cut, rich, sweet, intoxicating smell of these almost black red roses my mother grows in her front yard but intensified 10-fold. This oil has amazing staying power and throw and just makes me feel so safe and girly and innocent.

 

Why oh why didn't Beth re-release Rose Red this year?!?!

[Athena's Owl]

IT's been a long time since an imp was so evocative that it turned one of my reviews into flash fiction, but here it is, for Rose Red, year unknown:

 

Rose Red

imp:

 

New snow whispers under my boots, snow not walked on by anyone else. Clear, cold air gets into the arm seams of my cloak in little puffs. I'm walking between tall firs and pines, branches bowed down with snow on either side, and I'm holding the most perfect roses to my nose and every breath of air is scented with them - from the cut stems and leaves to the bouquet of the blooms themselves, perfectly, velvety, red as blood roses.

 

It's cold enough that they should freeze and die.

 

But they're still just as sun warmed as if they had nodded on the bush on a day in June, when I cut them from that bush.

 

wet:

 

One bloom isn't quite open, and I stroke it with my fingers, thinking of how impossible they were, how I had to have them... how just one became a dozen.

Then the bud unfurls all at once, and hurls its venom in my face, smelling of ammonia, catsand, and licorice root.

 

A curse, I think as the world tilts sideways, and then remember that licorice root is used for commanding spells as a drift of snow and my face touch.

 

dry:

 

I open my eyes and wonder how I ended up in the snow. Cut roses lie scattered around me. I rush and pick them up, counting each one until I am sure I have all eleven. the perfume isn't as powerfully fresh, but they are holding up well in spite of that.

 

I hold them to my nose and step off the path. I'm not going home any more. I don't know why.

 

But I have to go this way, now.

[wikkidraven]

i lucked out and purchased a bottle of this, after i gave my testable sniffy to a friend who REALLY loves BPAL rose scents. i only gave it a sniff before i passed it on, but the smell was so much like a fresh cut rose, that i thought i'd better hunt some up. i am one of those people who can keep roses around just for the pleasure of sniffing them every now and again

 

i was a bit put off when i cracked open my bottle, because the first thing that hit me was GRASS. GRASS GRASS GRASS....GET YOUR FRESH CUT GRASS RIGHT HERE! but as i'm finding with a lot of the skillfully blended BPAL scents, rose red morphs into something damned near incredible.

 

a fresh cut rose. amazing, and just the thing to keep around and sniff for that rush of pleasure.

[chrisann]

I must start out by saying, that I NEVER was a rose fan until bpal. I just die and go to olfactory HEAVEN with her rose blend's. I picked up a bottle of Rose Red 2005 on ebay, and man am I glad I did! I cannot add anymore insight on the perfection of this scent, than has already been shared by the other reviewer's. Only that it also lasts, and lasts on my skin, my clothes, and my dog when I hugged her. I will treasure my beautiful bottle. Now, I MUST have Rose Red 2003 and 2004!

[Druby]

This is so wonderful. Fresh roses all around, it's like standing in a rose garden and just breathing in all the deliciously gorgeous roses. I love rose smells, so this was perfect. I'm definately in love with it and will have to try and find myself a bottle.

[crimsonmoon1985]

this is a very interesting and lovely scent.

when i first sniffed this the first thing that hit me was wet, fresh cut rose stems. i put it on and so many minutes afterward a slight rose smell came out. this is probably going to be one of my favorite scents

[little_galaxie]

What can I say that hasn't been said? This is 100% pure, freshcut rose.

[phedre]

In vial: Whoa. Rose. Perfect red rose.

 

On skin: Juicy red rose. This has a sweetness to it that Peacock Queen is missing; whereas the Queen is the haughty lady, this is the approachable garden rose.

 

Drydown: This stays very true to the vial. Pure, lovely, fresh roses. I love this, but it's quite overwhelming. Definitely one to apply with a light hand.

[Browneyes]

Rose Red 2005 decant

 

Imp: Sharp green rose with an almost fruity edge

Wet: The green stems of the freshly cut rose. Entering a florist to buy a single red rose in february.

Dry: Sweet red rose. In full bloom. Freshly cut. It is beautiful. Strong. Plenty of throw too.

 

I can't describe it better than some of the above reviewers have already. Suffice to say that this is incredibly evocative, and just plain lovely. I am happy to have bought this imp from a lovely forumite and if Beth ever re-releases this, I will be so there!

 

(Observation: Could it be that it is the same rose as in Zombi? Or perhaps there is a slight touch of the dirt note in this, without it being too strong, because Zombi was really wonky on me.)

[hackess]

I've tried both '04 and '05 and they are identical perfect red roses, covered in dew. I almost want to say they're dusted with snow, because I get a very clean, cold feel from these imps. Wearing it, I feel like Mena Suvari must have felt in the scene from American Beauty.

 

Absolutely beautiful. A must for rose lovers.

Edited February 28, 2007 by hackess

[Selenite]

Quite possibly the finest rose soliflore that I've ever tried. Why, oh why didn't it return for Yule 2006?

 

A fresh form the florist, dewy, red rose.

 

Please come back Rose Red.

[presotm]

Wow! This is like getting swatted over the head with a bunch of long-stemmed, blood-red, dew-covered roses. If I inhale it too much, the world spins.

 

As cheesy as it is, roses are my favourite flower, and this is lovely, but may be a little bit too much rose even for me!

[Sunshine the Werewolf]

Ok, so I'm a newbie and haven't tried much yet. Thing is though, I'm not sure that anything will ever top this gorgeous stuff. It is the most beautiful, evocative perfume I have ever worn - not just the rose, but the garden, the leaves, the frost.... everything.

 

It lasts all days, sticks to my clothes, makes my boy go all weak-kneed and picks up complements from random strangers. It is the lovliest perfume and the only problem now is that I daren't try any other Rose blends in case they don't match up!

[AliceNWonderland]

In the bottle: This reminds me of the coolers at the florist when you open the door, it's grassy and wet.

 

On my skin: More of the rose is coming out, it is still a cold rose to me, I am not a huge fan of rose but this is very fresh smelling.

 

Dry: After 5 minutes I couldn't smell anything, it had disappered

 

It is a very fresh rose scent, I just wished it had lasted on me.

[stellans]

Let me just say first, for those who may not know, that rose is my all-time favorite scent, my 'signature scent,' as it were. I am slowly but surely collecting all of the BPAL rose blends, and when I was able to score a bottle of Rose Red 05 from eBay...well, picture every 'touchdown dance' you've ever seen or even heard about, and then amp them up by a factor of 10! I danced around my den like a madwoman for I don't even remember how long when I won that auction!

 

Anyway, Red Rose is my now-favorite rose scent, and I so hope Beth will bring it back this Yule so I can stock up. It is, as others have said better than I can, the perfect dew-dropped rose scent. There's the sharp green scent from a cut stem, the softer green of the leaves, the muted scent from petals, and then -- oh, and then -- the almost heart-breakingly lovely true red rose scent, the scent of love. Till now, the closest thing I've ever smelled to an actual rose was Jean Patou's Joy. BPAL's Rose Red beats that perfume, IMO. Beats it into the ground, as if by a hail storm.

Edited July 14, 2010 by stellans

[porcelina]

i can't say too much about rose red that hasn't already been said- it does have that juicy, fresh, blooming rose smell and it is quite gorgeous, but the green notes go funny on me and it turns all sour. i'm sad. i think i will have to try this in a scent locket.

 

edit: after a few minutes, the sour note disappeared and this is all lovely and rosey again. i never thought i would actually like a straight-up floral, but i guess i do like this after all!

Edited April 24, 2007 by porcelina

[Eemia]

I haven't been able to review this yet, though I've had it for a few months. I am a rose lover, but this is beyond any expectations I had. It really is perfect, and I am thrilled with how beautiful this smells. Nothing could convince me when I am wearing this that I am not surrounded by a garden of roses. Even that crisp, wet, green note is awe inducing. Truly wonderful.

 

Had to add that I was wearing this today and I went out to the mailbox in my building to get the mail. I was walking back down the hallway and some girls where just coming inside. I heard one of them say "oh! Someone must have just got some flowers delivered." I kid you not.

[ACVail24]

Rose Red 2005

 

In the Bottle:

WOW! It smells like the purest natural rose I have ever, ever, ever come across - it smells even more natural than a rose in a garden!!

::can't wait to wear this!!::

 

On my Skin, Wet:

OMG - an ENORMOUS bouquet of fresh cut red roses!

right down to the foliage of the bouquet!

This is TRULY an amazing scent!

WOW!

 

On my Skin, Dry:

Still the most amazing natural rose smell EVER!

I can't get over how wonderful this smells!!

::nuzzles wrists!!::

 

Verdict:

SOOOOO happy that I bought 2 bottles!!

Wonderful!

Phenominal!

Indeed - The Perfect Rose, winter or otherwise!

10 of 10!

[everanything]

Bottle: rediculously wet, fresh, sweet RED roses. The thickly scented tiny fat ones in the height of bloom.

 

Wet: still a wet rose, but the bottle sweetness has toned down. There's something a touch green here, easily that white plant sap that comes from newly broken stems. Almost pleasant, but still a little cloying.

 

Dry: not the baby powder that all roses tend to go on me, but an intense, rich rose scent with one crazy strong throw. Heavy, heady floral. Too much for my tastes.

[500ml]

Rose Red 2005

 

Gorgeous and amazing red roses. Fresh and for real, like they're actually growing in the vial. Wet I get a lot of dirt, which makes the whole experience even more authentic, but it's perhaps a little too real for me. Dry the dirt note disappears and the rose turns wonderfully sweet and then fades away into a sweet powdery scent. I love anything with rose and this is no exception, but I just wish it stayed around longer.

 

Rose Red 2004

 

Stunning! It doesn't have the dirt note at all and is quite juicy and fruity in the bottle and a gorgeous fresh and strong rose both wet and dry. The best rose scent ever, a gigantic favourite of mine!

Edited April 27, 2008 by porcelain

[vylit]

Rose Red begins beautifully. It's rose, definitely, but honestly, this scent is more green on me than roses for the first half hour or so. Beth is a genius, because it really does smell like fresh cut stems.

 

After half an hour, this settles into a lovely, full rose scent that blends beautifully with the green of fresh cut stems.

 

Unfortunately, after an hour, this takes on a sharp note that smells almost metallic. Damn body chemistry.