Cherokee Rose Single Note

[Ghost of a Rose]

Bottle freshly purchased from BPAL on Etsy, probably about 6 years old.

 

Well, one advantage to my bottle being so aged is that the lemon note is probably gone from it. I'm not a fan of citrus in perfumes and would prefer a true wild rose single note.

 

In the bottle: No such luck. This is rose and Lemon Pledge, emphasis on the furniture polish. Hopefully my skin will make short work of that.

 

On me, wet. 10:09 pm: I smell rose right at first, but the Lemon Pledge marches up and shoves it aside almost immediately.

 

At 5 minutes: I'm trying not to think about Pledge, to think instead about my lovely lemon-rose geranium plant. But it's not working. The Lemon Pledge is just too realistic and too strong. And the rose note is too thoroughly overwhelmed.

 

At 10 minutes: Whew, the lemon has lightened up to let some of the rose come out again. It's considerably nicer, but still more lemony than I would prefer.

 

At 15 minutes: Continuing to improve. The rose and lemon are about equal now. Which could be rather pretty, but the lemon is just too much like Pledge rather than fresh lemon.

 

At 20 minutes: I'm not getting much of a green note, if any - the lemon is just too overpowering. The fragrance isn't particularly sweet. The rose note that I smelled in the bottle and right at first was very real and lovely, but it's different now. Not so realistic and with a skanky edge. That might be the Pledge influence. I doubt that it's my skin chemistry, because rose is always beautiful on me in other blends.

 

At 30 minutes: As the lemon fades more - it finally is lighter than the rose - the rose note is edging closer to the beautiful original note. But hasn't made it there. That might be intentional, to make the scent more like a wild rose and less like a hybrid tea rose.

 

At 45 minutes: For several minutes there, it got quite pretty, with just a touch of the skanky lemon around the edges. But now the rose note has begun to fade and the lemon is turning plastic-ish.

 

At 1 hour: It's all plastic. No recognizable rose OR lemon. That IS my skin chemistry. This might work best in the scent locket. But that worries me - it might stay all Lemon Pledge in the locket. Well, I won't know unless I try.

 

Verdict: I'm ambivalent about this one. I love the rose, but it has so little presence in this blend. It appeared only rarely and usually in adulterated form even when it did appear. I don't like the lemon. It is too artificial and too strong. So, maybe 4 1/2 stars out of 6.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Ghost of a Rose