The Wretched Rose Window

[Dark Alice]

Phantasmal patterns warp and weave through panes of leaded glass. Pale shafts of frail sunbeams push through, creating a sickly dance of violet, smoke-grey, blood-red, and blackened plum light on the oaken walls.

Wet: This stuff smells eerie and creepy. There is a soft rose here. But it's not red, it's not white...it's just a soft, decrepit rose. As it dries violet and something grey (maybe a light grey musk) comes out. This is one of those scents that doesn't need notes...it evokes an image of looking through a gorgeous stained glass window in a dusty parlor room. (There is definitely no dust in it though) I wish I could describe this better but I do know that I love it and will be keeping my bottle

[ellebelle]

This smells like fancy soap.

[jolarocknrolla]

It does smell like fancy soap when wet! when dry it smells like dried roses and something else that is dry, dusty and slightly sweet.

Edited October 2, 2012 by jolarocknrolla

[Leopard403]

So disappointed because this is AWFUL on me. First off, it took forever to dry on my skin, which was just weird, and as soon as I opened the imp this scent just SCREAMED. It was a high sharp note that smelled super perfume-y on my skin (sort of the way my skin and nose respond to white sandalwood) and it never calmed down. Honestly, I couldn't wash it off fast enough...and even then it lingered.

[Ishtar]

The Wretched Rose Window smelled really intriguing in the bottle, in a slightly sinister way. Like Dark Alice, I get a musty greyish purple out of it.

 

Hazy and eerie in the bottle, WRW turned decidedly more pedestrian on my skin. Rose-scented cleaning product is the best comparison I can come up with. Too bad, I was sort of hoping this might be a surprise hit, especially considering how much I love the label art.

[Soniadevi]

Never has a scent been so perfectly described as it is in the original lab description! I can actually smell every single metaphor in this scent, like a perfectly told story. The patterns, the leaded glass, the sickly dance of violet, smoke-grey (oh yes!) blood red (I can smell blood) and blackened plum light on oaken walls (deep dark fruity wood with an incensey vibe). I don't smell any rose as mentioned by other reviewers, so I can't tell if there's any in there, since it's not actually listed. It dries down quite musty dusty, like dried plum/blood smoke. A sinister scent, like the very bottom of the cathedral, or even, the light filtering into the crypt. A warm presence, stillness in the air, a memory, a longing, pain. Head resting in your lap, a beautiful face, one last kiss, eyes close. Silent tears, a suffocated sobbing.

[yakiguri]

I feared the violet would go high-pitched on me, but all I get is soft rose soap. Fancy smelling soap, but soap nonetheless.

[stellamaris]

This is freaking amazing, I literally have been looking for this scent for years. I have a Jurlique face cream that smells like this, I love it so much. It's not overwhelming rose to me, it does smell lush and heady. Excellent.

[lainevierge]

I dabbed this on my hand a few days before properly trying it out and it seemed to be a lovely dark floral, so I was holding out a lot of hope for this blend.

 

When I tried it today I was getting a LOT of violet, the straight up violet candy kind (unlike the weird, unfortunate, sweaty smell that some other violet notes have turned to on me). It faded pretty fast though so I reapplied later. I noticed this time that the dark floral I was smelling in the bottle is there when I first apply, but then an effervescent, fizzy violet overwhelms it. I like the effect, but as my husband mentioned when he smelled it it was very "perfumey", i.e. not like the other stuff I wear.

 

The scent and concept are nice enough, but this one is too girly, innocent and candy-like for my taste. The throw and longevity leaves a lot to be desired too, as I like my scents heavy and everlasting.

[CiCi]

I really wanted to love this but unfortunately all I got from this is heavy floral and mostly rose. I do amp rose so if there is any rosé at all in a blend, my chemistry will find it. I had to wash this off immediately.

[whataboutprom]

Wet, this is a perfumey rose that is somehow sharp and powdery at the same time, and yet, I like it. As it dries, I do sense some violet and a light, musky powder along with faint rose. It smells like a vintage, fancy bath product of some sort, no ordinary soap. Sometimes powdery florals get less powdery with time. I think this will be gorgeous as it ages, and I do like it now.

[zankoku_zen]

Okay... this is creepy rose soap. I mean, yes, it smells like rose soap... but it doesn't smell like ordinary rose soap.

 

This is the soap that lives in that creepy, haunted house that has been deserted for decades. And on a dare, you go in. You walk through the rooms, and all you can smell is dust, mildew, wood rot (you know, not pleasant smells necessarily)...

 

And then you walk into the bathroom, and it smells like rose soap. It smells, well, almost normal and kinda nostalgic. You know, like the kinda soap that you'd find in your grandma's house.

 

Except you're not in your grandma's house.

 

You're in a creepy, deserted, haunted house.....

 

And this is when you realize, oh shit, you're not alone.... AT ALL.

 

Verdict: The soap that ghosts would use. To smell pretty. Before they go and scare the beejebus out of you.

Edited October 17, 2012 by zankoku_zen

[kjirstiben]

It's funny... all I got out of this was soap. Not even rose soap... just soap. My skin smelled slighly clean, slightly soapy, or like freshly-shampooed hair. Not sure if this says something about the soaps I choose, or if my nose isn't subtle enough to pick the notes of of the Rose Window... sigh.

 

I didn't get screaming florals out of this, however (my skin tends to make things smell sweet/powdery rather than amping the high-pitched notes). Just nice, clean soap.

[Blood onmy hands]

The soapy smell of this kinda reminds me of men's shaving cream at first, with undertones of perfumey, dry rose and maybe a bit of powdery violet candy. The drydown after about an hour smells like a bar of perfumey rose scented soap. Not working for me.

[surlygurl]

As usual, the decant I get at the last minute - the 'it's not going to work, but what the hell' decant - is the one I really like.

 

Fresh on, I get a lovely violet that is sweet but muted. The funny thing is that a dusty rose is what's muting the violet, and I hate rose! But here it works. I get a soapiness like others are describing, but that is part of its charm. I like this scent. It's unique. It's pretty. It's kinda creepy and old lady-ish. I may need a couple more decants or a partial after more testing....

[milo]

This reminds me of 'something', but I cannot put my finger on it at the moment. I'm getting strong soapy resins. Maybe Red Rose with less rose? At any rate, this is much to soapy strong on me, so I'll have to pass on this one.

[Monday]

O-kay this is the 'soap' part I got from Doozers. My brain automatically expects to smell the radishes from Doozers too which doesn't help really.

 

So heady rose soap when it's wet. It does lose some of the headiness when it dries down and becomes slightly grandmotherly.

My brain still links this to Doozers which I didn't like so I'll pass on this one too.

[jkfagtongpun]

Wretched Rose Window, indeed. The rose used in this ended up being the kind of rose note that comes out with fists of fury beating all other notes into submission. This was all rose on me, nothing else... then it used those fists on me and gave me a headache.

[MissMercurial]

This is almost overwhelmingly dry, faded roses and a touch of violet, maybe a squirt of plum juice when wet. It feels rather heavy on me (the "leaded glass"?). It's a shame that it's so heavy and old-lady-esque (but a damn classy old lady, you betcha) because I really loved the grey musk left after the drydown/the next day. Similar to white musk but less "clean," kind of murky.

[brilliantcat]

Imp: Heavily expensive soap/perfume.

 

Wet: Rose and incense.

 

Dry: And back to expensive soap in short order. Not for me.

[thekittenkat]

In the decant: Faint dusty florals.

 

Wet: My nose is wrinkling--those flowers are not faded and dry, as they have rotted.

 

The dry-down: Ah, that's better. A bunch of drying flowers. Nice, but I'm not much for most floral bouquets.

[lunaticana]

I knew I was gonna totally LOVE this one

It is eerie and rosey and old smelling, it is gorgeous if you are into flowery scents

[Rho]

I got this one because I thought wearing roses in autumn sounded very charming.

 

Wet, it's soap with a bit of purple rose. It is undeniably soap, like the hard little white bars we kept by the sink in my childhood. There's also something clearly PURPLE going on here. Is it violets?

 

Later, I think I can pick out violets. How pretty! The soap gradually settles down, and I've got a smooth floral to enjoy.

 

Creepy? Maybe so. There's something musty, dusty, or long forgotten in Wretched Rose Window.

 

Not too shabby. :>

[tharsei-thanate]

Got an decant from a lovely forumite!

 

In the imp: Yup, like others have said, this is fancy floral-scented soap (mostly violet with rose, specifically). But I don't mind it at all, I think it's pretty, though it's rather strong.

 

Wet: Hmmmm. It's not as loud or as bright as it is in the imp, but it's the same general scent. It's definitely dark and heavy and warm. I think I'm catching that grey musk along with the floral soap. It's more mysterious to me than creepy.

 

Dry-down: Much like the wet stage but it feels dustier. I'm definitely getting the imagery now, only it's moonbeams rather than sunbeams coming through the window.

 

Dry: It's gotten softer and there's another element now. I think this might be the oaken walls? It's also gotten a bit cooler.

 

I really like it overall, but I think it's a bit too heavy for casual use. I'll keep my imp and maybe snag another imp in the future but I don't think I'll be getting a bottle.

[mymymai]

ITI: Strong violet, vetiver, something that reads as civet to my nose, and just a touch of oak. I adore the super musky scents, so this is a go for me even before skin-testing it.

Wet: Oh yea, thick and musky with thick swaths of heady violets, rose, and whiffs of smoke. Gorgeous and very much reminiscent of a cloister I visited somewhere in rural France.

Dry: Gosh, the musk is wonderful here. I still get heady violet, but everything is okay because of the musky civet. This is a winner!