Rose Red

[vegasblueblood]

The perfected winter rose, dew covered and freshly cut.

 

Wet, green, lush and blood red. This is a gorgeous rose and I swear there is some mint in here, making it bright green and fresh. It is just slightly sharp--in a good way--and I can picture this blooming dewy rose. Beth is a master with the rose scents and this one is no exception.

[sookster]

2008 version...

 

straight sniff from imp is the best rose scent beth has to offer!!!

 

once applied this *is* a fresh cut rose complete with soft, plump, velvety, red

petals drenched in big droplets of dew....amazing

[Iceblink]

I decided to give Rose Red a try again this year; I liked the previous version I tried (possibly 2005?) but it didn't really last well on me and turned a bit acrid by the end of the day. This year's version seems sweeter and more lush--a beautiful, perfectly-formed red rose. I'll have to see how it wears over the course of a day to know for sure if I need a bottle but this certainly is gorgeous!

[milo]

This is so gorgeous in the imp, just exactly like a fresh, dewy rose. I thought for sure this would be a bottle, but it goes quite sharp on me almost right away. Not too terribly surprised, as rose tends to do this to me. The only exception is Hope. Oh well, when I need to smell a beautiful rose, I do have this imp. Truly wished it worked on me.

[femmefatale]

Wow. This is *beautiful*. I got a decant of this, expecting to not like it anywhere near as much as my Peacock Queen. I was wrong. I love it just as much, but for different reasons.

 

Peacock Queen is more of the full, lush bloom itself with no hint of stem. This on the other hand is a freshly cut rose stem. This smells so realistic and fresh smelling. I will be getting a bottle.

[mgrazulis]

'07 Version

I had to know what Snow White's sister smelled like...Rose Red is a dewy red rose, green-stemed, freshly cut. This is a rose whose leaves are herbal, the residue on your fingers after wiping the dew. Her bloom is almost honeysuckle but not quite as sweet. Mmmmm! A rose at her peak color, her bouquet vibrant. No granny rose here....this is the Rose Red, who marries the prince's brother. Gorgeous!!!

 

Edited December 17, 2008 by mineralfairy

[Bamels]

I got a bottle of the 2008 version. This is my first bpal rose and 2nd ever rose perfume. It's everything I wished for! The rose is perfect. Sweet and slightly sharp. It really gets up your nose, in a good way. I put it on and I could smell it for over an hour quite strongly. It's worn down now, most do on me, but I can still smell it when I put my nose to my wrist. I have yankee candles and yankee plug-in air freshners in 'fresh cut roses' and was wishing they did this in a perfume, and to my nose Rose Red is exactly the same, and I couldn't be happier!

[gingiemay]

This is one of those rare BPAL oils that smells exactly the same on me as it did in the bottle--like a freshly cut blood red rose! My roommate and I agreed that this smells just like standing in a rose garden, or pressing your face into a big bouquet! It is very similar to the atmospheric spray The Queen's Croquet Ground, but this one smells more like a red rose to me, very strong and powerful. It's one of the few rose notes that doesn't go sour or powdery on me too! I wore it outside to shovel the driveway and I kept getting delicious whiffs of it. Yummy!

[thelaurenator]

My god, this is gorgeous in the bottle-- a fresh cut, living red rose. But on me? Turns sour, like rose-flavored sour patch kids or something. After an hour or so, it softens up and becomes a nice, realistic rose scent with a touch of powder.

[sparkybish]

In the bottle this smells just like a florist's shop. Then when I put it on it really blooms and smells lovely. I had a two minute scary patch where it smelt a little rotten, but it came back out of that to a gorgeous true rose smell that is not cloying like an English rose. It's just lovely and sweet, and perfect.

[fairnymph]

2008 Version

 

In the bottle: Colourless oil. Fresh, green, rosy. I feel like I can smell the sharpness of the thorns; there's a bite to this. It's also dewy and clean and vaguely aquatic.

 

Wet: Sharper, almost chemically and plastic. Also a bit fruitier, but in an artificial way that is also a bit plasticky. The greenery and roses are secondary.

 

Dry: Stronger, sharper, even more chemically, with a soapy edge. It's almost bitter, or astringent, and maybe reminds me of a cleaning product.

 

Summary: Not a major morpher, though it is an amper. Harsh chemically esters with a touch of soap, red roses, faint fruit and fainter green leaves. Ridiculous throw and longevity.

 

No clue why only the '05 version works on me.

[Celenth]

2008 Bottle:

 

In the Bottle: While not particularly intense, it screams "ROSE!". Very much like walking into a flower shop.

 

Wet: Intense burst of rose -- and not a soft rose. It's very floral, very fresh-cut rose. There's a weird, plasticy note next to it which makes me sad. Maybe my chemistry wasn't destined for it.

 

Dry: The scent is slightly less intense, the plasticy note has gone away. Instead there's the faaaaintest hint of something almost... citrusy? Still a strong burst of rose, though, it's an almost "green" scent. Very much like an newly-bloomed organic rose I'd go find in my garden, except on scent-steroids.

 

Summary: Not really my thing. While it isn't overly strong in terms of being noticeable (people seem to only notice it when pretty close by me), it's an intense punch o' flower when you're next to it. While I do love rose scents, I tend to end up with ones like Moon Rose that have something mellowing it out. If you're into rose, this is a really intense, fresh-cut scent, none-but-the-rose scent. Much more invigorating and lively than a lot of the softer rose scents.

[Inky]

I was really impressed with Rose Red. It didn't smell cloying like some roses do, it didn't dry powdery, and it didn't smell like rose essential oil. It smelled like an honest-to-goddess Real rose! You can even smell the leaves! It's still on 9 hours later, and still smells fabulous. Normally I will review a scent in the bottle, wet and dried down, but there wasn't any real change with this one. Very good purchase!

[nekogrrl]

In imp: the perfect rose.

 

Wet on skin: like a rose.

 

Dry on skin: Uhoh. Trouble in paradise. Something in this is going really wrong. It smells like something an old woman would wear (and not in a good way). Plus, I'm amping this like crazy.

 

10 minutes later: Time to wash this off. This is wrong.

 

Final verdict: Definitely a locket scent. And the imp should last me fine.

[lunaticana]

oh wow this smells like I'm busy cutting fresh roses their stem in the kitchen during summer

to make 'm ready to put in a beautiful crystal vase

so, that means this remind me a lot of my mother's house.. she was doing this every week

it is true to the description only to me it's just not a winter rose

but def. freshly cut

[thewondersmith]

Okay, I've gotta be honest- when I first tried out Rose Red (2007), I hated it. It was too pungent, too earthy and I couldn't smell any rose over all the green. However, I'm never one to leave an imp behind, and after waiting for a few days, I decided to try Rose Red again. And boy am I glad I did.

 

 

In the imp: Alright, I still get a screaming green sort of scent, but there was a distinct edge of rose, which is pretty encouraging. Not really like any rose I've ever smelled (and my mother has a massive rose garden), but it's definitely very organic.

 

On me: Still getting a leafy, thorny vibe going on here, though the rose is definitely making itself known. The dirt note has faded a little too, which is a relief. This is actually pretty surprising.

 

Dry down: Mmmmmm. Oh man, this is delicious! The rose has come to the fore, but it's not a big, stompy, LOOK AT ME godzilla rose like roses usually are on me. The green definitely tones it down a little, and stops it from getting powdery. I asked my brother what he thought it smelled like, and he said 'like rose petals being squished', which is actually a dead ringer. I'm so, so glad I didn't just chuck this into the swap pile like I'd originally planned, because apart from the slightly scary start, this is absolutely beautiful.

[voodoocatwoman]

Rose Red 2008 model is a lovely fresh dewy winter rose. Not the swoon-worthy sweet rose of Queen's Croquet Ground, but more of a fragrant dusky rose scent. Unfortunately, it has vamoosed within 30 minutes. If it is still here, I can not smell it at all. And that is such a shame.

[poisondove]

Rose Red 07:

Dewy fresh red rose, with a definite bite of green stem ....like when you have smelt the rose and decided to kidnap it from its bush. As you snap the stem the pungent greenery wanders through the fragrant landscape of rose.

 

Rose Red 08:

Got an imp, though I hadn't thought it'd be very different. But OMG was I wrong. This rose is almost a candy rose, its very very sweet. And then as it sits on my skin sticky & sweet; the overwhelming smell of sharp fresh grass accosts my nose. As if I have dropped this candy rose onto the lush lawn. Very powerful, but very nose-tickling curious...how can 2 rose reds be so very different to me

[Ceri]

In the bottle: Just like a freshly cut rose, slightly green but still screams rose.

 

Wet: It's a very green rose scent for the first few minutes, all sharp, green and crisp. Smells like grass for a minute or two before morphing into a sweet rose syrup. Almost artificial smelling but I can definitely see a red rose when I smell my wrist.

 

Dry: Still sickly sweet like a rose syrup but with a very faint green edge.

 

Overall: Rose scents are not for me as they make me sneeze a lot, but this is quite a nice scent.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Ceri

[jencallisto]

(for Rose Red 2007)

 

In the imp: Sharp bitter green, extremely sweet rose.

Fresh on the skin: So bitter! Almost earthy. Dark dark dark.

10 minutes later: Pretty rose, bitter center, not sure how I feel about this.

40 minutes later: Bitter bitter bitter rose.

2 hours later: The bitterness has lifted a quite a bit, leaving a fresh, gentle, vegetal-green rose. Pretty nice.

4.5 hours later: Light, sweet, fresh, green rose.

7 hours later: Faded green rose, light and pretty.

9 hours later: Basically gone, just a thin thread of sweet green rose left.

 

Verdict: I like it all right, but there are plenty of rose scents I love more.

 

One phrase: Green rose.

 

[LadyLuckless]

Ok wow, if you take the most perfect garden of red roses and cram the whole thing into a bottle, then sprinkle some love and kisses on top, you get Rose Red. Seriously, this is the whole shebang: vivid red roses, stems, leaves, even the surrounding grass, soil, and a bit of rain! I felt like some mythical being wearing it, because this is not how a person wearing perfume smells. It's a masterpiece, how does Beth DO this!?

[Prism]

Possibly my favorite BPAL yet. I haven't tried too many but I honestly dont see it ever falling out of my top 10.

 

I have the 2008 version.

It *is* the perfect rose scent. It's probably the purest scent I've ever smelled out of a bottle that's a lot like walking near a rose bush in the early dawn or fresh after a light rain.

London & Pride which I tried after dont even come close to halfway comparing to this scent.

 

It reminded me why I liked rose scented things as a little girl before i for a decade or so decided that anything girly was not for me (finally got out of that phase).

 

I have a backup 5ml bottle in the mail. If it comes out in 09, I will be ordering that version too!

 

This has apparently a *lot* of throw on me, according to my roommate, which makes me quite happy so i can use it sparingly and still get a LOT of scent.

Edited February 17, 2009 by Prism

[asciident]

('07 version.)

 

Wet: Like a true red rose.

 

First on: Unchanged.

 

Dry: Unchanged. Unfortunately, not a huge plain rose fan.

[Dominique]

<b>In the vial:</b> In liquid form, Rose Red smells very much like the inside of a refrigerated flower display – in the best possible way. There is definitely a floral tone, but major impression is of green – cool, spiky green. Not so much the rose petals as the stem, leaves and thorns.

 

<b>On me:</b> (<i>Applied to inner wrists.</i>) (Fair warning – I don’t know if this is a personal effect due to my skin chemistry or not, but Rose Red is powerful just out of the bottle. Apply it outside or in a well ventilated space, or you’ll choke bystanders. It’s a pleasant scent and it behaves eventually, but when wet it’s very strong.) The scent doesn't noticeably change on my skin - still a cool green herbal with the aroma of roses.

 

<b>After a while:</b> A few hours after applying the scent, Rose Red is still definitely there, though it’s lost some of it’s kick. The scent has warmed somewhat and become more floral than spiky greenness, but the green remains a strong part of the scent.

 

<b>Verdict:</b> It’s the smell of a tightly budded rose, dripping with dew and just snipped. It’s a strong scent, with very little change during dry-down. The various times I’ve worn it, the Rose Red remains cool and green – never becoming powdery. I’d strongly recommend it, but it’s not an average floral scent (in the very best way).

Edited August 2, 2011 by Dominique

[inkaddict]

2008 version

 

In the imp: cool and green. Refrigerated flowers indeed.

 

Wet: SharpsharpGREENsharp. There could be a faint smell of rosebuds hiding behind the greenery, but a moment it's there and the next it's not. This is going the same way of 2,5,7. Only stronger.

 

Dry: Sharp, cool, green, thorny. Like somebody tore all the petals out and I'm left with a scary bouquet of frozen rose stems.

 

Verdict: Really glad I only bought half a imp of this. I had hopes for Rose Red since so many people love it, but I've learned my lesson: every rose that's "freshly cut", "with a bit of green" or "true rose" turns into an unpleasant sharp smell the moment it touches my skin. Only greenery with absolutely no rose that my nose can pick out. Sob.