English Rose

This is the l'eau version of Fantasy by Britney. Hehe. They are VARY similar (just take a look at the notes!!!), but this one is lighter, and less intense. It's sweet but not as cupcake sweet, like Fantasy. It's more work appropriate. Gorgeous scent. This does not smell like roses to me, interesting name choice. The bottle is simple, and classy (my lid won't stay on. It just sits on top. You can't get it to click in place). I love this scent. I found mine at Nordstrom Rack, so it might be discontinued......

We got it as a small tester and could not stop smelling it. Had to buy it eventually but it was worth doing it. Very good and happy smell. We loved it and wears often.

FYI- "rose" is French for the color pink. Noir means black in French and Blanc is white and since those are used all of the time in fragrances it's fair enough to use Rose...except that little issue involving association with flowers when half the title is English and the other half in French. Or maybe it's meant to be the equivalent of calling girls from Georgia a Georgia Peach- their girls are "English Roses" Tongue in cheek? Not sure. Aside from all of that it's like a cross between Flowerbomb and Fantasy. Too sugary for me but cute.

An earlier version of Signature Pour Femme with a couple more notes (red litchi and kiwi) so it's fruitier than the rebrand. It has no rose despite the name. Good for summer wear due to the fruit. Signature I find better for winter.

Fragrance Review For English Rose English Laundry Top Notes Quince Kiwi Red Litchi Middle Notes Jasmine White Chocolate Base Notes Musk Precious Woods Orris Root I received this beautiful fragrance gift set yesterday on my very first day of London Fashion Week. I'm staying at the fabulous Dorchester Hotel the classic luxury hotel known for it's WW 2 history and famous guests such as Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. The gift set comes with the eau de parfum spray bottle, the perfumed body lotion and shower gel. It's a package of delicious goodness that made me want to start wearing it as soon as I finished my shower. This is delightful but before I get into the technicalities and the notes, let me start by praising the beautiful packaging and decorative bottle and the entire feeling that this fragrance creates. I'm not a big fan of gourmand scents. I had heard that this perfume was similar to Britney Spears Fantasy which I never wore and would not care for but this I do like. The bottle looks vintage, made of glass, and the scent is modern with a gourmand goodness coming from a sweet lychee to die for. There's the shower gel and body lotion which match up with the fragrance and when worn with the perfume makes you feel incredibly feminine, edible and sweet. I could always use this type of smell to attract newer friends. This is a spring and summer time frag so right now in the cold winter month of February it might not be suitable but I didn't care about the wrong season. This is so lovely and smells so good. I am sure that a female of any age will enjoy this beautiful sweet perfume. It makes a great gift: Valentines Day, anniversary, birthday, any time gift, for the appreciative perfume wearer. Alright that being said, let's get into details about how this smells. The first spritz is a delicious kiwi and lychee. The red litchi scent was probably an attempt to smell like a candied rose but I never did smell anything remotely rosy in this fragrance. It's straight up red lychee, and fruity with the kiwi. The quince note is barely perceptible. For me the opening is a good fruity scent that smells as good as any fruit flavored fragrance and so appropriate for spring and summer. If you like lychee, this is an amazing litchi based fragrance. Even when the rest of the notes begin to play the lychee continues to dominate the fragrance keeping it sweet and pretty. The heart notes reveal a gourmand note of white chocolate. This smells like one of those desserts on a Valentines Day date dinner with milky white chocolate and lychee. Smells exactly like something filled with cream of litchi and a chocolate or strawberry chocolate. So good! I repeat so good. Edible. If this was not a scented liquid, I'd drink it. The middle stage of the performance of this perfume is a gourmand lover's dream without being too sugary or too cloying. It IS very sweet but it never induces headaches. This is girly girl but also mature because within the white chocolate chips, there's petals of white jasmine which smell soapy and delicate, mature and glorious. Very lovely jasmine. The dry down is a lightly musky, slightly woodsy aroma. This is a powdery musk and aided by the very powdery root of iris flower. This is an iris scent which would have been beautifully paired up with a powdery rose but they did not go there. I wish they had. Roses can be powdery too in fragrance. I suppose that the iris substitutes the rose scent and the chemical aroma plays tricks on you when you swear you smell a rose. And yeah we blissfully forget that there is no rose note in English Rose at all! The perfume wears for a decent amount of time over 5 hours on me anyways. The scent smells very attractive, charming, feminine and matches up with red or pink dresses mini dresses and cocktail dresses. Great for lunch dates. Casual. A 17 or 18 year old girl can pull it off as much as a 30 year old. Sorry it doesn't have a rose? Not at all. I would have made a big stink about it before but now I love fragrances for their own unique merits. English Rose is a more sophisticated Brit version of a gourmand frag by celebs (I.e. Britney Spears) but it's so my cup of tea right now. Very sweet pretty kiwi, lychee and white chocolate yumminess. I am enjoying every minute of this fragrance and can't wait to sport it back in the US.