Red Roses

The quest for a Stella replacement continues....well, actually thats not strictly true, its now ended because of this! Jo Malone's Red Roses is as it says on the label, a big, red F***-off rose in a bottle and I echo what others have said about the longevity being amazing on this, it really is a room rocker when applied with a heavy hand, so please bear that in mind, but when spritzed with a light hand you get a fresh, crisp, easy going rose that you can totally wear casually, to a formal event or to the office. On first spray I get a very strong Turkish Delight whiff which quickly fades to a more clean, airy rose which is to my nose and on my skin, similar to how Stella opens and dries down, what I love with this is, despite it having beeswax in it, it doesnt smell cloying or thick/sweet, it just adds a more powdery/polleny nuance to the rose, lemon and mint mingle in the background and prevent the rose and beeswax from becoming a syrupy, heady affair, I do wish that the lemon was more prominent though, however. I really cannot say much more about the scent development, it is a fresh, plush rose and it stays like this throughout wear, it doesn't smell stale and the silage doesn't die down either after the 5 hour mark so there is no need to carry it with you to freshen up with. Rose for some can be quite a challenging note and I can totally appriciate that, it wasn't until I started wearing Chloe, Stella and Nahema that I really got an appriciation for rose, this is not your grandmothers rose, oh no, this is a fresh British rose garden in the morning, picture it; its a warm humid day, you've just had a shower and slipped into a comfortable cotton shirt, t-shirt or flowy dress and gone for an early morning walk where there are dew covered roses, the scent of the roses fills the air as the sun warms them up and the morning dew dries, that is honestly what this scent makes me think of. Silage is moderate bordering on strong and longevity is amazing at 8hrs from 4 light spritzes, solid love, wardrobe staple and future 100ml bottle repurchase worthy, I LOVE it!

This is one rose fragrance that doesn't receive much fanfare, perhaps due it being buried in the oeuvre of endless fleeting and gossamer creations from the Jo Malone line that often seem incomplete, skeletal, and without much substance, really. Sure, many are beautiful to start, but the development curve is steep most of the time, leaving a feeling as though the experience is anticlimactic. Red Roses is one exception, however. This opens as a rose in Technicolor. There are no superfluous dulcet tones, no powder puffs, thankfully no screechy attempts to exoticize. A rose is a rose is a rose here: dewy, green, and somewhat velvety but not exceedingly plush. My technical nose detects a good dose of Rosalva, an aromachem that imparts an aldehydic dewy rose note. It is just the right dose; they found that sweet spot as I have found during my experiments that it can easily overtake a blend if not dealt with a light hand. Damascenone is evident for that ever-subtle tobacco-wine mystery that one could argue makes this rose "red." Then there is this rose oxide in the top notes that lifts it all with this ever slight metallic hue that paints a full picture of the rose in bloom. I promise not to go all "ATH" on you folks and start using jazz hands but there is one more material from the perfumer's organ that I detect, and this is what I feel is most compelling to my nose. I could swear that Animalis base was included. There is this musky, sensuous, cedary, costus-like quality that others have pointed out but I feel certain that Animalis is responsible for it, and this is what won me over (and apparently repels others who have reviewed it). Oh well, you can't please everyone, but as someone who loves Animalis and its use in some classics, this is why this Jo Malone has appeal for me. It has true development, something to look forward to, rather than leaving the wearer yearning for more...but you have to like a little bit of an edge like I do to fully embrace it and I know that many out there do, so, yes, this happens to be one of my favorite rose fragrances.

when i sprayed this at the jo malone store, i swear the art style of the episode changed and i was suddenly surrounded by a frame of 70s shoujo manga roses, sparkling and exuberant. i may have gasped audibly. i love the smell of roses, but i'm picky with them as a fragrance note; it needs to feel like a freshly picked bouquet of real roses, dew and all, not rose oil or rose jam or rosewater. this scent manages to strike that sweet spot; in fact, at first blush it smells seamlessly and uniquely of rose. once you know they're there, you can detect the lemon and mint in the top notes, working quietly to enhance the freshness of the florals, but otherwise you might miss them. there's the barest hint of greenness rendered by the violet leaf. the roses themselves are bulgarian red or dark pink, a little spicy and heady, and they bloom beautifully with warmth. i like this as a summer scent. the base notes that linger are curious, and might be a dealbreaker; the honeycomb and rosy remnants create a waxy sweetness that smells of decay, like a bouquet left in a vase for too long. the scent is barely a whisper at that stage, and i have to really shove my nose into my wrist to feel it, but there it is, the off-kilter whiff that's vaguely wandering towards bathroom territory. i don't really recommend blind buying this as i did, but i was surprised at myself to discover it's not a dealbreaker for me. am i the sort of person who's okay with this sort of thing now? apparently, yes. the vivid red roses are just too good; i'll love them as they wither, too. recommended if you want to live your old shoujo manga protagonist dreams.

For me and my own fragrance experience, this is the quintessential rose perfume. No other rose scent on the market gets as close to a whiff of rosa damascena, short of actual rose attar and the rose extracts that sell for an equivalent extract of your mortal soul. I'm plaintively obsessed with roses, but I prefer to stay away from the scent of tea roses for the richer scent of damask roses and their wide spectrum of fragrance. Whether it's the Illinois Prairie Rose of my childhood, rosa setigera, or the rosa damascena that made the perfume industry, or the invasive and beautiful rosa multiflora which are taking over native roses in my beloved praries and woodlands, wild roses are a thing to behold in bloom. For a rosarian, looking for a base to complement other notes, start here. Other scents that open too close to candies or gourmands don't have the lofty dreamlike ribbon of silk that I know from putting rose essential oil in a diffuser. Once this fragrance settles into drydown, it activates a sensory experience I only know from the ghostly tonal harmonies of choral music echoing from ancient cathedral ceilings. To bees, damascus rose must surely conjure images of paradise. If Aphrodite were to appear to me tonight, she would be wearing this dripped on her fingertips.

Red Roses is not abstract or trying to reinterpret roses. It's simply photorealistic red roses. Lush, fully bloomed red roses still cool from the morning air with enough sweetness to make the dew inoffensive. What comes to mind are dates in the springtime when everything feels new again. Romantic, flushed cheeks, beautiful bouquet, evocative. Red Roses is the first perfume I fell in love with in my adulthood. It was the only perfume I owned at one point and had been my signature scent for the past four years. I've been branching off, but I get a lot of compliments from this. It's not for the gatekeepers because people will ask what you're wearing. Even certified rose haters are taken aback. Men LOVE this stuff. One guy I dated broke no contact just to tell me he missed the way I smelled. With all this being said, it's not a safe blind buy if you don't love rose. The only downside is when you get halfway through the bottle, it slightly smells like cat piss before it dries down. It still settles beautifully but you'll get less time with top notes and less of a balanced blend towards the end of the bottle. The sweet base note will eventually outweigh the green and citrus notes.

Photo realistic rose is the best way to describe this. The rose is pink with a slight tinge of green on the base, the stems freshly cut and still wet, all thorns gone. I can smell the literal velvety petal of the rose itself. If you love roses and want something more realistic, green, and clean, this is it. The mint really adds a lovely pairing and it’s just so pretty. It is light but it can still be picked up on by others. It can dry down a little odd on clothes so I suggest spraying on skin to avoid that. This is my signature for spring and winter. Kinda weird that it would work in winter but it does. The freshness of it can give it a hint of a snow smell. Think like the snow on the roses in the live action Beauty and the Beast. It’s also quite rainy and wet from mid fall to mid spring where I live. We only really get ice maybe snow for a couple days of the year if we’re lucky and it’s only ever a couple to a few inches at most. So, this is fun when I want that snowy vibe. This is how I’d imagine princess Belle smells, it’s the only thing that comes to mind for me. It’s so rosy and pretty and clean. Red Roses is fit for a princess. Enchanted fairytale vibes.

Roses are tricky, and I am very picky - I don’t want rose water from the apothecary, I don’t want jammy rose, and I don’t want rose-scented soap/lotion/shampoo. I want ROSE. I think what JM does well (sometimes) is using notes that capture the overall experience of botanicals. For me, Red Roses uses the notes well: -lemon & mint capture the freshness and citrus quality of certain rose varietals, with leaves & stem. Luckily they don’t linger making this a rose-lemon scent -rose & violet leaf really are the heart here and carry through the majority of the wear; it’s realistic and fresh and unmistakeable -beeswax was the part I was skeptical about, but it serves as a good base here where a woody note would change the overall composition. It does smell like the bouquet of roses at the end of the day... a little bit of waxiness. I don’t think it smells stale, rotten, over sweet, watery, earthy, or hyper-floral. It’s just roses, exactly as rose oil smells in my facial oil, and the red roses smell in my garden. A full LOVE, for me. If you want something more refined & perfumed, Velvet Rose & Oud is a beautiful variation on the rose theme.

This is the perfume that got me into collecting perfumes, the most unique fragrance I’ve ever smelled, the most perfect rose perfume, and my most favorite and signature daytime scent! I can’t emphasize how much I love this perfume. I entered the Jo Malone store in a luxury mall in Cebu, sprayed it on my arm, left the store to walk around for around 15 minutes, and I can’t get enough of it! In that moment, I knew I just had to get it. I sprayed it all over me and went to a dried fish market (which has the worst smell ever!) and when I came back home, I still smell sooo good! The rose scent on this one is so strong and so realistic. One spray takes you to a trip to a bright spring day on a rose garden where you lie in a bed of roses. That’s how realistic it is. It is a fresh and zesty sweet scent, a bit citrusy too. This is the perfect spring scent if you ask me! No other fragrance can beat the rosiness out of this. I hope Jo Malone NEVER DISCONTINUES this because I’d like this to be my signature fragrance until the day I die 😔🙏

Excellent longevity on me, despite it being Jo Malone! Also, gorgeous opening notes, I am really impressed with how realistic this rose is. It's wet, floral, like the queen of flowers, intense, spicy, citrusy and statement-making. It's competitive with Diptyque Rose, if not better (the Diptyque one is slightly less spicy to me) and can even compete with Delina (although Delina is more intense and more sour because of fruits). I am absolutely keeping this icon in my collection. It's an iconic early 2000's Rose that everybody must smell before starting their rose collection. Currently I have various Delinas, roses by Diptyque (including capitale), rose by Veronique Gabai, Rose and Oud by JM (a more dark and intense rose), and rose by Kilian (some like it hot and other rosy perfumes by them, they make excellent combinations too). I also liked the tom ford one but it's light, peppery, and my least liked out of all of them, not sure why.

I purchased Red Roses along with Blackberry & Bay as a layering combo and it's downright criminal how good they smell together. It's a rose garden, in mid summer, large, bright pink and red roses are everywhere, and the plants have been recently watered. Sun, water, flower and plant project a rich rose, and verdant, earthy green aroma. Around the roses, wild blackberries, with their furry, rough leaves, are scattered, begging you to pick and nibble on. And you're drinking a refreshingly bright, mint-garnished cocktail. Probably something on gin. Buy both, mix them, and sure, you've paid twice as much, but you've spent less than a single bottle of Creed and have three scents (think about it...) that may be moderate in performance, but vastly more interesting, versatile (you and whomever you're with can both enjoy), and you get to play around with blends. I love each individually. Both are divine.

Wow! 100% real rose here, it’s so realistic, feminine and beautiful! Must have if you’re looking for a true, fresh rose fragrance. I love floral perfumes and this one, despite not being complex, is one of my all time favorites! It’s not boring at all - we have violet leaves that add powdery, beeswax that makes the fragrance more sweet (but in a natural way, not synthetic at all) and fresh citruses at the opening. But that lovely, gorgeous rose is the real queen here. Im also impressed by the longevity. I didn’t expect much since it’s EDC and I’ve read that Jo Malone fragrances don’t last. Well, luckily for me, this one stays on my skin for almost 10hours! And even more on clothes. Projection and sillage are delicate, but it matches overall vibe really well. I definitely recommend - if you’re also a floral lover, I bet you won’t regret giving it a try! :)

This has got to be the purest / truest rose scent I have ever encountered. I am so captivated every single time I sniff it. Not a rose type of girl but there is something about this one. I own other rose fragrances and nothing compares. You get that romantic classy feel in it. Whilst some rose scent out there can be too mature, this gives a young and fresh vibe. After checking, the top notes are lemon and mint, so no wonder. Sexy but not pretentious. It's been years since I have liked this cologne and and just recently got myself a bottle. My thoughts on Jo Malone Red Roses has not changed throughout the years, which is hard to come by. I can see myself replenishing new ones already when my bottle is about to be emptied. This is going to stay in my collection no matter what.

Absolutely the most gorgeous fragrance I have ever worn; clean, fresh and lovely. I receive compliments from men and women every time I wear it, all day long. It amazes me; I have never gotten this type of overwhelmingly positive reaction to any other fragrance, ever. I hate heavy fragrances, and like to wear light clean floral or citrus scents. Since I discovered Red Roses, it's now my signature fragrance. My favorite reaction was when all the male court officers at the courthouse ( I'm an attorney) came up to ask me the name of the perfume I was wearing so they could buy it for their wives and girlfriends, and I heard them all discussing the "Jo Malone website" during breaks in the trial proceedings. Hilarious. Gorgeous,gorgeous fragrance. I love it.

I never liked the Rose note ij perfumes,however because this is only the scent of rose petals& water,fresh,soft,pretty& doesnt smell perfumey& yet this lasts& lasts...to me this is the perfect balance of nature of rose petals& water in a bottle. It has that hint of sweet like hardly there like a whisper,its so pretty for what it is,love& its nothing like tea rose!!!! Oh no tearose perfume is more green stems, of the rose,only& this is way way way more about the rich rose petals& water done so softly& perfect!!!!! This no one can go wrong with...even if u hate rose in perfume like i do this is the only natural,organic rose scent out there that really does not smell like perfume!!!! Beautiful!!!!!

A very pure, true rose scent. Sweet, fresh, crisp, delicately elegant rose. It's slightly jammy, slightly lemony, and a tiny bit green, but the overall impression is simply rose . Ageless, timeless, lovely rose. The crisp, green edges gradually melt away in the dry down, slowly turning honeyed and mild. It's not totally un like Rose Tonnerre; they're both rose dominant fragrances with sweet, green, and crisp elements to them. But Rose Tonnerre is boozier, greener, and just more dimensional overall, with elements of warmth, spice, and even a bit of rubberiness to it. Whereas Red Roses is lighter and cleaner; more of a "fresh-cut" scent that's lovely in its simplicity.

This is my favorite perfume, and shortly after purchasing the travel size I received a large bottle as a gift from my sweetie. I initially thought the longevity was not very good, but since then I have smelled the lovely honeyed rose dry down far into the next day if I haven't bathed. I enjoy the dry down more than the opening, although I do love the composition in its entirety. On the initial spray, the lemon is pronounced, although the overall impression is of a dewy rose. As I mentioned, the dry down is very rosy and lightly sweet and the citrus is gone. At that stage it becomes absolutely perfect for my tastes and thankfully it stays that way for a long time.

If a rose by any name is just as sweet, then a fragrance that claims the name of the rose yet lacks its sweetness is no rose at all. If you love the scent of real roses and if you are a bit annoyed with the synthetic soapy rose found in the majority of today's fragrances, you will love this scent. This is the rose in it's pure form, a flower with such complexity that it can serve as a complex perfume in its own right. I am happy to say that Jo Malone successfully bottled the tears, the dewdrops of this flower. Layer this with other fragrances for a touch of photorealistic rosiness, or wear it on its own as the beautiful ladies of bygone eras would have.

A clean, green, sour red rose that isn’t fruity, isn’t sweet. If you don’t like roses this is not for you. But I fucking love rose and love this “fuck off” rose (thank you @GinCatsBooks - we have very similar tastes) that smells authentically like an old fashioned rose. I grow roses in my garden and it’s the old ones that smell this way. The newer ones sometimes have showier colors and bigger petals but smell like nothing. Give me a heritage rose any day, and a bottle of Jo Malone Red Roses to give me that experience the rest of the year when the real thing is no longer blooming in my garden. For those interested, the Red Roses candle is also amazing.

This is a gorgeous, strong, and fresh rose. The opening is intense, like the most fragrant fresh cut roses you can imagine, and a little bit green, stems and leaves. After some time the rose blast calms slightly, giving way to citrus and herbal green freshness, with a mist of rose still hovering over the top. It still smells lovely on me 6-7 hours after spraying, and gives the same mental lift as a big bouquet does when I smell it. Just fresh and natural and lovely, like being in a beautiful rose garden in the sun. I wear this all year but in the winter months especially it is a lovely pick-me-up on those cold dark days.

The most perfect rose fragrance. I can smell all the notes which is rare for me. It's gentle, feminine, and fresh without being sharp or "clean". It's a soft, pretty rose - like just the petals, almost like the rose scent one smells in Turkish Delight - minus the powdery sweetness. All year-round scent for all ages, and perfect for layering but also just fine on it's own. Downsides: the price and longevity... total rip-off. You'd have to generously use the body cream with at least 10 sprays to have this last or project even moderately. There's no reason for the price of this to be as it is.