Boleyn Tudor Rose

So poetic - red, red roses, oak-wood floors, a candle burns on a wintry morning as you stir up ashes to build another fire. When I first tried this I found it a bit astringent, there's almost a vinagery quality of strident roses, but that waxy quality comes in, a fruity pepperiness and then it warms up on skin. Actually it's like a pared down Epic Woman (Amouage) which also has that pickled note, but this is more translucent. I see wintry trees through a crimson stained-glass window. It definitely works for me in this more wintry weather. Quite beautiful. Love!

This is one of Juliet Rose's Gothic range and I couldn't agree more. The opening is admittedly very potpourri, but waiting thirty seconds for the heat of the skin to burn it away you have a very warm, spicy, dark rose scent. It gives the vibe of a private chapel, with incense, old wooden pews, and late summer roses. It lasts a long time, becoming warmer and more intimate.

Got a whole big batch of tester tubes from Juliet and when I first tried it I thought yum! Dark rose! For me, however, it became more astringent as it began to settle, not so much vinegary but increasingly medicinal. The pepper notes are overwhelmingly strong and, to a lesser degree, the petitgrain and carnation (which I have never really warmed to as a scent note), mixed with a bay leaf and rosemary, formed a scent that really evoked waiting on a gurney to go into surgery; that peculiar smell of hospital anaesthetic and disinfectant. Once the image had formed, I couldn't "unform" it, and for me, revisiting the smell, hoping it would evolve, only made my stomach turn. I actually started to develop a bit of a headache as well. I'm glad I used a tester card because it may have smelled completely different on my skin, but then again, it may not have, and I would have had to scrub it off to get rid of every trace.

Dried rose petals. Green and spiky rose.