Hollyrose

An instant love on my unending quest for rose perfumes. I have at least 10 more rose fragrances I want to try, and there are already several rose fragrances that I either have a full bottle or want to buy a full bottle, but I am very tempted to grab a full bottle of this because I just can't stop wanting to spray this on me every single day. The patchouli and leather are less intense than expected. The rose is sweet and jammy (due to the black current), the obvious star from beginning to finish. The pepper is moderate and fades quite quickly. I don't really detect the orchid although I have to admit I'm not very familiar with the smell of orchid. This is a simple yet gorgeous rose that is very easy to wear. I known it's an homage to the groupies of the 70s but this reminds me of a young Courtney Love prior to the successes of Hole and her Hollywood career, although she said she never wear rose. To me, Hollyrose is Courtney's teenage whore, with her soft babydoll dress, low-heeled Mary Jane, smudged bright red lipstick, messy hair, smoking and doing drugs - imitating adults, trying hard to look cool and sexy, to be noticed, to be valued and loved because she feels an empty hole inside of her. Courtney wasn't big with leather jackets or combat boots but those are statement pieces in the kinderwhore aesthetic that she pioneered. Hollyrose is a girl who looks like a beautiful, dumb doll but is full of ambition, hunger, rage, and intelligence. Black currant is her childishness and idealism, pepper is her hot temper and combative personality, rose is her sexuality and womanhood, leather is her rebellious nature and armour to the cruel world dominated by men, and patchouli is her hippies influence. The only thing I would like is some cigarette smoke, although that can easily be achieved by smoking. This is a very feminine fragrance that captures the youthful spirit of rock-n-roll lovers, regardless of age, because the souls of such women never ages. She ages like fine wine - she wears grey strands in her hair with beauty and grace, fills her closet with vintage style flow-y dresses, lives in a house with a beautiful garden and several cats. She keeps her vast collection of records and CDs, and photo books filled with memories of her youth, full of pretty boys and wild adventures. People will often wonder how a woman with such an interesting past is content to be living an ordinary and uneventful life anonymously in a quiet town, but she just smiles and says nothing, because she knows deep down that the hole inside of her is no more.

I never write reviews but I feel compelled to write one for this, mostly because I'm confused, but in a good way. My initial impression of this was off base. When I first tried this, the leather was so overpowering to me. I liked that leather was one of the notes, but I thought it was way too much combined with how smoky it was. This is still true when it's first sprayed. It takes awhile to turn into what I like about it, which is something completely removed from the initial smell. Like the other posts have said, it really is a jammy smell. The more it dries down, the more I smell something sortof powdery in a spicy way, but it's so faint, and I wish I smelled that more. (And it reminds me of something I've smelled before and can't put my finger on, which is probably part of the allure for me.) Honestly, the marketing got to me. As a lover of Pamela Des Barres book "I'm With the Band" and all things LA, I will probably like this more than other people. Overall, I like that it doesn't really smell like "perfume" in the candy sort of way. It's feminine without being heavy and syrupy. EDIT, I bought a full bottle of this and despite trying out a lot of different scents, this one is just always good compared to them. It's a bit intense on the first spray, sure, but to me, nothing really compares to it. It's different and feminine and powdery in a spicy-ish way, without being what I would consider to be the bad version of any of those things. It is perfect.

I can't believe how good this fragrance is! The notes on my skin are totally out of the pyramid order. Hollyrose opens with an intense combo of a good dose of patchouli and rose (that seems to be on steroids), then the leather starts to dominate almost immediately and to my excitement, making it more of a dark scent. It's made of high quality ingredients and it feels almost oily. After 20 minutes Hollyrose changes drastically, letting the black currant and pepper to take over. I feel like I'm slowly squeezing the blackcurrant leaves in between my fingers, slowly inhaling this amazing smell so familiar to me from my childhood. The dry down is finally making this fiery scent to mellow down. The blackcurrant and pepper are gone, and whats left is the beautifully blended mature rose and leather. To be honest, I can't tell where the orchid went but I didn't miss it a bit. The projection is fantastic and people around me can smell it. Longevity is about 4-5 hrs. My skin absorbs fragrances pretty quick so I think on someone else the longevity might be much better.

Rebellious bloom This is no dainty garden rose. Holly Rose has a wild streak — velvety petals with a pulse, fragrant with defiance. What begins as a gentle, dusky bloom deepens into something darker, sharper — a rose with a stare. Sometime its delicate petals sharpen into a fierce, rebellious witch, intoxicating and unpredictable. It doesn’t fade quietly. Holly Rose lingers, clinging to skin and memory, announcing itself with a bold whisper others can’t help but notice. A scent of contrast — elegance with a shadow, romance laced with danger. Beautiful, but never tame.

Rich, dark, rose/leather/patchouli scent. The rose is rich and sticky, rather than fresh or sweet. You can really tell the difference of using rose oil rather than a standard rose note. It’s very patchouli heavy, giving it a dense, earthy character. The leather is there, but the other two are stronger imo. It’s a supporting act to give depth, but there isn’t a classic smoky leather more. If you like this style of perfume (which has been done a lot!) then I don’t think you’ll be disappointed. Definitely better for night time and cold weather.

the way i want all rose-dominant perfumes to be. this has a really, really nice undercurrent of spice and leather that carries the sweetness of the rose to a really pleasant place. applies sweet and almost fruity, dries down to reveal the leather, but the rose keeps it sweet and not overly heavy. I think I'll have to buy a proper travel-size of this one.

This is the closest to my Nirvana Rose, discontinued. It isn't exact but reminiscent of it. I have been looking for something similar and this is a good one. It layers well with tea rose lotion, and Fleur Fatale by KK, just like Nirvana Rose. This is a room 1015 favorite for me. The performance is good, the price is good too. An FB is in my future.

I love a rose scent, but hate when it's too powdery or sweet. Prefer a bit of a masculine edge in almost everything, which is what makes Hollyrose perfect. When I want to soften the smokiness and leather I layer it with a powdery rose scent. Always get compliments when I wear it.

tender with an edge. truly divine when u need to feel calm but powerful. the scent equivalent of a hot girl smoking cigs in a dive bar. she's on a first name basis with the bartender and rolls her eyes at the idea of going anywhere "hipper"

Opens with a lot of rose, then the leather really comes out to play. I love it but it’s quite synthetic. Not immediately worthy of a full bottle but I’ll happily finish up my decant and decide later.

Love this. It is very true to the listed notes — if you don’t like berries, rose, patchouli, and leather... THIS IS NOT FOR YOU.

I really like this. It's beautiful leather and rose. Would be interested in trying some more from this line.

Wearing this again today from a 5ml tester I ordered from Sniph several months ago. When first testing this back in the midst of winter, I felt the leather overpowered the fragrance. All I could smell was black, tar-like leather. Now I don't mind leather perfumes that pack a punch, but I felt a bit too much like I was wearing the gasoline-infused jacket of a 50 year old Harley Davidson rider. And unfortunately I'm not cool enough to pull that kind of scent off really, so I put it to the side. I don't know if the fragrance just behaved differently that day, or whether my nose picked up the leather much more strongly back then for some reason, but today this perfume seems a lot more balanced. Still leathery, yes, but I can now smell the rose, a whiff of patchouli, and the whole thing comes together quite nicely. It is a relatively simple fragrance though, at least to my nose. All I get is leather, rose, patchouli. Maybe a bit of the freshness of the blackcurrant in the opening, but it fades pretty quickly. A nice scent, of which I probably won't be buying a full bottle, but will enjoy wearing the rest of my sample.

Smoky leather, deep rose, wine, dried fruits. Unisex. A very heavy leather fragrance here, the leather is very strong but very wonderful. Personally, I would prefer this on a man. My husband will be getting this sample. I get images of a wingback vintage leather chair, in a den of a very rich and successful man. Very rich, slightly boozy, the attitude of I don't give a you know what vibe here. Leans male for me but unisex for most. Very animalic dry down. Really like that part the best. Sexy. Edit the more I smell this the more I want it for myself! It is just killer sexy. Update to 💕 8/1/24 wore this sample all day today. Bought a full bottle. My husband and I will share this one. Excellent leather rose fragrance. Great longevity and sillage.

Opening has a prominent, smoky leather and an unrefined, dirty patchouli. Very interesting. I can faintly smell the rose under the leather. After a few mins I begin to smell the black currant. The whole combo is nice. As it dries down the patchouli softens considerably and the rose & black currant become more prominent. The fragrance has a very dry, dusty quality to it. The projection and the performance are good. It's marketed as a unisex fragrance but I think it's more on the feminine side. The idea behind Hollyrose is very clever, I think the perfume really nails this hippie 70s vibe. As a fragrance that captures a very specific place at a very specific time, this works.

The name is misleading. Anyway, this is a Review from a person who does not really appreciate roses in fragrances (sold my Portrait of a lady, lipstick rose, Rose pop by Guerlain, Red Roses by Jo Malone, Rosam by HdP and only lest Mancera Roses Greedy and Montale Roses Musk in my Collection.) I received a small decant of this as a freebie in some swap, I was very long hesitant to try, but God, I was so wrong. HollyRose is a leather-rose centered fragrance. The opening is si smoky, I can basically see the fumes around a rose! It has decent sillage and projection. So Close to Freredic Malle Rose Cuir, I might get a FB of it. I love the work of Jerome Epinette.

I’m not one for writing reviews as eloquently as many others on Fragrantica, but I just received this fragrance and thought I would weigh in. I lived and grew up in the 1970s and I will say that this smells exactly like 1970s Dove soap and an expensive leather jacket. It’s uncanny. My grandmother and many others would make air fresheners out of a bar of Dove, skewered by beads, and placed in many 1970s households. It’s uncanny. By the way, the staying power is eternal.

honestly this is a very interesting rose. I don't get anything "synthetic" here - opens with rose and sour black currant, then melts into rose with leather, then green earthiness of patchouli comes through quite a statement of a perfume but it's really well done feels quite feminine cause it's strongly rose-forward, but actually reading the reviews I could imagine a man getting compliments for it I'm gonna go wear it today in cold crisp weather

I wish the rose note was stronger. The rose is nice and fresh and almost a little dewy, but as it dries down I mostly get leather and smoke. The lingering smell reminds me a little of cigarettes in the best possible way. I really like it, I wish just wish it was a little more... hmmm rosey.

An edgy, jammy rose, spiced and leathered, like a well-worn purse. The black currant reminds me of dry red wine, invoking images of smoke-filled dive bars and not giving a f***. There is something retro about it. Very rocker chiq.