rose

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Believe

Full sized bottle with pale rose motif and back printed with handwritten script, capped with gold tall top, and a bright pink cabbage rose from my garden.

“Cabbage Rose & Citrus”

Matronly green apples and roses on top, sweet florals and wicker furniture on the bottom.

Doesn’t last long–I reach for this one when I want a splash of rose that’s more comforting and less business than Tea Rose–both the fragrance and the packaging has a maternal cottage-chic vibe, but sometimes one is in the mood for that, y’know?

Edit – 6/7/21

Pulled this one out of a box in the back of my closet today.
I’d forgotten how much I like it–there’s a clear sweetness that seems really refreshing when compared to so many of the muddy caramel stuff that’s out lately.

The roses I planted this spring actually managed a few blooms–and I had fun comparing the raw materials to the bottled fragrance. Believe definitely captures the softer, apple-ish aspect of the cabbage rose (named for the appearance, not the scent!) versus the sharper lemony quality of the hybrid tea rose.

I’ll leave it out for a while.

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Another comfort rose–

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Scarlett

TokyoMilk solid perfume and adorable matchbox with a glittered botanical illustration of a rose.

Raindrops on roses.
In a swamp.

This is supposed to be a blend of hyacinth, geranium, rose, and spices–and Scarlett is exactly that, though the spices are rather subdued, and the rest of it is kinda murky.
The opening roses are lovely but the geranium soon turns them too lemony and green, and as it heats up the dewy water hyacinth notes turn into sweaty green funk.

Not quite what I was hoping for, but might be nice cut with tiger balm for a mild muscle rub.

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Some rosy acid crunk.

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Tea Rose

tea rose edgy
Tea Rose’s elegant, unisex brown and silver packaging and stately bottle belies the price tag, and the scent does too. A bottle can be had for an hour’s worth of freshman workship wages, yet smells like tenured faculty pay.

Tea Rose is cultured pearls and effortless good manners having gin and tonics at a garden party.
Uncompromising rose, it will strip all other scents in the room of their flowers, and curtsies only to Joy.

I wore this in college when I could only afford silver jewelry, and needed my rayon dress to hold its own in a room full of silk.

This one came out in 1977, along with Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. Here’s a brilliant and eerie cover.