Best Of
Best Perfumes That Smell Like Rose
Rose is so common in perfumery that “a rose perfume” tells you almost nothing. Portrait of a Lady buries it in patchouli and incense, Red Roses keeps it green with lemon and violet leaves, and Rose 31 gives it cumin. Choose the company before you choose the rose.
Which Rose Perfume Fits What You Want?
| Perfume | Rose alongside | Pick it if |
|---|---|---|
| Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady EDP | Patchouli, incense, sandalwood, red berries | You want rose at maximum dose |
| Tom Ford Rose Prick EDP | Sichuan pepper, turmeric, patchouli, roasted tonka | You want spice with caramel warmth |
| Le Labo Rose 31 EDP | Cumin, olibanum, cedar, guaiac wood | You like rose that’s half woods |
| Maison Francis Kurkdjian À la Rose EDP | Sweet pea, violet, musks | You want soft and pretty |
| Diptyque Eau Rose EDT | Lychee, Ambroxan | You like fruit and a clean finish |
| Jo Malone Red Roses Cologne | Lemon, violet leaves, honeycomb | You want a green garden rose |
| YSL Paris, original EDT | Violet, iris, sandalwood, vanilla | You miss the powdery rose of the 1980s |
Portrait of a Lady: As Much Rose as It Will Hold
Dominique Ropion made Portrait of a Lady for Frédéric Malle in 2010, and the house is frank about the idea: an “indecent amount” of Turkish rose, magnified by patchouli, incense and sandalwood and enriched with red berries. A rose that dense stops being delicate. The patchouli gives it soil, the incense gives it smoke, and the berries keep it from turning solemn.
It’s an evening-weight perfume and a serious splurge, so it suits someone who already knows they love dark rose, not someone deciding whether they like rose at all.
Torn between this and Rose Prick? Choose Portrait for incense and depth, Rose Prick if pepper sounds more fun than smoke.
Rose Prick: Pepper, Turmeric and Caramel Warmth
The roses in Tom Ford’s Rose Prick are the soft part. The prick comes from Sichuan pepper and turmeric up top, with patchouli and roasted tonka underneath; Tom Ford says the tonka “smolders with notes of caramel and vanilla.”
Sichuan pepper is the interesting choice. It’s tingly and almost citrusy, where black pepper is hot, which makes it a livelier way to put thorns on a rose. The tonka then pulls the base toward something sweeter than Portrait of a Lady’s incense.
Rose 31: For People Who Like Cumin
Cumin is the most divisive material on this page. It has a warm, skin-like quality that some people find sexy and others read as sweat. Le Labo’s Rose 31 EDP puts it right beside Centifolia rose, with olibanum, cedar and amber, then guaiac wood, cistus and musky notes, so the rose shares the stage with woods.
One wearer who usually avoids heavy roses loves its warm, slightly smoky spice. A sampler found the cumin overpowering, even as it settled toward crushed petals. Despite the name, it’s as much a cumin perfume as a rose one.
À la Rose: The Soft One
After those three, À la Rose is a change of temperature. Kurkdjian pairs Damascena and Centifolia roses with sweet pea, violet and musks, and describes pear and lychee facets in the rose itself. No spice, no smoke, no patchouli.
It’s for anyone who wants rose to be pretty and has no interest in apologising for that. L’Eau À la Rose EDT and L’Homme À la Rose are separate fragrances.
Eau Rose: Rose With Lychee
Diptyque’s Eau Rose EDT takes À la Rose’s hint of fruit and makes it a headline: a lychee accord beside Damascena and Centifolia roses, with Ambroxan for a clean, ambery finish. The fragrance story covers petals, leaves, stems and buds, so it’s after the whole plant.
On Fragrantica, the lychee is the dividing line. A fan loves the green, clean rose-and-lychee combination and only wishes it lasted longer; someone else liked the drydown but not enough to sit through the fruity opening for a full bottle.
Eau Rose EDP is a different composition, so match the concentration when you read reviews.
Red Roses: A Green Garden Rose
Jo Malone’s Red Roses goes for the leaves as much as the petals: a rose accord with crushed violet leaves and lemon, and honeycomb underneath. It’s the most garden-like rose here, the one closest to bending over a rosebush.
A wearer who reaches for it all spring and summer loves how realistic the rose is, though it fades sooner than they’d like. Another caught a stale vase-water note in the greenery. If damp leaves appeal to you, this is your rose. Look for the Cologne, not the candle or home-scent versions.
YSL Paris: The 1980s Powdery Rose
Paris launched in 1983, and its formula still belongs to that decade: rose and violet, powdery iris, then sandalwood, vetiver and vanilla. Violet and iris are what give it the lipstick-and-face-powder character the modern picks above have mostly dropped.
If you’ve been missing that, nothing else on this page replaces it. It also costs a fraction of Portrait of a Lady, which makes it the easiest way into a full, old-school rose. Choose the original EDT; Paris EDP, Parisienne and Mon Paris are all different perfumes.
If coffee sounds like a good partner for rose, Café Rose is in the coffee list. Portrait of a Lady fans should look at patchouli perfumes next, and anyone who liked the sound of rose with resin will find a sweet rose-and-oud pairing in the oud list. Sandalwood perfumes carry on where Rose 31’s woods leave off.
Table of Contents
Not sure which fragrance is you?
Answer seven questions to explore fragrances for your preferences.
Related Coverage
List
7 Colognes That Smell Like Sandalwood
Seven sandalwood colognes from Diptyque Tam Dao and Le Labo Santal 33 to Chanel Égoïste and Guerlain Santal Royal, and the santalol chemistry behind sandalwood's creaminess.
List
Best Perfumes That Smell Like Coffee
Coffee perfumes picked by what sits beside the coffee: A*Men's patchouli, Intoxicated's cardamom, Black Phantom's rum, Black Opium's vanilla and more.
List
7 Perfumes That Smell Like Oud
Seven oud perfumes from Tom Ford Oud Wood and MFK OUD satin mood to Montale Black Aoud, and why most 'oud' in perfume is an accord built from cypriol, woods and leather.