Imogen Rose smells like the Lush store when you walk in.
A faint rose, floral blend, with some fresh earth, wild rose in the
garden. Casual scent. Very informal, not sophisticated or
pretentious. Update 5/2012: The rose is stronger now, possibly due to a new batch of rose raw materials. All of the solid rollup fragrances are fleeting though compared to the EDP sprays.

Everytime I have a spritz of this perfume, my roomate says: I smell an old lady somewhere near !

But for me it's the most wonderful delicate fresh wild rose. Maybe I'm a bit to shy to wear it everyday, if I were alone everyday I would were it, just for me. My boyfriend doesn't like it, it's too strong for him. What a pitty.

I wish that I'd be brave enough for this perfume.

I get a blast of very sensual rose--big, blossoming and earthy--and then the vetiver takes over. It changes further into what smells like a very expensive rose-scented powder, and eventually fades into faint honey-scented powder. It's a fast ride, at least in the concentration I have. As a note, I personally found the solid perfume to smell more like the base (beeswax? shea butter? something) than the fragrance.

This is another Gorilla perfume that has a grand impressive opening that sort of just peters out.

I fell in love when I first applied this. It's genuine earthy rose aroma was incredibly pleasing and convincing. I thought this was going to be the first rose perfume I was really going to like. This stage only lasted about 30 minutes and then it became a soft powdery rose, which is great if you like soft powdery perfumes, which I do not. I will not repurchase this one.

This is the first Gorilla perfume scent which I got. I was going through a rose phase where I wanted to use as many rose scented bath and body products as possible. Seeing the lovely description on Lush.co.uk, I decided to give this a try. I have to admit I didn't like the scent when I first receive this in the mail, I thought it was OTT. Then I tried this for a 2nd and 3rd time and now I am sold! Only complaint is, the tube which the solid is housed in, I cannot retract it after I push the solid out and I ended up wasting some of it, hmph...

I am fussy about rose scents, but I am thoroughly enjoying Imogen Rose. It starts out smelling like dirt, rose, and powder. As it dries down, it becomes softer and more honeyed.

A very unique and wearable scent from Gorilla Perfumes. Bravo!

The creator of this scent says it comes to life on the skin - I kept that in mind after I took a whiff from the sample jar and was pretty disgusted. Curiosity got the best of me so I decided to spray a little on my wrist; lo and behold it was like stepping into a garden after a rainstorm.

Rose is one of my favourite scents, and I am thrilled with this fragrance because it breaks all the rose perfume stereotypes (ie that they are for grandmas or boring). It's sexy, loaded with pure rose oils, and best of all doesn't have any fruity notes. The other thing I like about it is how true the scent stays as it wears down - which admittedly doesn't take very long, at least in the solid format.

The big downside of this perfume for me is the solid packaging! I keep mine in a cool closet and it's melting. I bought some of the old Lush perfume tins and this never happened to them. I never finish my perfumes so I don't think I will buy this again, but if I do it will be liquid all the way!

Other reviewers have expressed their surprise at the gorgeousness of Imogen Rose and I'm in exactly the same boat. I expected a disappointingly watered-down, mass-marketable rose, but Imogen has more in common, scentwise, with Creed's Fleur de The Rose Bulgare, Lutens' Sa Majeste de Rose or Guerlain's Nahema than the likes of Paul Smith Rose, Valentino's Rock n' Rose or even Stella. It smells like it should cost a fortune, yet it doesn't.


Imogen is a powdery antique rose with a touch of honey and musk. The reviewer who called it a 'dirty' rose is spot on, and I mean that in the nicest possible way. The combination of raw, fleshy, decadent sensuality and old-world quirky primness just works, and I can't explain why. There's a powdery freshness in the top notes, reminiscent of lavender or those Parma Violet candies from years ago. I detect a distant similarity to Vivienne Westwood's Boudoir, only Imogen is heavier on the actual rose.


I wish more department store fragrances were like this, but nowadays you only see - or rather, smell - this level of creativity from the artisans and old-school houses. I know Lush's packaging isn't the greatest - it's non-existent, for the most part - but I love the chic little black bottles they've used for the Gorilla range, with their slightly sinister, arcane potion-holder air.

I tried Imogen Rose in spray form, and I found it strikingly, uncannily realistic. I swear to god I could smell the pollen and leaves of a rose bush - like ChildOfTheMoon said, it's much 'dirtier' than traditional rose scents. I honestly wanted to like it for its originality alone. Unfortunately, I'm not a rose person, and I still found it too sickly for my tastes. I also found the 'pollen' smell a bit overpowering.

I'd give it two stars for smell alone, but it gets an extra star for its originality.

When I opened my sample vial of Imogen Rose I almost gagged, but don't be fooled by the way it smells in the bottle. On the skin it is a soft dewy rose to the very life, heady and voluptuous but not at all sickly. This true rose scent lasts on me for maybe half an hour, then it settles into something completely different - bubblegum, or marshmallows, something sugared and powdery and vaguely edible. Not deeply unpleasant but a disappointment nonetheless. I would find myself reapplying constantly if I were to buy this, just to get that wonderful opening back again. Perhaps I'll buy another sample size and do just that, but...

I should note that the Lush sample vials have a design flaw which means that if they get hot (in a car glove compartment for instance) the cap just comes right out and whatever is in your bag at the time will get drenched in perfume. This happened to me! Luckily this is not a sickly scent and having a rose scented bag is not a disaster, but if it had happened with any of Lush's more heavy perfumes I think I would have cried. Be warned...