Stella Rose Absolute

WHY is it that every time I find a frag that could be my signature scent, it is discontinued? Why would ANY house make something as perfect as this one and subsequently discontinue? It is incredibly popular as evidenced by the elevated prices on ebay (since that is the ONLY place you can buy this). I paid 60 for about 1/2 inch in the bottom of a 3.4 oz bottle (and that was a DEAL)! I have even written to the company about the high demand hoping they will consider releasing it (AS IS NOT REFORMULATED). Fat chance but worth trying. I cannot stop sniffing my wrist. If I had to pick only one perfume out of my stock of 300 plus, it would be this one without a second glance. It is simply stunning deep rose. I am not yet that great at talking about the notes, but this one is simple actually. Just a dominant deep rose with what smells like a great citrus and musk maybe? SO GREAT. So, I love this so much, but cannot afford the 200.00 plus for a bottle. It is hard to justify especially since Stella smells much like it (only weaker). The old Stella with the silver lid (pre-2003) is almost as great as this one, but not quite as great projection or longevity. That one also is difficult to find. All the good/great frags either reformulated to nothing or discontinued. Do they not want to make money? Anyway, the Stella EDP that's being sold today is exactly like a completely watered down version of Stella original. People are still buying the new version with the gold neck. Why? When you know it is less than half as good? Perhaps if customers stopped buying the horrible watered down reformulations, we may see real perfume make a comeback. If I was able to have an endless supply of any frag, this would be it. The Rose absolute is becoming more and more difficult to find. That means that the price is only going to go up over time. Snag one while you can. You won't regret if you like a dark rose scent with just the right amount of everything!

Was commenting on the standard stella, and saw this in the search results (was really looking for reviews of the newest one by McCartney, bought it blind). I have to immediately order another bottle of this and bathe in it. Absolutely perfect scent, only wish more people used it, so I can smell it more often :-)

I received this in a swap with a bit of trepidation. I'd never even tested it before, but because it was described as having a rose scent I fell for the temptation....and it was totally worth it! This is one of my absolute favorite scents and is in my regular rotation. It's a very large bottle so I'll probably never get around to using the entire thing. When I spray it on, I can't seem to stop smelling it. I love the scent of it on my clothes and it's very long lasting. If I ran out I would absolutely buy it! It's probably a little mature but the best way I can describe it is a dark, spicy rose scent.

Crushed rose petals, a bit of peony and a hint of powder and amber, made without both preservatives and cruelty to animals. Stella Absolute is the deeper version of the original Stella scent, but this time the rose is deeper, a bit plummy fruitish with amber that's less pronounced than in the original. Stella RA perfume is complex and yet there is a simplicity to it derrived from its naturalness. As quaguin mentioned, this scent is different than most -because it manages to be delicate yet sultry and mysterious at the same time. I found the last bottle at Sephora a couple years ago, the other branches had sold out. I suspect this lovely scent has been discontinued. Like other reviewers, I too have an issue with its short lasting time, but at least my bottle has not turned without the preservatives it excludes. The dark plummy black bottle is gorgeous and mysterious like the scent.

I first received a sample of this from a sephora order and, deeming it too mainstream, did not want to like it. Yet the more I spray the sample the more I saw how special it was. It starts out very bright floral and feminine, but there is a unique underlying hint of a deep rose scent that distinguishes it from other florals I've tried. It's deep and sophisticated and simply beautiful. I caved and got the original Stella but that only lasted about 1 hour on my skin, so then I opted for this Absolute version which is basically the same to me but it lasted a little longer (~3-4 hours). The dry down is a bit disappointing however, it's like a medicinal/alcoholic clean soap smell. I wish the top and middle notes would last forever but I will now wear this layered with Narcisco Rodriguez "For Her" (see my review), which has very similar openings but dries down like Stella's younger unisex cousin.

Definitely a real nice rose scent, different from what is out there, but the problem is you have to like a strong boozy rose. I find Rose Absolute to be a strong alcoholic rose, like a red wine scent, and it is too much for me!! But for lovers of rose scents it is certainly a unique one!

I think I've just found my new signature scent. I wanted something different from the overload of strong fruity smelling scents out there that every girl seems to be wearing lately (cross between white flowers and fruit punch bowls). I ended up deciding I wanted a perfume that smelt just like a red rose (after picking roses with the elderly at work lol) and this perfume is truly the closest thing to the scent of a rose that I've ever found (the ladies in perfume shops must hate me, whenever I spy a perfume counter I stand there sniffing and spraying cards forever then walk away buying nothing) and I've tried and purchased a LOT of perfumes over the years. It truly is a beautiful and feminine scent, and I like the idea that I won't be smelling exactly like everyone else.

Very rosey-- starts off kind of fresh rosey (stems and leaves, too) and ends up just rose rosey, if that makes any sense. There is a jamminess to it that seems like berries-- sometimes that goes all wrong on me, but in SRA it works. I think it makes it seem a little more vibrant and more modern. It just makes it kind of like a jammy edible rose confection. Lasting power is very good-- this lasts all day long on me.

This is my everyday fragrance in the winter time. Very feminine scent. It is long lasting and definitely worth the price.

I totally adore this scent. Rosy with depth, which made it more on the sophisticated side yet still not cloying at all. Feminine and sexy. Btw, with superb staying power too. I tried the original Stella, which gave me a headache because of too much depth - if this makes sense. The original Stella smelled like some Chinese herbal medicine on me for a long long time until the beautiful rose scent poped out. However, Rose Absolute is almost a total opposite. This has waaayyy more rose yet less that "Chinese herbal medicine like smell", which gave the perfume some depth, rather than just a blank rose scent. Try this if Stella didn't work out for you and ofc, only if you're after a very rosy scent.