Valentine’s Day is just a week away, so of course I have to review a perfume based on the most iconic romantic flower.  Isn’t that required for a perfume blogger at this time of the year?  Not that I’m complaining, who doesn’t love a rose perfume?

WHAT I SMELL:  Just Give Me Roses opens with a soft cashmere puttied saffron, that feels wonderfully sexy like silken lingerie that softly lays upon the skin and which moves with such ease like waves that caress the curves of the body.  The perfume is warm, deep and lightly peppered.  The rose is there from the beginning, but it lurks below the saffron fully enraptured and bold in a rather serious manner.  As the perfume continues to develop, the rose begins to lighten along with a light woodiness and a bit of a tobacco note that smells like just baked bread.  Here, Just Give Me Roses begins to grow as if the rose is about to bloom on the stem.  And with the development of the green of the stem comes a brushstroke of radiating powder.  As the perfume settles, a warmed woody tobacco acts as the perfect finish for the rounded red damask rose.  Just Give Me Roses is a beautiful, full bodied rose perfume.

From the La Perla website:

It’s simple, yet utterly profound – the memory of a rose can melt your heart.

Like your most cherished memories of flowers received and gifts exchanged, there is no token of love more meaningful than the rose. Just Give Me Roses saturates the universal charm of the iconic flower into a warm, rich bouquet.

The scent explores the rose’s enchanting depths. Spicy top notes of oriental saffron and pink and black pepper evoke the friends, lovers and memories that have coloured your life. These aromas melt into the pure, single heart note of Damask rose , in celebration of all its infinite romance. As the fragrance develops, find yourself wrapped in the warm and woody intensity of amber-tobacco and musk, as if sitting on a cedarwood bench in summer, among a blooming rose garden

Key Ingredients:  Top – Saffron, Heart – Damask Rose, Base – Cedarwood

WHAT IT SMELLS LIKE TO ME:  The eternal rose.

THREE WORDS THAT DESCRIBE JUST GIVE ME ROSES:  warm, passionate, semi-melancholic

WHAT OTHERS ARE SAYING ABOUT JUST GIVE ME ROSES:  No reviews found.

BOTTOM LINE:  Give Me Roses may have a playful name, but the perfume is anything but playful.  Instead, it’s a beautifully weighted, uncomplicated and serious perfume that is wonderfully unisex.  And for those of you who believe the bottle is as important as the perfume; the La Perla bottles are fantastic and the Just Give Me Roses red bottle with the green cap is the perfect vessel for this gorgeous perfume.

• Bone Rating: 4 out of possible 5 bones
• Scent: Amber Floral Spicy
• Nose:  Dominique Preyssas
• Classification:  Unisex
• Expense:  Starting at $120 for 30ml eau de parfum