Tea Rose Eau de Toilette
Perfumer's Workshop (1972)

What a steal! At first spray, I thought I was applying a rose water toner. It was refreshing, watery, and smelled exactly like an English rose. I can't believe it smells this natural for the price. It's pretty much just rose, with a bit of bergamot to lighten it up, but the rose is dominant. It's not a sour, oudy, overly sweet, or citrusy rose; it's just a clean, airy, natural English rose.

Your perception of rose may be influenced by other rose fragrances, so forget about those and imagine yourself smelling a bouquet of roses. That's pretty much what you're getting from this fragrance. Don't expect a secondary or complementary note. If you love roses, this fragrance is blind-buy worthy considering the price. Don't expect something complex, as it is a linear fragrance.

Performance is moderate, but it's great for this genre of fragrance. I can't believe I didn't get this sooner. I'm a big fan of green fragrances, so this was a must-try for me.

I don't know why I do this to myself. I knew exactly what this was going to be like, and yet still ordered a small bottle "just to see". If one's reference for "rose" is the rose-shaped soaps in elderly ladies' bathrooms (do those even still exist?) then yes, this a very realistic rose. A horrid, permeating and somehow twee aroma; a single spray onto a bit of card is now cursing my entire space, plus the ends of my fingers, where a thorough wash has failed to remove a bit of overspray. The only positive to this experience is that I don't seem to be allergic/reactive to whatever comprises this thing.

Thank you for the reviews of this, it is reason I purchased it. I LOVE it & my husband loves it, he said I smelled like a bar of my Camay soap :-) To me it smells like a cross between a Damask Rose & the Hybrid Tea Rose named " Fragrant Cloud " I have only ever grown very fragrant roses in my home & outside, so that is my reference point. This is a representation of a true rose smell, in other words, I do not smell, musk, incense, vanilla, nor amber. It is very similar to the original Crabtree and Evelyn perfume named Evelyn, or maybe it was called Evelyn Rose, which I had & loved & it is no longer made, except for the lotion)
Reasons I LOVE it.
1)smells like fresh roses
2)great for layering with other scents
3)embarrassingly affordable (rose oil is terribly expensive, so great for me that they've mixed enough fragrances to make a rose smell)
4)because it's affordable, go ahead, spray a tad in the shower before you step in, it'll smell like a spa! spritz your pillowcases too!
5)it does NOT smell like diaper powder, which is what I smell (& I associate with dirty diapers) when I have smelled many other rose fragrances

Perfumer's Workshop has an interesting history, as does this, their debut mass-market fragrance. Donald and Gun Bauchner formed a husband and wife team which offered the concept of a department store counter that sold bespoke fragrances custom-blended from essential oils right there on-site at affordable department store prices, and The Perfumer's Workshop Ltd. was created. Simple packaging and a removal of the snobby, unapproachable decorum that was usually associated with high-end luxury products was part of the merging between upmarket and downmarket concepts that The Perfumer's Workshop pushed, but by the late 70's, they had shifted into a more traditional perfume house offering premade designs mass-produced for better distribution. Tea Rose was first offered at The Perfumer's Workshop counters in 1972, as a premade eau de toilette blend of their available oils, but relaunched in 1977 when the bespoke blending on demand went away. Simply put, Tea Rose is an attempt at an accurate recreation of the tea rose, not just the rose flower itself, but the entire plant. This scent isn't a soliflore exactly for that reason, and has a few supporting players to replicate the dewy opening of smelling the flower, leafy green of it's body, and a touch of woodsy afterglow to anchor it on skin. Tea Rose isn't perfect, but quite extraordinary at what it does, offering niche artistry and quality at drugstore or designer prices depending on concentration.

The first thing that comes to mind when smelling Tea Rose is just how green and fresh the opening is, instantly recalling Chanel No 19 (1971) or Aromatics Elixir (1971). Tea Rose was so hot on the heels of these green floral chypres that it's almost frightening, as this stuff sold for pennies on the dollar in comparison, but despite it's "common" market placement, was a huge success adored by important people like the late Princess Diana. Tea Rose doesn't have the bite of those aforementioned green florals however, moving from bergamot right into the rose like POW on your nose, getting right to business. Lily and tuberose soften and brighten this further, but it's not enough to totally destroy any unisex appeal the scent has (despite ostensibly being marketed just to women by the label), until the dry base arrives. The galbanum is less severe in Tea Rose than a lot of stuff like this from the period, being just enough to give the nose that rose bush vibe without being grassy. There's a lot of painfully precise balancing here that again, recalls the level of artistry found in modern niche, yet this was created initially by the Bauchners, who presumably were NOT master perfumers! A happy accident? I think so. Sandalwood, amber, cedar, and of course rosewood gives this the dry brisk finish it needs to stay with you, and that's it! Since this stuff was literally compiled from headshop-grade essential oils at first, there isn't a lot of wiggleroom for chemical pork, and is basically champagne taste made with beer budget ingredients.

A person wearing Tea Rose ends up fooling everyone that thinks they're wearing one of many modern niche rose parfums (which happened to me), except to the trained nose which can detect that it's obviously lacking an oud note and made with an old-school bergamot top in place of more-exotic yuzu or pomelo found in some modern takes. All Tea Rose needed to be outright masculine is a civet note, ànd the lack of any significantly rich amber or oakmoss (although oakmoss is there for fixative) is what keeps this from dating itself as an "old lady rose". After almost 50 years, Tea Rose still comes across fresh and contemporary for any lover of a nice green rose - man, woman, or anyone. I'd recommend sticking with the eau de toilette because it's greener and more universal in appeal, as the newer eau de parfum leans too plush and towards the flower itself for most CIS guys, plus can be rather stifling in a closed room. Fresh, green, dry, and vibrant rose is what you get all day, and there is no preferred context for wear as you either like rose or you don't, but fans of the above mentioned, or any of the drier more citrus-heavy Mancera or Montale rose scents should take note of Tea Rose's uncanny accuracy at it's price point. Again, this isn't a soliflore, or something richer or more complex like Portrait of a Lady (2008), but sits in that middle ground of "authentic rose with artistic flair", with a lovely green feel that makes any time of year feel like spring time. Besides, the stuff is so inexpensive for it's quality that even if you disagree with my summary, you can't bring yourself to hate it. An essential rose that every lover of the flower must try.

The first thing that made me an impression was the very intense yellow colour and the almost oily viscosity of the perfume. The colour resembles very well the chamomile tee the smell of which is well recognisable for at least a couple of hours next to the rose.
As i was in the third hour of wearing this, two of my assistants (two ladies between 55 and 60 years of age) who were standing not far away from me started to discuss vociferous about an annoying rose smell that filled the space. Especially one of them was saying that this smell was horrendous and was trying to identify the trail looking around in different places where i have been before and have left a trail. Of course i knew they were discussing about my perfume but it never crossed their minds that i was the "centre of the evil".
Obviously the trail i have left behind me was so intense that they came to the conclusion that this must be some kind of an air freshener that is pumped into the building over the air condition making their lives miserable. A third lady which came along shortly after that had exactly the same reaction.
Boy i was glad they didn't realise it was me making them sick.
The next thing i did was to find a sink and repetitively wash my arms (where i have placed the perfume) till the perfume was not detectable any more.
I personally didn't find the perfume to be repugnant but i have to admit that it did smell like some kind of air freshener that is sold in the super markets for 2,99 Euros.
I can not comment on the evolution of the perfume but i really liked the colour. The sillage was obviously of colossal proportions.

Because of the reactions
2/10


P.S
With so many negative reactions i will certainly won't ever touch this thing again

Stardate 20170309:

A great rose that can be had for cheap. It should be in everyone's wardrobe.
This one has survived reformulation and goes for $10 for 120ml. A perfumery miracle if there was one.