Nirvana Rose

Let me preface by saying I love rose! But, i don't know about this one yet. Its very peppery and that's usually not my type of rose. I compare all roses to STELLA and this is not Stella. However, she may have a place in the fall and winter. Right now its the dead of summer in the south so she will go back in the drawer for another day. Will update later.

This smells like a rich green rose. I do not care for the opening , but within a few minutes the most beautiful ROSE really shines. It is big ,bold and very green and earthy. I wear it with an open back dress in the evening, it makes my spine straight and demands respect. Not a fruity rose but a sharp rose aroma. I would not call it goth, it is not dark, not heavy, not dusty, it is just a luminous rose with a lot of greenery around it. I love to wear it in the summer evenings. I would summarize it as a geranium and rose, I have both in my garden and this perfume smells like exactly those two plants, geranium makes it a little bitter and bolder. Fantastic rose in my opinion, the rose itself reminds me of Serge Lutens “ Girl from Berlin” , only the rose note, so bright, bold and cold. It is not mudded or overshadowed by any other note.

Just not for me, smelled like cough medicine. Others that smelled my exact bottle seemed to love it, so I'll chalk it up to my nose being stubborn.

Nirvana Rose has an addictive mentholated note (some aspect of the geranium, rose, or vetiver--I sense that the list is deliberately incomplete) that I was craving today, despite the appalling heat. Ordinarily I would not want to wear something this gothic in 100-degree weather, but that slightly medicinal herbal note has a cooling effect somehow, like some kind of olfactory forest bath. I wish this line had not been discontinued--I'm also very fond of French Grey and Nirvana Black. The bottles are impossibly beautiful, too, like bejeweled flasks or cigarette cases.

I love this with all my heart. I bought this years ago from a department store at the mall. I was looking to buy more and I was SO upset when I learned it was discontinued. Now it’s thrown me headfirst into the fragrance world, trying to figure out what notes I like. This smells sultry, deep, and like a garden in its entirety. It smells like a flower and the soil. The rose is beautiful, but smells like no other rose I’ve tested since. It’s sexy and crisp. Not smoky, maybe just a hint. Like trimming the roses in your glass greenhouse in the evening. A breeze coming through the window. A leftover cigar from yesterday still in the ashtray. I’d consider it unisex, as that’s something I like about it. I don’t feel super feminine wearing it. I’ve received compliments on it when hugging people hello or goodbye. I haven’t smelled anything else this intoxicating. RIP Nirvana Rose

I got a couple of 5ml samples off a resale site. It may not matter a great deal, since this is discontinued, to mention that the spray mechanism on the bottle is a little funky. But on to The Juice. I love a strong, gothic rose, and this is one of the more polite entries in that family. The vetiver gives it a dry quality, and the geranium brings to mind big, sharp rose thorns. There's something mineral that almost smells of blood, but ever-so-softly. The color is deep mauve. The face is Hedy Lamarr. The sound is viola. Dark and voluptuous but restrained. Honestly, it's a shame this has been discontinued, and I might need to snatch up a few more samples while I can.

I really thought I would love this. I own quite a few indie perfume oils with the rose + geranium combo and I like all of them, but there's an odd sourness in this fragrance that I just can't fully get behind. Its not terrible by any means but I was hoping for something a little different.

I pulled out my multipack of E&J roll on perfumes. Suitable for this time of year: Autumn/Winter. The pack has four fragrances. I had used the other three frequently during these seasons. However, the rose scent caught my eye today. I have other rose fragrances that I wear more often, but not this one. For whatever reason. I think I thought it would just be another rose fragrance. My first thought was this is a SPICY rose. The rose and spices come through in harmony. So does the unmistakable underlying earthy scent. It might be a no for some people who don’t want to smell like their great grandmother used to smell. I closed my eyes and pictured a black and white movie and flapper hats. However, the notes of this fragrance has potential. I could certainly get on board with a spicy rose. This is a inspiration for other rose fragrances. It is certainly unique. This could certainly be a unisex scent. This would smell incredible on anybody.

Smells exactly like rose sachets in a cedar chest of drawers.

Nirvana Rose is one of my favorites from the E&J Nirvana line. It is not a lazy rose scent. I love the complexity of the three notes on my skin. This dries down beautifully on me. That is not always the case with rose scents. A wonderful winter addition to my scent wardrobe. I want to add that I have a heavy hand when wearing my fragrances at home. Today I have sprayed this heavily on my skin three times in 6 hours and I finally have a thick enough cloud for my taste. 😁 beautiful, rich rose fragrance.

The most beautiful, exquisite dark gothic rose in my collection. The fragrance is especially beautiful in cool weather - at that time it’s long-lasting and leaves a trail, while in warmth it retreats and hides.

This is a big rose, just the way I like it. Balanced perfectly between sweet and spicy. Becomes earthier as it dries down. This is the spicier, earthier cousin to Olfactive Studio Rose Shot. I would disagree with the comparisons to FM Portrait of a Lady because that one is much darker.

The scene in the Adam's Family where morticia is cutting the tops of the roses off is what I immediately think of when I smell this. When I smell this, I get a very dark rose and green stems. This isn't for everyone, but I really enjoy this particularly in the colder months. Projection is moderate.

I’m obsessed. Found my sample of this from years ago and gave it another try. I think when I first sampled it I rated it as neutral or just ok & tossed it in the sample drawer, forgotten. But this time around each time I wore it I started to like it more and more. I had to wear it 3 different times before I decided that I love it, I need it, and proceeded to go online & buy multiple rollerballs since that’s about all you can find anymore. It’s perfect for October, I feel like Maleficent when I wear it. I picture Sleeping Beauty asleep in her castle surrounded by a thorny briar rose patch & the prince is slicing his way through to rescue her. Love love love. It’s hard for me to believe that there are only the three ingredients listed in it as it seems more complex. Many commenters saying it’s patchouli which maybe it is, not sure. I typically don’t like patchouli forward scents but if the patchouli blend is done right it can be amazing so perhaps that’s what this is. It would explain why I don’t like the opening much, it’s just a bit too spicy and funky. But if you wait a bit it transforms into a beautiful woody velvety rose. Lasts hours too, the rose didn’t fade until over 8 hours & after the rose fades there is still a woody & slightly spicy scent that lingers that I don’t love as much without the rose (could be the patchouli) but it’s not terrible. Edit to add: if you’re looking for a replacement, I just sampled Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia and after about 30 minutes it REALLY started smelling like this. It’s not even a primary rose scent but they must use the same kind of dark boozy rose, and that kind of rose is very prominent on me.

I truly, truly, tried to enjoy this scent, since the profile seemed perfect to me, and others enjoyed the scent. I could only smell cough syrup though 💔

I truly do try to not review fragrances twice, but I have learned SO much about this precious perfume, I'm bursting to gush about it. If you dislike long reviews, skip it, this ain't for you. This damn perfume evokes so many incredible associations for me...it's poetry. The note list is absolutely dismissable, because there is so much happening here in great nuance. This is deeply gothic, a dry, spiced, prickly, and slightly bloody (yes, truly) rose. It's even a little musky, subtly sweaty, with the funkiness of green geranium (the geranium scent doesn't come from the blooms, it comes from the thick spongey leaves). Like a man you're attracted to on a chemical level who hasn't bathed. But, also it's *you*, and you smell beyond *pretty*, you smell like raw sexuality. It's both of you, and he's the type who makes rose oil from the hippy market his b*tch, and cares nothing for gendered stereotypes. It's you in an oversized flannel he wore over the weekend, without deodorant. Completely grunge. But the bloodiness...that's what prompted me most to re-review this. It took trying Parfums Quartana's Bloodflower to get it. Now, I can't shake it, and I'll be able to detect it in other perfumes too. Someone said "rose oxide" was the culprit for the blood accord (I'm nobody's perfumer, but I believe it). This also must contain it, because it smells oddly similar. Fear not though, because while Bloodflower is like the perfume equivalent of a horror movie (in a good way), Nirvana Rose is something more akin to The Crow - an anti-hero story with gothic overtones. Yes, violent. Yes, dark in tone. But also, deeply romantic and meaningful. A cult classic (as you can see from the reviews). I've had multiple messages inquiring of any possibility of me selling this, but it's irreplaceable to me, and I couldn't bear to. This is without a question, one of the most AWESOME perfumes I've ever smelled. It truly speaks to me. It reminds me of more than a few songs, and instead of depressing me, helps me lean into any angst, process things...keep fighting. Keep loving, even if I'm crushed. When roses get f*cked up, they release their finest fragrance. 🖤🥀

I have a 30ml bottle for sale. US only

This is a natural kind of smell. I don't really like it, though, I just like the the whole flask aesthetic w the hippie smell

Dry rose, dried grass, dried vetiver. It smells very distinct like a barn filled with dried grass harvested from a flowery field, actually. I don't mean it in a bad way - this just smells very natural. Quite nostalgic. Good quality... quite lovely, but also very unusual to encounter a smell like this on anyone. It's like a dried autumn rose.

This is beautiful, and “gothic rose” is the perfect way to describe it—it definitely sets a mood. This is something you wear while reading an Anne Rice novel or if you’re attending a Halloween party, but it’s nothing campy. It is elegant and sophisticated. I have the beloved Stella, which is the classiest smelling rose-forward fragrance for me, and this is her denser, richer and more robust sister. Stella is for Spring/Summer and Nirvana Rose is for Fall/Winter. So sad they’re both discontinued. Hopefully I can find a bigger bottle of this. I only have a mini so far.

Sprayed this on today. So, so good. The notes really don't do it justice imho. I get much more here than meets the eye: rose, pen ink, blueberry jam, incense, leather, geranium, pepper, powder, hint of soap, green stem, red wine, vetiver, incense, cardamom... If patchouli is in the mix, it's of the more soapy powdery variety, and I don't get any significant oud here, but the vetiver seems to have developed the rose in a similar way that oud does (I'm guessing which is why there's some oud-rose scents in the "reminds me of" section like Noir de Noir Tom Ford, Club de Nuit Intense Female, etc. although there's less truffle-leather here and more inky blueberries). It's fairly linear, but it does get a bit more leathery and less jammy as it dries down. Love it. A hidden gem. Original review 09/28/23.

With the first spray, I was afraid the bottle had gone off. But after a moment, whatever that was passed and I really like the combination of rose, vetiver and geranium. Although I would say that the geranium is actually patchouli. For my taste this is way too strong and only works as the type of scent you spray in the air and walk through. Even then, it’s a bit strong for my preferences. But I do like it. Exactly as advertised, if a bit chemical and too strong.

At first I didn't like it, because it's not my type of perfume. It has a strong patchouli and black licorice smell to me. But I really really love this perfume! It's DARK. The strong notes are carrying the black rose and something else and it WORKS.

A couple years ago I had read that nirvana rose was like Stella edp, so when I saw a 30ml bottle in Marshall's for $17, I didn't hesitate. While I can see how it is similar -it does have that dewy, fresh, dark rose scent- I'm guessing it's the vetiver that is a bit overpowering and prevents me from loving this. I usually use this as a base to layer my remaining Stella edt on top.

I cannot believe no one has compared this to La Fille de Berlin by Serge Lutens. This is that fragrances skanky emo sister lol. Where La Fille de Berlin feels pure and pretentious; Nirvana Rose feels more down to earth with the addition of vetiver and slightly moody. A rose that’s seen some shit. I dig it. Don’t know if it’s enough of a love to illicit a full bottle but I will continue to wear my sample before making up my mind. I felt like I also caught it in the wrong season, would do best in fall and winter.

This is a velvety red rose wrapped in dense greenery. It's quite linear and not overly complex, but in my estimation, it's perfect. Gorgeous vetiver envelops this gothic rose, and geranium brings an aromatic, fresh-spicy feeling. There is a sense of both bloom and decay. This is not jammy, sweet, or powdery... it is deep and dark, herbal, rich. You can't help but imagine roses creeping up the stone wall of an abandoned castle. It has a kind of dark woodiness that I can't quite place... cedar? And a slightly astringent herbal, gin-like quality. Almost along the vein of rosemary steeped in alcohol. From the way i've decribed it, you may wonder why I am so enamoured. I can't really quite explain why exactly, but there's just something very natural, dark, and brooding about this scent. It's mysterious and evokes a mythical atmosphere of vampires and dark romance. This is a true unisex wonder. Such a shame that it is discontinued, I will treasure the little that I have.

A vetiver tree with geranium leaves and rose blooms, forgotten in a barren forest. Dark, heavy, gloomy with a peak at hope. Did someone say Heathcliff from Wuthering Heights? Perfect! For the adventurous, tortured man or woman. I had to get better with vetiver before loving this; before, I only tolerated vetiver and Nirvana was likeable, affordable, well done. Now it's a plush, dark red, woody rose.

Never have I ever worn a perfume that was so complimented. I had a lot of doctor appointments and never had so many nurses, even doctors asking what my perfume was...go fill a prescription and get stopped by other shoppers...pay for gas inside the station, and get compliments there...everywhere, really. So dark, mysterious and sexy. The sillage is really good. I always layer it with Fleur Fatale by KKW, another rose perfume, over tea rose body butter. The combination really is stunning. I have 3 bottles and multiple roller balls of Nirvana Rose and will be so very sad when it's gone. Can only find roller balls now. 🫤 All the Elizabeth and James perfumes are discontinued. Such a terrible shame. This one was, by far, the very best.

stardenise16 I just saw it on FragranceX.com. $11.99 USD for a 10 ml roller ball.

Nirvana Rose is a beautiful dark woody rose and I am heartbroken that it’s discontinued. I was able to get my hands on the 1 oz bottle at TJ Maxx a few years ago for $20. I have found a 1.7 oz bottle on eBay and I am happy to have it in my collection where I will now only use it for special occasions. It would be interesting if the Olsen Twins would release fragrances for their The Row brand.