Jo Malone Red Roses Cologne and Bath Oil > Reviews (2)

JO WHO?

Jo Malone is a haven of feminine luxury for women who crave divine goddessness. It's flagsip store is situated on Sloane Square and is always busy, full of what I call "The Sloanies", rich upper middle class people with a lot of dosh in their pockets.

The Sloane Square Jo Malone store has its own little part to play in Marian Keyes' novel "The Other Side of The Story". The character Lily, is an author who is celebrating the success of her debut novel and has a small obession with Jo Malone products.

My first encounter with Jo Malone was around Valentine's Day in 2005, where I dragged my Lancastrian fiance who hates pink into the Sloane Square store to buy me a Valentine's Day present. I remember there was a massive pyramid pile of pink chocolates (like in the Ferero Rocher adverts) and he ate about 20 chocolates whilst I browsed forever in my little shop of treats deciding which product I wanted to get.

THE YUMMY COLOGNE

It was then that I picked up one of the 18 fragrances of cologne and spritzed it onto myself - it was the Red Roses Cologne. I looked at the price tag - £59 for 100ml, thought 'maybe not today' and fell in love with the scent for the rest of the day.

Christmas 2006 - my lovely man surprised me and bought me that very cologne! I absolutely love it.

THE SCENT

The Jo Malone website says:

"Composed of seven types of roses from around the world, Red Roses is a surprisingly clean, voluptuous scent. With a heart of crushed violet leaves and hints of lemon, it unfolds like a bouquet of fresh-cut flowers."

This light green floral base note fragrance has hints of lemon and violet. Not obvious to the naked untrained nose, I think the lemon and violet helps to take away some of the sweetness of the fragrance and puts a little bit of contemporary zing into what would otherwise be a very old-fashioned rose water scent. Rose Water (i.e. just pure roses) is the scent that old ladies wear and is a Crabtree and Eyelyn classic.

The scent is extremely concentrated and much less watered down than the typical department store brands (which are more about advertising than perfume most of the time). This is what perfume is meant to be.

PRICE

The cologne comes in two sizes:

30ml - £30 (£100 per 100ml)
100ml - £59 (£59 per 100ml)

I would strongly recommend forking out the whole £59 for this as it is definitely more value for money. It will also last you a very very long time as you really don't need to put on much (2 spritzs are plenty without overpowering anyone with your scent).

The bath oil also comes in two sizes:

200ml in a glass bottle - £52 (£26 per 100ml)
250ml in a plastic bottle - £38 (£15.20 per 100ml)

This too is extremely concentrated and you don't need to add much of this to your bath.

APPEARANCE

The cologne and oil are both pink and gorgeous, the bottle looks like it could have lived on your dresser for years and is a ornament itself without looking overindulgent.

INGREDIENTS (Cologne):

Alcohol Denat, Water/Aqua/Eau, Fragrance (Parfum), Citronell, Farnesol, Linalool, Limonene, Citral, Benzyl Benzoate, Benzyl Alcohol, Eugenol, Methyl 2-Octynoate, Red 33 (Cl 17200), Red 4 (Cl 14700)