Vera Wang's little Princess has grown up — a bit:
She’d trade her tiara in for a new guitar, attend a concert instead of the prom. Introducing Rock Princess, the daring new fragrance from Vera Wang. The fragrance is a dark, fruity floral with sultry attitude and modern style. It is edgy, but seductively sweet. Vera Wang Rock Princess – the music, the spirit, the new fragrance!*
Rock Princess is the second flanker to 2006's Princess (it follows last year's Flower Princess), and as you can see from the ad copy, it's geared towards a slightly older audience, presumably one that has a later bedtime.
The juice has been tweaked to match. It's still a fruity floral, but as advertised, it's darker. The opening is still very sweet and fruity, mind you, and the heart is the requisite "fruity floral" blend of blurred flowers over vanilla cake + vanilla frosting that you've smelled in a million other perfumes, including the original Princess. In Rock Princess, it's stronger and louder, presumably enough so that it could compete in a crowded nightclub (the notes: white peach, raspberry, bergamot, heliotrope, rose, night-blooming jasmine, lily, cashmere woods, musk, iris and creamy coconut).
The "all grown up" part comes in the base, which while not quite what I'd call "dark" (much less "sultry" or "edgy"), is considerably darker than that of Princess or Flower Princess. It's woody musky, with a scrubbed-squeaky-clean patchouli, and in the later stages, has a velvety-but-not-quite-powdery finish. Rock Princess flirts with floriental status but doesn't quite go over the edge, although I should note that at least one reviewer at MakeupAlley accuses it of being a "heady oriental", so perhaps it all depends on your perspective. The coconut does not kick in until the far dry down, but even then it's subtle and adds creamy sweetness without calling to mind suntan oil.
I like Rock Princess marginally better than Princess or Flower Princess, although bear in mind that I didn't like Princess at all and I wasn't exactly enthralled with Flower Princess either. Rock Princess is an improvement, but if I was after a sweet fruity floral with a middling-dark, mostly-clean base, I'd go for Viktor & Rolf's Flowerbomb — worn together, they're remarkably similar in the later dry down, but the Vera Wang version smells comparatively flat and lifeless to me.
Vera Wang Rock Princess was developed by perfumer Calice Becker; it is available in 30, 50 and 100 ml Eau de Toilette.
*Via the Vera Wang website.
Hmmm…Flowerbomb. That’s a good suggestion for my 19 year old who is looking to retire Princess and find another fragrance.
And the band plays on…
Hugs!
R, if she wasn’t looking for a darker base, my next suggestion would be Juicy Couture, which I think is in the same vein as Princess but much better done.
That’s a great suggestion! I will let her know. Thanks, darling!
Love the bottle. This is the direction I’d have expected Avril Lavigne to take.
It’s a great bottle…I like it much better than the original 2….and would have been perfect for Avril Lavigne, agree!
I normally like fruity-florals and so I was excited when the SA at Macy’s gave me a sample. However, it has to be the least favorite perfume I have smelled in months! My co-worker even said it made her think of antiseptic and she expected the spot she sprayed it on to go numb. LOL.
Interesting…nothing like antiseptic to me at all (and hope her finger did not fall off, LOL), but I can see why a fruity floral lover would not find this what they expected at all. Will be interesting to see if it does well — they might have gone too far for their target audience in terms of the “darker” aspect.
*vanilla cake + vanilla frosting*
Welcome to my nightmare LOL I think I’ll have to pass on this one.
HA…your comment, next to the hungry looking bunny, is hard to believe 🙂
I have it on good authority that bunnies eat roses. As in whole rose bushes in my yard lol I have photographic evidence!
And violets. Nasty bunnies ate all my violets. No offense intended.
haha none taken. I’ll tell you a secret: I’m not a actual bunny 😉
I do like that bottle, though I’d never purchase the stuff! It’s funny, my sister is a lawyer and she wears the original Princess. Apparently it is popular at her firm and several of the women gave it to each other for Christmas! It’s bizarre to me to think of Vera Wang Princess wafting about the halls of a law firm. 🙂
It’s a fun bottle…maybe the law firm ladies will all switch over to Rock Princess!
I love this stuff and Some days it will last and some days it won’t. I’ve been wearing this almost everyday. I can’t believe I hated it at first. Can’t WAIT to get the Body lotion when I get some more Moolah!
I found the lasting power pretty good…maybe some days it just causes olfactory fatigue and you can’t smell it but others can?
I love the bottle! I’m not sure that I’d like the scent itself… but the bottle’s kind of mesmerizing . Maybe I’ll wait for one of my friends to buy it, use it up, and then I’ll steal the bottle!
Good thinking!
Is this one as strong and headache-inducing as Flowerbomb?
No, I don’t think so.
Oh, good! Flowerbomb gave me a huge headache. D:
I actually liked this, I liked it better than princess.
I liked it better than Princess too, but still not my cup of tea. Glad you like it!
I love flowerbomb, I don’t really like Vera Wang Princess and have a mix feeling about Juicy Couture. Should I go for Rock Princess?
I’m not so sure about the coconut note, though.
The coconut is pretty subtle, but still, I do think Flowerbomb is a better scent…you might be happier sticking with it.
I love this fragrance!!!! It last very long on me and I find it in my line of work very hard to find perfumes that last long on me and when i do find one I stick with it for a while…I think this became new fave!!!!
Glad you found a favorite 🙂
I changed my mind about this one. the scent starts to really bother me after a while. my mom bought herself the lotion and i actually hid it from her because i really cant stand it. its like rotten fruit to me now. Her and my aunt really want the perfume and i just cant bare to get it for them! Im the scent giver in the family. Xmas and bdays its perfume for the girls and women in my family. my mom luvs the original too and all my cousins love it! they all love sweet scents but im really not fond of princess either. is there a sweet scent for my mom and aunt that isnt a tween scent? any suggestions would be great! thanks!
Gosh, there are so many. What about Delices de Cartier or Missoni?
Oh, or L de Lolita Lempicka?
O gosh! Totally 4got about posting! Sorry! Yeah Missoni is nice but Im not very fond of Delices and L Lolita. My mom actually cant stand both of them. Im thinking maybe Euphoria, Michael by MK, Amber Ylang Ylang, Flora, Kenzo Amour, or something or other. Theres just so much to choose from!! For my moms 50th I want something real special. Whats a special sweet scent? If that exists? I am gonna get her a bottle of Mariahs Forever too cuz shes madly in love w/ it!
Out of those, I’d pick the EL or the Kenzo Amour. And was wondering if your Mom would like Molinard Tendre Friandise / Iles d’Or (they’re basically the same), but they’re hard to find in the US.
Oh, and you might check out the Les Notes Gourmandes series from Reminiscence, but they’re expensive:
http://www.beautyhabit.com/reminiscence.html
Thanks for the suggestions!! O its her 50th so the more expensive the better! LOL! Yeah I really love Amber Ylang Ylang and Amour. The Gourmandes sound great as well!