# Ralph Lauren — Romance Rose > Romance Rose is a 2018 limited-edition spring flanker of Ralph Lauren's 1998 Romance, recomposed by the original perfumer Harry Fremont as a lighter, fruitier little sister to the pillar. It takes the ## Essence Romance Rose is a 2018 limited-edition spring flanker of Ralph Lauren's 1998 Romance, recomposed by the original perfumer Harry Fremont as a lighter, fruitier little sister to the pillar. It takes the Romance rose signature and dresses it in sparkling fruit — lychee, red apple, blackcurrant, bergamot — for an effervescent, clean, fresh-rosy floral built for easy daytime wear. Its distinction is less innovation than position: it is the rare Romance flanker that fans of the original embraced as a faithful, brighter variation rather than a sugary departure. Because it was limited, it is now discontinued. ## Scent Profile The opening is sparkling and tart rather than syrupy. A fruit accord leads — lychee and red apple most prominent, blackcurrant adding juicy tartness, bergamot a citrus lift — reading more tart and crisp than sweet and juicy. The heart is a soft, clean rose supported by quiet jasmine and a powdery white violet. The rose is the point of the flanker, described as beautiful with a hint of sweetness, fresh and clean rather than scratchy or jammy. The drydown is a light musky-woody finish, with patchouli and benzoin lending only faint warmth and a clean, almost laundry-like softness rather than a deep base. The fruit, clean rose, and white musk stay perceptible, while jasmine, violet, and especially the patchouli and benzoin sit submerged. The composition is fairly linear and safe. A noted divergence is that on some skin the rose recedes under the fruit, so results vary. ## Performance Performance is moderate-to-weak, in line with the Romance family. The opening is lovely but short-lived; the broader line is known for soft sillage and roughly five to six hours on skin. Treated as EDP-strength but close-wearing, Romance Rose projects pleasantly in the first hour before drifting to a skin scent. It is office-safe if you don't overspray, rewards generous application and spraying on clothing, and is best in warm, temperate weather. Plan to reapply for all-day wear. ## Wearing Context This is a spring and daytime fragrance by design — built to embody the brightness of spring. It reads pretty and feminine, cute or beautiful rather than sexy, well suited to first dates, everyday wear, and an office that doesn't ask for projection. It skews feminine and youthful, fitting the quieter, classically feminine Romance wearer rather than someone after a bold statement. It would feel underpowered for evening, clubbing, or cold-weather presence. Best understood as an inoffensive, compliment-friendly, casual-feminine daily rose. ## Comparisons & DNA - Ralph Lauren Romance (1998): the parent pillar, sharing the same rose DNA and perfumer. Romance Rose is the brighter, sweeter, fruitier little sister, with less of the original's mossy-musky depth — more weekend than workday. - Midnight Romance and Tender Romance: sweeter line flankers that some find too sweet; Romance Rose sits closer to the original than these. - Paris Hilton Rose Rush: an outside-the-brand fruity rose it is likened to, with Romance Rose judged cleaner, fresher, and less scratchy. - Mainstream fruity-rose florals broadly: it lives in a crowded designer category and is not a dupe target with notable clones. ## Reception Consensus is warmly positive but modest in volume, as fits a limited flanker. Fans of the original who feared another over-sweet release were relieved to find it faithful — a sweeter, fruitier take that still felt like Romance. Common praise points to a pretty, clean, fresh, effervescent, easy-to-wear scent with good value. The recurring criticisms are weak longevity, a character some detractors call generic, synthetic, or thin, and skin-chemistry variability where the rose can vanish under the fruit. Opinion splits along a pretty-and-versatile versus generic-department-store-floral axis. For fans of clean fruity-rose florals and existing Romance lovers, it is a reasonably safe pick given low secondary-market prices. ## Versions & Reformulation Romance Rose is itself a flanker rather than a fragrance with its own reformulation history. It launched as a limited edition in March 2018, essentially as a 100 ml EDP in the standard Romance bottle given a pink gradient and silver accents, with a matching ancillary offering. Being limited, it was discontinued and is no longer in regular production. It belongs to a large Romance flanker family alongside Summer Romance, Midnight Romance, Tender Romance, and later reworked Romance Rose/Romance Elixir concepts, but the 2018 release is a distinct, now-discontinued edition. No separate concentration variants of the 2018 flanker are documented. ## Acquisition Notes Romance Rose sits in the affordable designer tier; it launched at $96 for 100 ml in 2018 at select retailers. Now discontinued, it trades on the secondary market, frequently at deep discounts in roughly the $15 to $30 range for the 100 ml, often flagged as discontinued. The 100 ml EDP is effectively the only mainstream size, with decants and partial bottles circulating. Because it is only available second-hand, favor reputable sellers and sealed boxes, and confirm it is the 2018 Romance Rose (pink gradient bottle) rather than another Romance flanker. ## Notable Facts & Lore - It was created by Firmenich master perfumer Harry Fremont, the same nose behind the original 1998 Romance — the original's creator returning to brighten his own pillar. - The brand framed it as capturing "the bliss of bubbly in a bottle," building on Romance's Rose de Mai signature with a sparkling fruity top. - The 2018 campaign featured model Taylor Hill, photographed with her then real-life boyfriend Michael Stephen Shank. - The name plays on the French "rose" (pink) and the "life is rosy" idea rather than wine. - Its main lore is being the Romance flanker the fanbase actually accepted as faithful to the original, then discontinued — a lapsed cult favorite.