Throughout the past few decades rose tattoos have conquered the heart of tattoo lovers and with good reason. These tattoos can be absolutely beautiful, unique in style and loaded with meanings.
The meanings of rose tattoos
Roses are the symbol of love and beauty. Thus, someone who chooses a rose tattoo wants to symbolize his or her faith in love. However, the meaning of roses depends also on the culture that is behind them.
In Greek mythology, roses were the symbol of Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, who is often portrayed as having roses on her head, neck and feet. As more, they symbolize immortal love, because they came from the bush where the blood of Adonis, Aphrodite’s lover had been spilled. With such a background, rose tattoos as well denote something that goes beyond time and can’t be overcome by death.
In Tarot, roses have a double meaning: on the one hand they are seen as fragile flowers symbolizing new beginnings, faith and hope and on the other hand their thorns show strength, defense and loss. Put together, these two different meanings indicate balance
Which rose tattoo design to choose?
Although they are considered feminine, roses are in fact masculine flowers, rose tattoos being the choice of both men and women. The design possibilities are unlimited, women can opt for a more delicate design, while men for a stronger one combined with elements like skulls or anchors.
When choosing your rose tattoo design perhaps the most important thing you must pay attention to is the color of the rose tattoo. Roses come in many colors and so do rose tattoos. Each color has a different meaning attached to it and you must be sure that you choose the right one!
You surely guessed that the most popular are red rose tattoos, which mean romantic love and respect. White roses denote purity, innocence, mysticism and spiritual love. If you decide to go with a yellow rose you must know that they mean gladness, joy, friendship, a more mature love and the protection from jealous lovers. Gentility and grace come with light pink roses and modesty with light peach roses.
You can also opt for darker designs, like blue rose tattoos, which symbolize an impossible and unattainable love or black rose tattoos, which will represent a kind of memorial, but also death.
Once you know what meaning you want to convey it is very easy to decide which tattoo design is the most appropriate for you. To give you an idea we’ve selected 36 of the best rose tattoo designs! Different colors, different placements and different meanings!
