45 Beautiful Rose Tattoo Designs For Women and Men

From teens to grandparents, the rose is one of the most popular tattoo designs that you can get. But with such a range of tatts that are tattoos, each one is incredibly unique in it’s own right. Check out these gorgeous rose designs for that something special, whether you’re a girl or a guy.

The Rose Tattoo Design – this has so many meanings and is rich with symbolism. The rose flower is the epitome of beauty, the source of irresistible fragrance, the symbol of love and all this with the hidden catch – the thorn that ensures that all this beauty is not without pain.

Roses are by far one of the most popular tattoo designs for both men and women to get. They are beautiful, timeless, versatile and symbolic. There is even a famous rock n roll band called ‘Rose Tattoo’. We have put together 45 of our favourite ones for you to take a look at.

Lower stomach design

This is a popular spot for both males and females to get tattoos. It is considered a sexy area, because it is often where the pant line starts and also gives a great flat surface area for tattooists to work with. This particular design is quite unique, they have opted for a background of dream like rose swirls and then in the foreground a blue/purple coloured rose that is a similar shape to the lotus flower in this particular design.

Rose music hip design

There are many songs that have lyrics about the beauty of roses which is why it is not uncommon to see them worked in to tattoo designs that also involve another common passion of people, music.

Back roses

The back area is the largest canvas area we have for tattoos, so generally it is reserved for larger designs. It is not uncommon for people to get multiple roses tattooed together and often each one will represent something to that person, maybe even something such as a love in their life.

Rose sleeve tattoo

The rich dark red colour is the most traditional of roses and this colour means it works great as a tattoo. Red and black are the two most popular colours of tattoo.

Rose collar bone piece

There is no doubt that a rose tattoo is one of the most common tattoos all over the world. It is as popular among the westerners as a lotus is in the east. As a matter of fact these two beautiful flowers share a lot of meanings in the world of symbolism and body art. Throughout history, a rose has held a special place in tales, legends and parts of different cultures. The most popular and well known thing that a rose symbolises is love. Which is why it’s quite interesting that to many it will also represent a symbol of loss or rather lost love.

Wrist design

Seeing men and women that are covered head to toe in tattoos is more common place these days. It use to be reserved for people who were considered to have done time in prison or be associated to gangs of some kind. Now there are a lot of famous tattoo artists and a lot of classy, elegant and sexy designs out there.

Roses on the feet

Two beautiful matching roses on both left and right feet.

Rose hip tattoo

The hip area or up the side of the body is generally considered one of the sexier places for females to get tattoos. It is also easy for them to cover it up when need be.

Ladies rose arm sleeve tattoo

A beautiful and alternative style tattoo with a mixture of red and black roses. Whilst red generally indicates love, black on the other hand is usually symbolic of a lost one in someones life.

Shoulder tattoo design

This design is a rose inside a celtic style ring. It could well be the persons engagement or wedding ring and is a great way to remember that special moment in your life.

Thorn back design

Here is a look at the history of roses and the myths behind them:
The role of rose in myths: It was believed by ancient Greeks that white was the original color of rose. But it turned red when the goddess of love, Aphrodite bled on a rose after been poked by a thorn. It is this blood from the goddess that made the rose red. In tattoo designs one can often see a rose portrayed along with a drop of blood oozing from it. Assuming it is from the point of view of a broken heart or from the mythological point of view, this seems rather apt, doesn’t it?

Cool belly design

Roses on your midriff area can look really cool when you wear crop tops, so that people can see the designs.

Bird shoulder design

Sparrows are also a very popular tattoo design, particularly amongst females and you will quite often see them worked in to the same tattoo as roses or flowers.

Day of the dead design

A very cool day of the dead themed piece up the side of the ribs.

Script back piece

As we look back in history we can trace the origins of the rose flower back to ancient Persia. It is believed that the first rose bush grew in Persia. It is believed that the earlier versions of this beautiful flower had a male appearance. It is only through years of transformation by the cultivation and refinement process that the rose got its lovely appearance that we all appreciate so much today. Now the rose is the epitome of femininity due to its delicate and ethereal look.

Praying hands shoulder design

Roses have strong ties to religious beliefs and traditions as well and here you can see one worked in as the background to a praying hands design.

Abstract sleeve

Since a there are a lot of people with a traditional rose tattoo, there are also an increasing amount of people that want rose tattoos but also want to show of their uniqueness and get a different design to what everyone else has.

Side of ribs rose tattoo

The rose as a flower was much sought after and people loved it, but as a tattoo design it only caught on in the 1930s and 1940s. The sailors popularized it by getting it done on their self. Mainly chosen by sailors to honor their spouses, sweethearts or any important female figure in their lives. It was also a way of honoring all the sacrifices the women had to make while their men folk were out at sea. The women would be touched that the men honoured them in such a way.

Chest design with cameras

Many people will get their passion tattooed on them such as photography. This does not mean that everyone with a rose tattoo is a passionate gardener however.

Skull and rose

One of the most common design elements with roses is skulls. They look great together and were also popularised by famous rock n roll stars who would have similar imagery and tattoos.

Rose swirls

Example of how roses do not always need to be red to look beautiful when tattooed.

Rose skeleton

The most popular meaning of a rose tattoo is about love. Tattoo designs based on this theme can show the rose in full bloom or as a bud that is about to blossom, or even as a bunch of roses. Rose tattoos can also symbolize faith when combined with things of religious significance.

Above is another common design element with the skulls that we mentioned earlier. This time however it’s a full skeleton up the side of their body. It’s not often you will see a skeleton of thise size tattooed on someone, but it definitely looks amazingly done.

Love no man

No matter what motif you go with the rose tattoo is going to be beautiful, colorful and best of all full of nuances and meanings that will make you smile just by looking at it.

Elbows and roses

We love black and red when it comes to tattoo designs. Other colours are not always necessary as you can see in the above example of two beautiful half sleeve designs involving roses.

Bird, roses and key

Win or lose, only I hold the key to my future.

Shaded rose design

A nice close up of a really well shaded rose that’s just done in black ink.

Behind the ear

Behind the ear is a popular spot for tattoos because people can often hide it with their hair. We can’t say the same however for neck tattoos which can be hard to hide and are a big commitment. It’s best to save tattoos for this spot that have deep meaning with that in mind.

Another shoulder piece

Simple and beautiful. Sometimes less is more with tattoos and you only need to have a design like this to have that beautiful and alternative look that a lot of guys and girls are going for these days.

Crown and diamonds

Diamonds are another popular tattoo design and we love how detailed this one is. It looks really cool how you can see parts of the rose through the prism of the diamond.

Treble clef

A clever way of winding the musical treble clef symbol in to the rose stem. We love how well shaded the rose is with deep reds and blacks as well.

Eyes half sleeve

If you’re an artist or part time drawer you will know that eyes are one of the trickiest things to draw correct. Here is an example of some incredibly life like eyes drawn on a mans arm. Creepy or beautiful? We will let you be the judges.

Leopard print back piece

Notice the love heart shaped leopard print patterns? Very cool and it’s not uncommon for people to mix elements like love hearts with rose designs.

Rose chest piece

This is an example of a less traditional style of rose tattoo. It’s more modern and involves a lot more colours than your traditional red, black and green rose design. None the less it looks incredibly well done and beautiful.

Hip design

Here is a great example of a darker rose tattoo. Sometimes red can be a bit too bright on people and if you want something more subtle you can always opt for darker, deeper reds and use a lot more black such as the design above. It is common for people getting tattoos in this area to get portions of the tattoo going below their pant line to create a bit of a mystique.

Animal mirror design

We’re not sure whether that’s meant to be a fox, dog or possible kangaroo in the mirror – maybe you can help us? Either way here is a great close up example of a tattoo style known as dot shading. It can take a long time for this method but the result is stunning.

Float like a butterfly

Here is a really great floral themed piece. They have incorporated both roses and daisies together and then topped it off nicely with some beautiful butterflies. Butterflies symbolise a change or rather growth from a previous experience in your life. Sometimes they can even symbolise the changing of a girl in to a women.

Black rose blossom

Here is an alternative take on the traditional rose tattoo. This person has opted for more of a cherry blossom style design which is a beautiful Japanese tree but they have put their own little twist on it by incorporating roses in to the tree – very cool.

Heart means everything

This is quite a traditional rose chest piece. Most people start with something very meaningful in the middle of the design and work their way out. Common elements to have in the middle are love hearts, time pieces, owls, birds, skulls and other animals. The script reads ‘heart means everything’ and is also a traditional tattoo script. We love how they have worked the roses up to their shoulders and its all looking symmetrical. Because of the positioning of the piece it also means that you can easily cover it up with a t-shirt.

Roses all over

Whilst traditionally people would link up all the tattoos on their arms in to more of a sleeve design, it is becoming increasingly popular to get lots of smaller designs up your arms that are not necessarily linked up by anything. This gives people the opportunity to get a lot more things that are meaningful to them rather than one big design. As you can see from the above photo the person has multiple roses and even has some red and some yellow ones, the colour options with roses are definitely limitless.

We hope you enjoyed our selection of rose tattoo designs and that they sparked some inspiration or ideas for your own rose tattoo design that you may be working on. The great thing about roses is that they are very versatile, can be placed pretty much anywhere on the body (even as small as the fingers) and they are universally considered beautiful so everyone that sees it will be able to appreciate it’s beauty.