Her majesty Rose in perfumes

07/13/08 13:01:53

The queen of flowers, rose, has always been one of the most popular notes in perfume compositions, as a part of floral bouquet or as a light motive. Theme of flowers and esp. rose, in perfumes has recently become very popular again.

Perfumers use rose oil, rose absolute, rose concrete and rose water as one of products of distillation by steam, as well as its synthetic versions. The most popular sorts used by perfumers are: Bulgarian rose (Damascena rose), Centifolia (rose with hundred petals) and May rose (Rose de Mai).

One of the largest producers of natural rose oil and rose absolute (70 % of worldwide export) is Bulgaria and its valley of roses near the city of Kazanlak. The famous Bulgarian rose or Rosa Damascena is grown there. Perfumers adore its intensive scent with fruity and woody nuances, or even with a nuance of tobacco, depending on the sort of rose.

France and its southern Provance with Mecca of perfumes – Grasse, is also a large producer of rose oil. Old-fashioned sorts are grown in France: French rose (Rosa gallica), rose of hundred petals (Rosa centifolia) and May rose (rose de mai, which was made by mixing two previously existent sorts). Besides Bulgarian and French roses, rose oil is produced from roses grown in Iran, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Germany.

Rose oil is achieved by steam distillation from fresh rose petals. Rose oil is light yellow, with a gentle green nuance. Oil possesses the intensive scent of fresh rose. 3000 kg of rose petals produce 1 kg of rose oil by distillation.

Rose absolute is produced by chemical extraction of fresh rose petals. Rose absolute is an orange, orange-red or orange-olive coloured thick liquid, which possesses a very intensive, deep, rich scent of rose. It is sweet and slightly spicy with a more or less accentuated note of honey.

Gorgeous rose is a muse for many perfumes. Given that they are so numerous, we will mention just a few of them here. Dark, oriental rose with amber in the base is found in Serge Lutens Rose de Nuit, Frederic Malle Une Rose.
Gentle, green aroma of rose with thin spices is found in Serge Lutens Sa Majeste la Rose. Stella McCartney has several versions of beautiful compositions with roses: Stella, Stella Sheer (several limited editions), Stella Rose Absolute. Her perfumes with the classic theme of rose have a very modern scent; Stella is a casual, thin, modern, cold rose, while Stella Rose Absolute has a darker, more intensive and oriental composition. Guerlain dedicated one of their Aqua Allegorias to rose - Rosa Magnifica. Intoxicating, opulent, heavy Bulgarian rose blooms in Guerlain Nahema.

Yves Rocher has recently launched their version of floral perfume Rose Absolue – this rose is soft, warm and gourmet. Givanchy thrilled ladies with Very Irresisteble, which contains five sorts of roses. One of numerous limited editions of this famous perfume is Very Irresistible Bulgarian Rose (2006), dedicated to this beautiful rose sort.

Among new, modern perfumes we must mention La Rose Angel from garden of starts by Thierry Mugler. His rose from the fragrancy family of Angel is sweet and gourmet. Thin, gentle rose with green and fruity nuances is found in Bvlgari' s Rose Essentielle. Dark, warm, velvety and very modern rose grows in Rock'n'Rose by Valentino. Rose in Gianfranco Ferre's Ferre Rose is delicate, casual and very fashionable.

Photo: gardening web guide

Author Jeca: (jeca)
Fragrantica Member