Rose

Group: Flowers

Rose originates from Asia and Africa. One of the major producers of natural rose oil and absolute (approx. 70% of the world's production) is Bulgaria and its valley of the roses near the city of Kazanlik. That is where the famous Bulgarian rose, or Rosa Damascena, is cultivated. It is very much appreciated by perfumers for its intensive fragrance with fruity, woodsy, or sometimes even tobacco-like nuance, depending on variance.

France and its southern part Provence, with perfume Mecca in Grasse is also a great producer of the rose oil. The variances cultivated in France are old: French rose (Rosa gallica), rose with hundred petals (Rosa centifolia) and the rose of May (rose de mai), which is produced by hybridization of the previous two. Besides Bulgaria and France, rose oil is produced in Iran, Tunisia, Morocco, Turkey and Germany.

Rose oil is produced by steam distillation of fresh rose petals. Rose oil is light yellow, sometimes with slightly green nuance, with intensive scent of fresh rose. It takes 3000 kilograms of rose petals to produce 1 kilogram of rose oil. Rose absolute is produced by chemical extraction from fresh rose petals. Absolute comes as orange, orange-red, or orange-olive dense liquid with very intense, rich and deep rose scent, warm and a bit spicy with more or less accentuated honey nuance.

Perfumes and Colognes With Rose