Rose

Rose is perfumery's most important floral note: a complex, many-faceted scent that can read as fresh and dewy, honeyed and jammy, or dark and spicy depending on the variety and extraction. Distilled rose otto and solvent-extracted rose absolute rank among perfumery's most precious natural materials.

What does Rose smell like?

Real rose is far more varied than the powdery-rose cliché. A damask rose otto opens fresh, lemony and slightly green, then deepens into something honeyed, winey and gently spicy, with a clove-like warmth. Rose absolute is rounder and heavier, often described as jammy or like crushed petals, while centifolia tends to be softer, sweeter and more honey-like. Trace damascones give it a fruity, cooked-plum depth.

Where Rose comes from

Perfumery rose comes from the petals of oil-bearing roses, hand-picked at dawn during a short late-spring bloom: damask rose in Bulgaria and Turkey, centifolia in Grasse and Morocco.

Also known as: Damask rose, Rose de Mai, centifolia rose, rose otto, attar of roses
Fragrance family: Floral
Type: Natural (synthetic rose accords are also very common)
Main origins: Bulgaria's Rose Valley; Isparta, Turkey; Grasse, France; Morocco; smaller volumes from Iran, India and Saudi Arabia
How it's obtained: Steam distillation (rose otto) or solvent extraction (rose concrete and absolute)
Key aroma molecules: Citronellol, geraniol, nerol, phenylethyl alcohol, rose oxide, beta-damascenone

Rose in perfume history

Roses have been grown for scent for thousands of years, and rose water was a luxury across Persia and the medieval Islamic world. The physician and philosopher Ibn Sina (Avicenna) is often credited with refining steam distillation of rose water around the turn of the 11th century. By the 18th century Bulgaria's Rose Valley had become a major source of rose oil. In the West, rose and jasmine from Grasse became the twin pillars of French perfumery: Jean Patou's Joy (1930) was marketed on the sheer quantity of flowers it required.

Rose in modern perfumery

Rose sits at the centre of several of today's biggest trends. The rose-oud pairing, rooted in Middle Eastern perfumery, is now a staple of Western niche and luxury lines. Dark, jammy roses with patchouli appeal to a gender-neutral audience. Because the natural material is so costly, most commercial rose notes blend a little natural oil with synthetics such as phenylethyl alcohol, citronellol and rose oxide.

How Rose wears and what it pairs with

Rose is usually a heart note, emerging after the opening and lasting several hours, though the absolute can carry into the drydown (the final phase on skin). It pairs with jasmine in classic florals, with oud and saffron in Middle Eastern compositions, with patchouli for dark chypre-style roses, with pink pepper and citrus for fresh modern roses, and with violet and iris for powdery, vintage effects.