Rose Oil, also called rose otto, is the essential oil steam-distilled from damask rose petals. A floral material with a bright, lemony, honeyed and spicy rose scent, it is among the costliest natural ingredients in perfumery, because several tonnes of petals are needed for a single kilogram.

What does Rose Oil smell like?

Rose oil is fresher and more sparkling than rose absolute. It opens with green, citrusy and slightly metallic notes, then reveals honey, wine-like fruit and a warm clove nuance. Trace compounds make an outsized contribution: beta-damascenone makes up less than one per cent of the oil yet shapes much of its fruity, cooked-apple and plum richness. Because phenylethyl alcohol largely stays in the distillation water, rose oil smells cleaner and more radiant than the absolute, but less like a handful of fresh petals.

Where Rose Oil comes from

Petals are loaded into stills with water and heated; the vapour carries the aromatic molecules into a condenser, and the oil is separated from the fragrant water, which is often redistilled to recover more oil. The yield is roughly one part oil to three or four thousand parts petals. At cool room temperature rose otto often turns semi-solid, because it contains waxy compounds called stearoptenes; it becomes liquid again with gentle warmth.

• Also known as: Rose otto, attar of roses, rose essential oil
• Fragrance family: Floral
• Type: Natural
• Main origins: Bulgaria, Turkey, Saudi Arabia (Taif); smaller volumes from Iran, Morocco and India
• How it's obtained: Steam or water distillation of fresh petals
• Key aroma molecules: Citronellol, geraniol, nerol, nonadecane (a wax), beta-damascenone

Rose Oil in perfume history

Rose oil is generally thought to have originated in Persia, where distillers producing rose water noticed a precious oil floating on the surface. The Persian word for fragrance, attar, gave its name to the oil in the West. In India, a related tradition developed in Kannauj, where rose vapours are distilled into sandalwood oil to make ruh gulab and rose attars. By the 18th century, Ottoman and Bulgarian rose oils were valuable export commodities.

Rose Oil in modern perfumery

Bulgaria, Turkey and Saudi Arabia together supply most of the world's rose oil. Because of its price, rose otto is used sparingly in fine fragrance, often in prestige and niche compositions or as a finishing touch over a reconstructed rose base. It remains central to Middle Eastern oil perfumery, where it is worn neat or blended with oud and sandalwood.

How Rose Oil wears and what it pairs with

Rose oil lifts the heart of a perfume and gives an immediate natural radiance, lasting several hours. It pairs with bergamot, pink pepper, geranium, clove, sandalwood, oud and musk.

Safety and regulation

Rose oil contains citronellol, geraniol and eugenol, which must be declared on EU labels above set thresholds, and methyl eugenol, which IFRA restricts.