Comments on: Defining Rose

By: Ina

Ina — Sat, 14 Apr 2007 21:28:08 +0000

Donna, thank you for such a fascinating and informative post! Rose is one of my favorite perfume ingredients, and I’m thrilled to know more about it as a flower.

By: Flora

Flora — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 05:27:48 +0000

Thanks, everyone! I could have gone on for many pages about my favorite rose scents, but I tried to restrain myself.

Marina, I also discovered Alma de l’Aigle on Symrise, and I went hunting for that dictionary! I would love to read it in English. And yes, myrrh-scented roses are awesome! They are almost shocking at first, they are so different, but one soon becomes addicted.

Elle, I know what you mean - the rose plants can be a lot of trouble to grow, but oh, the rewards. You have excellent taste in roses - Tamora is one of the best of the myrrh-scented English varieties.

winterwheat, if I ever find a place where I can grow Marechal Niel, I will be very happy. If it were a smaller plant I could figure out a way to protect it, but it climbs to 15 feet so it really needs a true hothouse environment. I do have a very hardy orange climber of about the same size called Orange Everglow. It is no longer on the market as far as I know (it’s from 1949) but I keep it going, as it smells exactly of of Earl Grey tea and violets. Yes, really!

Christine, I have collected a number of the English Roses, are they not wonderful? I also live fairly near a huge display garden that has almost all of them, plus hundreds of others - I make at least one annual pilgrimage to sniff.

e-d-p, I really must try to find some Rose de Nuit! Of course I love the SL Sa Majeste de la Rose, which is so velvety and deep, but the other one, oh dear, I do adore a rose chypre! Parfum Sacre is a big favorite of mine. I swear, the SL Exclusive Range was specifically designed to drive me insane. ;-p

I appreciate all your comments. I had been thinking of this subject for awhile, how the word “rose” cannot describe the exact scent of either a flower or a perfume, it’s just not enough to cover all the possibilities.

By: winterwheat

winterwheat — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 23:43:15 +0000

To e-d-p: I too love Rose de Nuit. After I read your post I put a touch on my arm and recalled the time one of my perfume-loving friends sent me an unlabelled sample of scent with the imperative that I GUESS WHICH PERFUME! it was. I have a bell bottle of Rose de Nuit, so I know how it smells, and the mystery scent reminded me so much of it that I guessed RdN. Wrong: it was Clinique Aromatics Elixir. (!!!) Turns out AE is a rose chypre too, so they have something in common. If only AE were made in a more diluted form, I might consider wearing it when my RdN runs out.

By: esthétique du parfum

esthétique du parfum — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 22:14:40 +0000

I ‘m not a straight-up rose person but I like Rose Ikebana, Rose Barbare and Rose de Nuit, a stunning sensual mysterious animalic/chypre rose that seems to come straight from Pasolini’s film “Il fiore delle mille e una notte” (Arabian Nights). the most exciting and alluring rose perfume on the market.

By: Christine

Christine — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 21:13:29 +0000

What a great post! It makes me wish I had some outdoor space for a couple of rose bushes. My favorites growing up were the English roses, specifically a David Austin variety he named, “Pat Austin” after his wife. I found it to be quite “peachy” and was beautiful in sight and in scent.

By: winterwheat

winterwheat — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 18:56:12 +0000

What a wonderfully descriptive and fascinating post. Your words illulstrate why I’ve always been a little frustrated by perfume reviews that merely list notes, e.g., “It’s a nice combination of rose, jasmine, and musk…” What KIND of rose does it smell like? The powdery kind? The fruity kind? The jammy kind? Phrases like “a rose that smells of fresh apricots” is so much more evocative (and accurate). Yellow hothouse roses have always been my favorites scentwise, so your description of Marechal Niel — a yellow that smells of strawberries! — practically made me weep.

By: tmp00

tmp00 — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 15:47:54 +0000

Fascinating! I have to email this to my rose-growing friend. I’ll be googling roses all day!

By: newproducts

newproducts — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:59:45 +0000

What an interesting piece. Thank you for teaching me so much about roses this morning. I adore Parfum Sacre and am fascinated that there are roses with the myrrh scent built in. I would love to smell a real rose like that some day.

By: Elle

Elle — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:42:01 +0000

Am obsessed w/ rose scents these days. Not so in love w/ growing roses. Gave all of mine w/ minimal scent eviction notices this year. However, just as I was getting ready to toss the ones w/ strong scent as well, Blanche Double de Coubert and Julia Child started to bloom and their gorgeous scents have convinced me to spare them and the others which are scented. Ayrshire Splendens and David Austin’s Tamora are two of my favorite myrrh scented roses. Wasn’t particularly taken by C&E’s or David Austin’s Evelyn, but MDCI FK2 reminds me a great deal of C&E Rose Water (don’t think they have a perfume, just bath products for that one) and is quite lovely.

By: Marina

Marina — Wed, 11 Apr 2007 12:19:56 +0000

Donna, what a fascinating article! The smell of myrrh built right in. Awesome.
Have you heard about Alma de L’Aigle? This German woman was a great fan of roses and created a dictionary of 700 rose varieties. In the dictionary she described the appearance and the smell of roses. She described rose Erato, for example, as smelling
like asparagus peels mixed with apple peels. I found the article on Symrise, and was looking for her dictionary, in English, ever since, but without any success.