The smell of roses

A fragrance without roses is almost unthinkable as a love affair without kisses. On this next blog category for raw materials we will talk about one of the most important flower of all in perfumery: the rose. Let’s learn about its origin, smell, treatment, and how it’s being used in perfumery.

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History of rose

Scientific name: Rosa

This elegant and symbolic flower has occupied a special place in the hearts and minds of people everywhere. Fossils records show rose to be one of the most ancient of flowers and probably originated in Central Asia but spread and grew wild over nearly the entire northern hemisphere. It all started about 5000 years ago and have been an intimate part of human civilization ever since.

It is said that Cleopatra was filling a room with rose petals to have a passionate love affair with Marc Anthony. (Ohlala). Romans were also building lavish rose gardens and decorating banquet tables with thousands of rose petals. They believed that roses had refreshing properties. Ancient woman used cosmetically in the form of rosewater for face masks, but also in blush, eye shadow and even deodorant.

The rose belongs to the family Rosaceae and genus Rosa with around 150 different species. From the point of view of a nose:  sometimes powdery, sometimes woody, musky, myrrh-y, clove-like, sometimes fruity, or just blowsily feminine – but always, intensely romantic. 

Harvest calendar

The most common rose used in perfume is the Rosa Damascea, with climatic features such as altitude, temperature, rainfall, humidity and sunlight create a favourable environment for growing the highest quality roses in the world. The blooming season lasts only one month from mid-May to mid-June. Workers wake up from early morning in harvesting May to reach the rose gardens at the first light of the day. The pick-up starts at 5:00am and ends at 11:00am at the latest. The rose flower should always be collected in the morning when there is no strong sunlight. The sun rays decrease the rose’s oil yield.

From petal to essence, around 70% of the rose oil in the world comes from Bulgaria. Other significant producers are Turkey, Iran and Morocco, and precious, limited quantities from Grasse.

Roses in perfumery 

Process: Distillation/Solvant

Origin: Natural

Family: Floral

Rose essential oil is obtained from the petal of the rose. It can be done in two ways: by distillation, it takes about 3.5 tonnes of rose petals to make 1 kg of essence. The petals are placed in a tank with water and heated up to a specific temperature until obtaining the essential oil from the odorous prominent vapour. By extraction with volatile solvent: 700kg of petals for 1kg of absolute. From the same quantity of flower, we obtain 6 times more absolute than essential oil. That’s why rose’s absolute costs less.  

Use of rose in The Water Brand perfumes 

The rose fragrance is used in 70% of woman fragrances and 30% of men’s. The rose offers recognizable olfactory notes among all. Belonging to the olfactory family of “florals”, the rose is the very symbol of femininity. Her character is heady, incandescent, even violent. And with more than 450 different scent molecules, the rose is a raw material from which we can extract a multitude of facets; vegetal, fruity, lemony, spicy, fresh, powdery nuances ...

The perfume “Bossa Wood” alcohol-free perfume by The Water Brand is inspired by the classical and modern scents of history. Starting with very fresh and spicy notes of Cardamom, Cinnamon and Cloves. In the middle notes, the accords of Turkish Rose and Ylang-Ylang with traces of Carrot Seeds give an impression of extreme sensuality. It is said to be daring, even rebellious, fresh and chic. The rose brings a touch of femininity and originality to the notes which all tend to be alike: woody and spicy.

A fragrance that possesses timeless appeal and cause an explosion of memories and trigger powerful images and emotions. All the notes are harmonious in an eternally beautiful way.  

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