The queen of flowers.

The China Blush Tea Rose is where all modern roses originate. In perfumery, rose oil (aka rose otto, attar of rose or rose essence) is the essential oil obtained from the petals of various types of the flower.

Rose ottos are extracted via steam distillation. Rose absolutes are extracted via solvent washing, are most commonly used in fragrance. Rose concrete require supercritical CO2 extraction. The relatively low temperature of the process and the stability of CO2 allows the aromatic compound to be extracted with little damage to the petals, thus producing a 'truer' rose scent.

Due to the labour-intensive and time sensitive production process and the low content of oil in the actual rose blooms, rose oil commands a very high price. The flowers must be harvested by hand in the morning before sunrise and distilled the same day.

The Damask Rose (or rosa damascena; Bulgarian Rose) is the standard in the fragrance industry. True Centifolia Rose (or the thousand petalled rose; Rose de Mai; Cabbage Rose; Moroccan Rose) is a rarer oil, requiring back-breaking work and high skill to obtain the sheer amount of petals required to produce an attar.

Scent Profile: The Damask Rose has a powerful, recognisably rosy scent; can be sweet and traditional. Centifolia Rose has a fragrance described as tenacious. It throws very slight hints of spice, honey, dew and ripe raspberry.

Found In: For Centifolia Rose look to Dior's, Miss Dior EDP (2020). For Damask Rose, see Givenchy, Irresistible Rose Velvet EDP (2022) for reference.

Truefitt & Hill - Grafton 100ml Cologne

Classical Woody Amber

The ultimate classic cologne.