 |
the "perfume farm" where Chanel harvested her
Rosa centifolia for her perfume Chanel No.5.
There are many new (or newish) scents that are promoting their rose notes for the summer. Here is a list I've made by asking semi-sympathetic sales women to guide me to the rose perfumes, and if I could try the scents.
- Prada: Infusion de Rose
- Bulgari: Rose Essentielle
- Givenchy: Very Irresistible Givenchy L'Intense
- Dolce & Gabbana: Rose the One
- Estee Lauder: Pleasures (in all its variations)
- Estee Lauder: Beautiful (the original from 1985)
- Stella McCartney: Rose Absolute
- Perfumer's Workshop: Tea Rose
- Victor and Rolf: Flowerbomb - La Vie en Rose
- The Body Shop: Moroccan Rose
The Body Shop's Moroccan Rose, which comes only as an eau de toilette, and not in a very attractive bottle, wins hands down. And it sells for half the price of the other designer perfumes, at CAN$23, and imbues the rose in all three of its notes. It is a true rose fragrance.
Still, some of the expensive concoctions (like Stella McCartney's, Prada's and Estee Lauder's) have produced strong, solid rose scents. I haven't figured out yet if this is a real turn in women's designer perfumes (floral designer dresses are also in this summer), or if it is a temporary, fashionable trend. But I would trust the "plebeian" Body Shop, which is perhaps more in touch with ordinary women. Rose is not a hidden, or a structural, component in the Moroccan Rose, but is liberated in its full glory through all three notes. The Body Shop has released the ultimate rose imbued fragrance.
Notes for Moroccan Rose Notes:Most of the other perfumes camouflage the rose scent with some kind of fruity top note. I'm not sure why, although one sales woman says that rose tends to smell old fashioned (like lavender). I disagreed with her and said that people are afraid to try true perfumes these days, so we are stuck with watered down, undecipherable eau de toilettes. She wasn't happy with my opinion, although her colleague (a male) appreciated it (I usually go to him if he's around), and I joked he should hire me!
Top: Rose, Spices, Amalfi Lemon
Middle: Rose, Mimosa, Orange
Base: Rose, Musk, Vanilla, Virginia Cedar
I don't think it should be hard to manufacture a pure rose perfume. The Body Shop has done it. And I would think one can attempt it at home and come up with a reasonable, if not short-lived, scent.
Here's a website which discusses how to make rose water:
1. Gather rose petals. You will need a about a 1/2 a pound or more depending on your use. Pick your rose petals in the morning for best results.The May 2011 edition of Canada's Glow Magazine has a full two-page article on rose or rose-based perfumes titled: "Rose Redux." Here are some which the article considers rose-based classics:
2. Place the rose petals in a large colander and give them a quick rinse in cold water.
3. Place the rinsed rose petals on a piece of cheese cloth and tie at the top to make a pouch. Place the pouch in a large glass bowl. Barely cover the rose petals with boiling water. Place plastic wrap securely over the top of the bowl. Secure with string or a large rubber band.
4. Let the roses steep over night. In the morning pour the water into a glass jar such as a mason jar. Over the bowl twist the cheese cloth to press the petals and squeeze out all water. Add that water to the mason jar.
5. Keep rose water in a lidded jar in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks. Rose water can also be stored in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Chanel's No. 5 - 1921
- Guerlain's Shalimar - 1925
- Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps - 1948 (that old?!)
- Elizabeth Arden's Red Door - 1989
Chanel famously said that "a woman must smell like a woman and not a rose," a quote that was also used in the 2009 film Coco Chanel & Igor Stravinsky. And yet she went through great troubles to find "just the right rose" by harvesting roses in Grasse, in southern France, where she cultivated the Rosa centifolia for her No. 5. She put the rose scent in the middle notes, giving the perfume a cohesivea (if mysterious) presence.
Notes for Chanel No. 5Yet, Chanel believed she was making a completely new creation with No. 5. She said:
Top notes: Ylang-Ylang, Neroli, Aldehydes
Middle notes: Jasmine, Rose, Iris, Lily of the Valley
Base notes: Sandalwood, Vanilla, Vetivier, Musk, Chives, Oak
"I want to give women an artificial perfume...Yes, I really do mean artificial, like a dress, something that has been made. I don't want any rose or lily of the valley, I want a perfume that is a composition."This is not surprising, since I write in a previous blog entry that:
The 1920s were the peak of Chanel's creativity. It was in that period that she launched her signature perfume Chanel No. 5. During that era, film making, photography, music, theater and dance were all meshed together forming a kaleidoscope of art. The more "applied arts" like design and fashion were also taken seriously, and were included in the artistic activities.It is a testament to her vision that her Chanel No. 5 has endured for close to a century now, keeping close to the original.
Other (lesser?) perfumes like Elizabeth Arden's Red Door or Guerlain's Shalimar keep introducing newer addition to the notes as well as dramatically changing the shape of their bottles - here's Shalimar's bottle design over the years. Nina Ricci's lovely L'Air du Temps has been truncated into L'Air, and the perfume has accordingly been diluted. The original L'Air du Temps bottle has precise carvings on its bottle, and the birds on the stopper are better designed. The box is a distinct yellow. The bottle for the new L'Air is more whimsical (and airy - perhaps suiting the perfume more), and the carvings on the bottle, including the birds, are less defined. The package is a dull gray/pink box. The promotional photo I've linked to underlines this "airiness" even more; the actual bottle is a little darker, and the pink a little grayer.
Chanel's bottle has changed its shape somewhat between its creation in 1921 and four years into 1925, but it has remained true to Chanel's 1925 design through the following decades.