The plate: rose
Planche III · RoseRose · Rosa x damascena (also R. x centifolia)

Ingredients · Florals · heart note

Rose absolute (Rosa damascena)

Deep, honeyed, jammy red rose with spicy clove and green-stem facets.

What it is
Natural absolute from solvent-extracted Damask rose petals.
Where it comes from
Turkey (Isparta), Bulgaria, Morocco
When you smell it
Heart: the first hours.
What perfumers do with it
Rich, rounded rose body for opulent florals, rose-oud and chypres; fuller and sweeter than the otto.
Worth knowing
It is mostly phenylethyl alcohol, the water-soluble rose molecule that steam distillation washes out of the otto.
Known in
Sa Majesté la Rose (Serge Lutens, 2000); Perles de Lalique (Lalique, 2007)
Rules
Limited. Counts toward citronellol, geraniol and methyl eugenol limits; EU-labeled
Also called
Turkish / Bulgarian rose absolute; Isparta rose absolute