Rose

Starting my day with a steaming coffee mug in the train, I wanted to write a post about Cistus, but then I read a downloaded an e-mail from Laurie and I just couldn’t resist posting about Le Maroc pour elle and ...la Rose. Before leaving home I downloaded my e-mails to do some reading while being transported at high speed across the flat part of Switzerland, lightened by cars on highways finding their way through a cold winter morning. The rose: I am a little boy when it comes to my perfumes. Very proud, indeed, convinced of myself, but still somewhat dependent of what others have to say about it. This is also one reason for my visiting the shop on a more or less weekly basis…like a cat coming home after a thrilling night, Andy is lurking around in Zurich….in search for compliments.
What I liked about Laurie’s feedback on Le Maroc pour elle was the comment on the rose, commented to be very natural and bright and lasting; which is exactly what I wanted it to be. Looking back almost two years now, this was one of the biggest hurdles in the creation of the scent: To bring in the rose. I find rose absolute a very demanding scent to work with and there have been many, many trials of le Maroc that finally could not even be used as a room spray for their candy soapy appearance.
For months I was using the most wonderful rose absolutes, the work of dozens Moroccan women collecting flowers in the morning before noon for basically nothing…, just to rinse the soapy mixtures down the drain. There were days when I really hoped that there is no god of perfumery who would see me mishandling and wasting these treasures. When I look now at the formula of Le Maroc, I realise that the rose accord is very simple: It consists of two different rose absolutes, one being the rose damascene from Morocco and the other being Bulgarian rose (R. kanzlak), extended a little bit by Phenylethylalcohol, in my opinion rendering it a little bit greener and Lemongrass with beta-Ionon, highlighting the flowery citrus accord within it. The key to the rose accord in Le Maroc pour elle is simplicity and quality of the absolutes. Simplicity in the sense that there is little interfering with the wonderful natural beauty of rose absolute. As far as quality is concerned, I have to admit, that I was never guided by artificial limits such as 50 $US per kg or by my financial return on investment. (These limits imposed on perfumery in the real world of multi billion dollar companies seem to me to be perfect contraception to creativity.)
I guess the return on my investment that I really care about is getting lovely e-mails on a cold winter morning.