Golden Rose

02

The Bottle Itself

Begin with what is in front of you. The glass is clear and faceted, cut with flat sides that catch the light as you turn it, and the base is left thick and bright. Through it the contents show a deep amber tone, darker at the centre and warmer at the edges where the light passes through.

Above the shoulders sits a polished gold collar, and above that a domed cap worked in gold and set with black stones arranged as small flowers, each petal a separate facet. It is the detail people tend to notice first and remember longest. The label is black, framed in white and gold, with the house monogram above the two words of the name.

04

Rose in the Attar Tradition

A little background is useful, though it is general background and not a description of what is inside this bottle. Rose is one of the oldest materials in perfumery. The damask rose and the cabbage rose are the two kinds most widely grown for scent, and the flowers are traditionally picked by hand in the early morning and processed the same day, before their fragrance fades.

The quantities involved explain the reverence. It takes an enormous weight of petals to yield a very small amount of rose oil, which is why rose has always been treated as a precious material and used with care. Rose obtained by steam distillation and rose obtained by solvent extraction also smell noticeably different from one another, the first usually thought of as fresher and the second as fuller and closer to the living flower.

In the attar tradition of South Asia and the Middle East, flowers were classically distilled in copper vessels into a base oil, and rose was among the most loved of these. Traditional classification places rose among the cooling scents, favoured in warm weather, with amber and musk on the warming side. Rose has a long history of being paired with deeper, resinous and woody materials, a pairing in which the flower gives brightness and the darker material gives it something to rest on.

None of this tells you what Golden Rose contains. It tells you what a name like this one is reaching for, and why a rose-inspired perfume carries so much association before the cap is even lifted.

06

Ways to Wear It

The classic places are the pulse points: the inner wrists, the sides of the neck, behind the ears, the inside of the elbow. These are warmer than the surrounding skin, and that warmth encourages an oil to release gradually over time. Start with a single touch on one or two of them. It is always easier to add than to take away.

Fabric is another option, and a traditional one. A trace on the inside hem of a scarf or the lining of a jacket can linger pleasantly, but the oil in this bottle is deeply coloured, so test first on a hidden seam and avoid pale silks and anything you would be sorry to mark. Hair can be scented indirectly by touching a little to the palms and passing them lightly over the ends.

As for occasion, the character of Golden Rose suggests evenings, dinners, anniversaries, and the quieter kind of celebration. It also suits no occasion at all: a touch before reading, or before sleep, worn for nobody but yourself. If you are giving it as a gift, consider opening it together. A scent met in company tends to keep the memory of the person you met it with.

07

Keeping It Well

A perfume oil has three slow enemies: light, heat and air. The clear glass of this bottle is part of its charm, and it also means the contents are exposed to whatever light falls on them, so keep it out of direct sun. A dressing table away from the window is fine; a windowsill is not.

Keep it somewhere with a steady, moderate temperature. Bathrooms, with their daily swings of heat and steam, are a poor home for any fragrance, as are car interiors and shelves above radiators. Stand the bottle upright, close the cap firmly after each use, and try not to leave it open while you get ready.

A closed box or a drawer makes a good resting place between wearings. Apply to clean skin so that nothing is carried back into the bottle, and wipe the neck now and then with a soft dry cloth to keep the collar bright. Treated this way, a well-kept oil will generally stay in good condition for a long time, though every oil changes a little as the years pass.

08

Who It May Suit

Golden Rose may appeal to you if you enjoy finding things out for yourself. It suits the person who would sooner trust their own wrist than a list, and who takes some pleasure in not knowing in advance.

It may also suit the giver. The bottle has presence enough to be opened at a table, and the name carries its own sentiment: warmth and romance in two words. It is the sort of gift chosen for an anniversary, a thank-you, or a reconciliation, and the sort that is sometimes kept by the person who bought it.

If you need a full breakdown of notes before you choose a fragrance, that is entirely reasonable, and we would rather you wrote to us with your questions than bought on a guess.

09

An Open Invitation

There is a garden gate left open at dusk in the idea behind this perfume, and a light that is nearly gone. Golden Rose does not describe the garden. It leaves the gate open and lets you walk in.

Take it slowly. One touch on the wrist, a few unhurried minutes, and your own words for what you find. Whatever you decide it is, it will be yours by then.