Rose Bourbon Absolute

Adam Michael has this to say “I first received a sample of this rose bourbon absolute around March 2019 and now as I type it is 21^st October 2019.  During this time, I have layered this aromatic onto my skin many times and constantly unscrewed the cap to have a sniff as I work in the office. It has somehow become to me, like that of a comfort blanket for a young child. A material that soothes and intrigues me,  enabling my mind to wander so far, to a place that takes me away from my deep rooted worries and not so good life experiences, a place of absolute calm within.

So what does rose bourbon absolute smell like?

Well, from the bottle you are hit with the aroma of slightly warm, vibrant rose petal notes, a really pungent jam note that reminds me of biting into a warm Jam Roly-Poly, lots of honey sweetness, rose scented jelly, a tart rosehip fruit punch and a distinct vegetal note that reminds me strongly of the smell of artichoke.

As time progresses you also get more, dewy musk notes that I have only ever encountered within our pink rose otto and from smelling living musk roses in my garden. Plus you have this powdered bed of geranium effect going on as well with ghost traces of cinnamon spice and sliced green apple. It is utterly compelling for me and I have never ever evaluated such a multi layered floral material to date. Plus it is so jumpy, and bright in the top and even has notes reminiscent of smelling freshly made apricot jam, not the rubbish from the supermarket, just real homemade apricot jam, the stuff that’s so dreamy you eat it with a big spoon and it makes all your worries in the world ease away.  I really appreciate complexity within my aromatics and in this regard alone, what we have here is god like material in my opinion. It is also so saturated throughout I find. This material lasts around 5 hours on my skin and for over a week on the strip, deep orangey amber in colour and produced via solvent extraction of the flowers.

Now, I have to add, Eleonora, who is currently establishing a living rose library in our young garden, appreciates the aroma of this material but does not feel this material evokes anything overly rose like. We have had much debate about this material for the past months. And we have found a mutual understanding, that should you expect this material to smell like the classic rose absolutes many of us know and love, such as Moroccan, Turkish, or Bulgarian rose absolutes, then this material is 100% NOT for you. This material is not classic rose at all, not a little bit, not ever.

This is a material that can complement and impart floral qualities into rich masculine driven scents of a woody, incense and spiced floral orientation. Blends well with materials including oud, sandalwood, patchouli, red champaca and jasmine sambac.

I have added two photos. The photo with the beaker shows the beautiful colour of the absolute. The photo with the two vials shows the absolute is perfectly soluble in both oil and alcohol.”

Botanical Name: Rosa bourboniana

Origin: India

Alcohol Soluble: Yes

Oil Soluble: Yes