Showing posts with label tea rose. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tea rose. Show all posts

Thursday, June 14, 2012

Everything's Coming Up Roses: How the Rose is Making a Comeback

"In recent years, the flower came to seem outdated to some in the cosmetics industry. “It was because of tea roses,” said Ben Krigler, creator at Krigler perfumes in New York, which was founded by his great-great-grandfather in 1904. “They were popular in the ’50s and ’60s, but they’re really a hybrid. That’s where you get that musty, powdery smell. We call it the ‘granny smell’ in the shop.”

 Indeed the rose has been through a lot. I have had my own share of troubles with rose and then I came around. Now rose is making a come-back and there are quite a few perfumes and beauty products featuring it. (I can vouch personally for the delicious scent of Korres Wild Rose face cream which is aromatized with rosa moschata or "musky rose")

 Read the article in the New York Times for more.

 

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

A Taste for Rose: Exploring the Many Nuances of Roses

May and June are traditionally the months when the queen of flowers, the rose, makes its regal appearance in gardens across the world. Shakespeare said it well "At Christmas I no more desire a rose. Than wish a snow in May's new-fangled shows; But like of each thing that in season grows." [from Love's Labour Lost] Ovid wrote: "The sharpest thorn often produces delicate roses" and a Turkish proverb claims "Thorns and roses grow on the same tree".
Rose has captured the imagination of all cultures, of all men. Its association with beauty, romance and physical perfection dates back a long, long time ago and doesn't show any signs of waning. All it asks is our appreciation. Like in Saint-Exypery's Little Prince, we must tend our rose (literal and metaphorical), for it to bloom and to reach its peak. But bend to actually smell the roses, literally, and you find a nuanced, multi-layered cornucopia of fragrant notes, evolving, tingling, provoking you into reaction... Rose isn't a simpleton.


The Rose Family
The rose is a rose,
And was always a rose.
But the theory now goes
That the apple’s a rose
 ~Robert Frost (1874–1963)  

There are Five English Rose Fragrance Descriptors
According to David Austin Roses, the following descriptors, much like in wine and tea (or indeed like perfume!) serve to guide like a compass into how rose can have specific nuances in its scent profile.

Myrrh: An aromatic, anise-like scent; among roses it's found almost exclusively in English roses.
Fruity: Because the rose is related to apricots, pears, apples, strawberries and others, fruity notes often surface.
Musk: A romantic scent, it often comes from the flower's stamens. People are especially sensitive to the scent.
Old rose: The classic rose fragrance, it's found almost exclusively in pink and red roses.
Tea rose: A strong scent — like that of fresh tea — that often dominates a flower. Other fragrances can become evident over time.

An Expert's Favorites 

Michael Marriott handles as technical director and head rosarian for David Austin Roses and along with fellow scent expert Rober Calkin regularly oversees the production of roses. Not every variant can fit the needs we have. As Elenor Roosevelt once said: "I once had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalogue: no good in a bed, but fine up against a wall".

Here Marriot has chosen his top David Austin roses, based largely on their scent. His list of favorite rose variants:
Gertrude Jekyll: Marriott says this is considered the quintessential old rose fragrance: strong, rich, complex and well-balanced. (USDA Zones 4-8)
Munstead Wood: Also a strong old rose scent, it features notes of blackberry, blueberry and damson plum. (Zones 5-9)
Lady Emma Hamilton: A strong, fruity fragrance (pear, grape and citrus) that complements its orange and yellow coloring. (Zones 5-9)
Scepter'd Isle: With a strong myrrh fragrance, this variety has won the Royal National Rose Society's award for fragrance. (Zones 5-10)
Harlow Carr: Another old rose floral scent that complements a classic old rose form. (Zones 5-9)

Read more tips on appreciating the scent of live roses on this link
pic mmdelrosario.hubpages.com

Friday, September 2, 2011

Tableau de Parfums Miriam: fragrance review & Giveaway

The dream of a hug, the vivid bitter sweet memory of her perfume,
her hair shining golden in the morning sun, so fine,
the violets from the garden in her hand,
freshly picked with the dew pearls dropping one after the other,
the green May roses on the table, lasting forever.
It is a dream of days long gone, with a smile on my lips.

Miriam Eau de Parfum is the first fragrance on the Tableau de Parfums line (you have a chance of getting to know it before anyone else, read on!), referencing the heady, diffusive fragrances of the 1940s and 1950s.



Some people who admired Tauer perfumes had asked on these very pages some time ago that he composes an aldehydic floral. Apparently he listens! Miriam is an old-school rosy-green aldehydic floral, like they don't make them any more; perfumey, rosy, with piquant notes that register between soapiness and fizziness, an armour of glamorous "clean". You imagine a highly strung classy woman that hides her woes behind an immaculate veneer; perfectly coifed & manicured, wearing delightfully constructed, tailored clothes and maybe a string of pearls. Male filmmakers of the 1940s tended to show this powerwoman stereotype having a meltdown at some point in the plot, perhaps a subtle nod to "punishment" for undertaking more than they should. Pamela Robertson explains that Mildred Pierce exposes this contradiction of female success and societal expectations, "because Mildred's success conflicts with the postwar ideology that demands that women give up their careers" [1]. There are even modern specimens like Amy Archer in "The Hudsucker Proxy". But not in Pera's universe. Miriam can be complex, alternating between regret, love, compassion, duty, longing...she's very human.  In the words of Ann Magnuson, who plays Miriam in the film: "The character of Miriam is kind of riffing not only on the forties women’s picture characters but also some of the characters that I’ve played."

Who is Miriam? The host of a long running home shopping network program (“The Miriam Masterson Show”), Miriam (played by well-known actress Ann  Magnuson) is the on air confidante to millions of women across the country, But behind the scenes, Miriam is at odds with the men who run the studio, a motley crew of suits who don’t understand her touchy feely appeal. At home, she struggles with a layabout boyfriend. Her mother has just been put in a nursing home suffering from dementia. What Miriam would like more than anything is the one thing she can’t have: the name of her mother’s signature perfume. What’s left of the fragrance sits in an unlabeled Baccarat decant on the edge of Miriam’s vanity. When it’s gone, it will take a world of memories with it. Does it remind you of something? I thought so. That perfume therefore represents the memory of her mother, the fragrance her mother actually wore, but also the images and thoughts that Miriam projects into her perception of her mother as a younger woman. Makes for contemplating sniffing.

Miriam the fragrance is vintage in spirit but with a contemporary character. “There is something slightly provocative in this perfume,” says Andy Tauer, its creator. “It isn’t naughty, but bold. It makes a statement, and its wearer needs a little bit of daring. A grand perfume constructed in the tradition of French perfumery, Miriam is the kind of fragrance they don’t make much anymore.” Indeed! When was the last time you actually heard of a major company launching an aldehydic floral? This is one of the beauties of discovering artisanal perfumers: They eschew trends into producing what they like.
The scent of Miriam Eau de Parfum is immediately expansive, filling the room with its citrusy aldehydes burst and violet leaf natural essence (coming from Biolandes), making an instant euphoric impression. Unmistakeably this is an old school rosy floral, fanning the tea rose variety into a soft woody base rich in irones. The woodiness is half and half Australian and Mysore sandalwood, giving a smooth underlay. I hear there's also ambergris/Ambrox, one of the notes that Tauer likes and uses as insignia. It's subtle here and very low-hum (resulting in less than plutonium-like lasting power in this case), while there is a hint of animalic warmth deep down (civet?), taking a sensuous path for a brief while. But never fear; like the corresponding character Miriam EDP knows how to behave, even if her heart takes her elsewhere from time to time.

Miriam Eau de Parfum was inspired by the character played by Ann Magnuson in Woman's Picture series by director Brian Pera. (It even has its own Facebook page! Check it out!)

Notes for Tableau de Parfums Miriam:
bergamot, sweet orange, geranium, violet blossom, rose, jasmine, ylang, violet leaf, lavender, vanilla, orris root, sandalwood.

We are hosting a giveaway! One purse sized atomiser (7ml) to a lucky winner and 5 deluxe samples (1 ml each), with a DVD included, shipped directly by Tauer Perfumes into the entire world. Draw is open till September 7th and winner announced at the end of next week. Just leave a comment re: this post.

Miriam EDP will launch in early October in Los Angels at Scentbar and Luckyscent. Tauer will not make it available on the Tauer website, but rather on Evelyn Avenue.

[1] Robertson, Pamela. Guilty Pleasures. Durham & London: Duke University Press. 1996.

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