SmellyBlog: Purple (p)Rose

Purple rose of Cairo, originally uploaded by ay_caramba_nz.

This perfume was created after exploring Indian roses and exotic attars while watching The Purple Rose of Cairo. The name was selected as a tongue-in-your cheek gesture to fluffy perfume ad-copies and fragrance literature laden with purple patches. Consider this to be the part of the film where the screenwriter converses with its characters while they step out of the silver screen attempting to get a life.

Purple (p)Rose is rosy and exotic. Many essences extracted from plants grown on Indian soil seem to have a certain sweetness, depth and spicy richness. I sometimes wonder if there is curry in the Indian soil that affects the aroma of these plants and make them stand apart from those grown in other countries. The essences I chose are mostly ones that I associate with the colours purple and blue. There is no particular logic behind that notion, it's completely intuitive. There is no way for me to explain why I think champaca smells purple or Buddha wood smells blue. I can only hope you will understand me if you smell them.

The opening notes are rosy with hints of spice and fruit, evolving into a plush floral heart with traditional Indian rose attars of rose and oud, ruh gulab (a traditional Indian distillation of rose), red champaca, blue lotus and blue waterlily to compliment the purple theme. And finally, deep woody notes of sandal, oud and Buddha wood, precious and sublime encompass all and invite meditation.

Top notes: Chinese Five Spice, Magnolia Lily, Cassis

Heart notes: Indian Summer Rose Attar, Ruh Gulab, Red Champaca, Blue Lotus, Blue Water Lily

Base notes: Agarwood, Amber Oudh Attar, Bakul Attar, Buddha wood, Sandalwood

Now available via Etsy under the One-of-a-Kind Perfumes section.