OK so maybe I won’t get high huffing my wrists wearing Mandy Aftelier’s incredible creation, Wild Roses, but it does feel slightly addictive that I can’t get enough of this intoxicating scent. This was truly a surprise love for me. I do adore roses, but I can also dislike them depending on the particular scent. The thing that was making me most hesitant is that I tend to have “trouble” with natural perfumes. I don’t know what it is, but there seems to be some sort of base scent to natural perfumes that can turn me off. Maybe someone more versed in the intricacies of fragrance can give me some insight into this because I know it doesn’t really make sense. I know all natural perfumes are not made with the same base ingredients so this quality that I seem to draw from them mystifies me. Anyways I didn’t experience that issue with Wild Roses. In fact the first day I tested it I applied it 3 times through the day to ensure I could enjoy the full progression of the scent on my skin again and again. This is not your grandma’s rose perfume.
Mandy wanted to capture in perfume the experience of walking around her garden and smelling each rose, as their perfumes blended in her nose. Wild Roses perfume evokes the garden in our imagination and memory — the book of a hundred petals unfolding: balsamic, spicy, apricot, and honeyed roses, mixed with the smell of warm earth and herbs.
The apricot-rose heart is perfectly rooted in a base of tarragon absolute — its herbal round anise aroma giving a nuance of both earth and leaves. The balsamic vanilla absolute and the whiskey-ness of aged patchouli support tarragon’s warm, powdery aspect. Indole contributes the almost animal aspect of ripeness in a rose. The heart is punctuated by pimento berry, lending its nuances of clove, ginger, and cinnamon. The candied-orange flower aroma of methyl methyl anthranilate, the soft powdery floral of heliotropin, and the slightly floral citrus of bergamot contribute a modern freshness to the opening.
Featured Notes
Top: rose CO2, heliotropin, bergamot, geraniol, m-methyl anthranilate, damascenone.
Heart: apricot, Turkish rose absolute, pimento berry, p-ethyl alcohol, rose petals attar.
Base: tarragon absolute, vanilla absolute, indole, aged patchouli.
If you love roses you owe it to yourself to try Aftelier Perfumes Wild Roses!
Wild Roses is available as a 1/4 oz. perfume ($170), a 30 ml EDP spray ($170), a 2 ml perfume mini ($50), and a sample size ($6) at www.aftelier.com. Mandy Aftel is an award-winning all-natural perfumer and author. She creates each extraordinary Aftelier Perfumes fragrance by hand in small batches in her Berkeley, California studio.
*Product provided for my consideration. All review are always my own honest and unbiased opinions.
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