It’s been a stormy, gray week or so in my part of the country, with a hurricane followed by a nor’easter, and I’m suddenly in the mood for some natural floral perfumes — the closest I can get to wearing actual flowers. I’ve just tried two scents from indie natural line Aftelier, both in Eau de Parfum formulation. The newer one (just released) is Wild Roses, which “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.”
Wild Roses’ composition includes top notes of rose CO2, heliotropin, bergamot, geraniol, m-methyl anthranilate and damascenone; a heart of apricot, Turkish rose absolute, pimento berry, p-ethyl alcohol and rose petals attar; and a base of tarragon absolute, vanilla absolute, indole and aged patchouli. It really does deserve its name: Wild Roses is most definitely not a dainty tea-rose fragrance. It starts off boldly, with emphatic spicy and woody notes that put me in mind of a very sophisticated pomander or potpourri…
