I'd like to know your favorite rose oils, why and what they go well with for inspo!
I also don't have it, but heard Rose Gallica was musky or animalic, so I'd love to hearb about that.
I have found that rose materials vary from manufacturer to manufacturer and even from batch to batch. While rose essential oil (otto) tends to be brighter & fresher than rose absolutes, it is not always true or a requirement. So not all Gallica, Damascena or Centifolia absolutes (for example) will smell the same. They will display similar characteristics, but there is a sliding standard. That's one of the things I love about natural materials...there is an inherent variance of nuance even among smiliar materials.
I have been buying rose otto and absolute from www.bulgarianroseotto.com over the last 8 years and I find it to be a consistently enjoyable rose oil that compares well to others.
I recently was sent a sample of a Rosa centifolia absolute made in turkey and it was just amazing - very dense, bright, fresh enticing absolute which reminds me of some really nice Moroccan centifolia rose absolute I used to be able to get about 20 years ago. This is one I am planning to add to my collection.
Many years ago kobashi essential oils stocked Zambian musk rose otto and phytol. The otto was very expensive but the phytol was priced like an absolute. Both very unique, and the otto is the wildest, most bright penetrating pungent Rose oils I have smelled. Wish I had bought more of this. Apparently it was just one farm that was trying to establish this as a new industry for the country but something happened, and I was told that now that region is no longer making any more rose oil.
Hermitage has a good amount of variety- Darren is right , they all vary, huge range - I find the leaf and rosé absolute to be a great price- and its ore rose support- it really is helpful , the rose concrete from hermitage is another ery worth the price
Eden botanicals rose by absolute is a big favorite of mine- very much the mellow rose, melts into formula
perfumers supply house has rose petals from Robertet and a turkish rosé absolute- both very good deals
I tend to layer in rose using several to great desired effect
I am personally in love with Eden Botanicals' Rose de Mai absolute. It was a solid absolute when I first ordered a tiny sample long ago, now that I have decided to indulge myself it's a liquid. It is the purest "rose garden scent" I have ever smelled.
This is actually quite odd and interesting, as Rose de Mai = Rosa centifolia, which did not grow in any of the homes I lived in as a child, nor did I grow any centifolias in my (at one time extensive!) rose gardens as an adult! I'll have to wait until I've finished some new plantings and/or the roses are in bloom, to go to the garden centers with a sniff strip of Rose de Mai absolute on a sniff strip and do some actual comparisons. But when I think about it intellectually and consciously, it's not the smell of any rose I grow nor grew up with. When I just smell it without thinking about it, IT IS A TRUE FLORAL ROSE GARDEN.
As for what it might get along with, I haven't gotten around to testing it out. It's a surprisingly complete scent in itself, but of course it's not yet a perfume (although I'm also going to test and see how it smells on skin, diluted, and how long it lasts, as a single-source scent).
True French origin rose de mai is my favourite, then bulgarian absolute and then Moroccan absolute. Bulgarian otto is my last preference and I use it because I need to in many of my historic bases.
