In a weird case of serendipity I have been in the mood to do things on a regular basis over the last week; wear rose perfumes and stare at Salvador Dalí’s 1958 work ‘The Meditative Rose. The painting captures the ethereal beauty of the rose, floating high in the sky, casting a tranquil scene that aptly sums up how I feel about rosy fragrances within my collection.

I’ve always seen roses as having a soft and calming presence and much like the two small figures in Dalí’s painting I find myself feeling quite contemplative when wearing any perfume with roses. Over the last week I’ve been relying heavily on Montale’s Black Aoud, a perfume that pairs the sharpness of leather and oud with the most powdery of roses. It’s exotic but comforting and allows one to shroud oneself in a red blanket, which is especially handy in this weather.

But Black Aoud wasn’t the scent to kick off this rose phase, in fact it was a new perfume that reignited my love for all things rose – Papillon Perfumery’s Tobacco Rose. This particular rose has an interesting blend of rose and geranium with soft hints of leathery tobacco and whilst it doesn’t exactly explore new themes, it is genuinely interesting due simply to the way in which it is executed. Balance is the key. I’m rather smitten as you can tell and will be reviewing it along with the other scents in the collection over the coming weeks.

For now I’ll move on to wearing my other rose loves; La Fille de Berlin, Marni Eau de Parfum, Paris, Rossy de Palma and Portrait of a Lady. Tell me, what are your favourite rose perfumes? What perfumes make you feel meditative or contemplative? What perfumes are you wearing to fend of the cold?

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Image via neo-alchemist.com.