The Bollocks Page: Books

4.From “Rose Oil” by Julia Lawless pub. Thorsons 1995

I have a problem with subjective opinions being passed off as universal truisms. On page 80-81 of this book we have “the rose is the queen of all perfumes”, a view which is not universally accepted: jasmine is given this same accolade in other cultures. In the next sentence we have a reference to the fact that “it” is found in 46% of men’s perfumes and 98% of women’s fragrances. It is unclear what this statement means exactly. If “it” means rose oil, then in my value judgment the statement is monstrously misleading. If “it” means rose chemicals such as geraniol, citronellol and ß-phenylethyl alcohol then this statement may be edging toward reality (see below for further discussion). Halfway down page 80 we have reference to rose’s excellent fixative and long-lasting qualities. It would be fair to say that Rose oil is not renowned for these particular properties.

On page 81, we revisit the above problem again with reference to the fact that Rose oil, in synthetic form is the main ingredient in 75% of all modern quality perfumes. This sweeping statement is, again, in my opinion, difficult to substantiate. There may be a grain of truth in the fact, that, since rose oil contains a large number of component chemicals, these identical chemicals will turn up in many perfume formulae, but the important fact here is that these will not necessarily impart a rose note to the composition (especially in male fragrances), but may be supporting other accords, for example, muguet notes.

On page 100, a comparison table is given of the composition of the oil of R. damascena against R. centifolia. We find that (ß-) phenylethyl alcohol (PEA) apparently comprises 63% of the oil of R. damascena and 1.5-3% of the oil of R. centifolia and traces of various chemicals, one or two of which are clearly mis-spelt (i.e. “nonanon” (what is this?) and 2-phenylmethyl acetate (presumably meant to be 2-phenylethyl acetate)¹. If the oils of R. damascena and R. centifolia are prepared in similar ways there is no way that there should be such a huge discrepancy in PEA content. A simpler explanation might be that the R. centifolia figures might refer to an analysis of a rose absolute and not an oil, in which case the PEA figure would be correct.

Earlier on page 100, “damascenone” is described as imparting a honey note to rose. Whilst acknowledging that these matters are subjective, a more accepted picture is that ß-damascenone by itself is often considered to have a fruity odour, and it is only in combination with other compounds in rose oil such as benzyl and ß-phenylethyl tiglates, and ß-phenylethyl butyrates that a honey-like accord may arise.

¹Note: a reference for this was given as D. Wabner & I. Wurdack “Rose oil: its use in therapy and cosmetics” The International J. of Aromatherapy 1(4) 1989 p30.

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