Oud and Roses

"A true poet does not bother to be poetical.
Nor does a nursery gardener scent his roses."
~ Jean Cocteau

The wild rose of the California woodlands is the inspiration of the botanical perfume Rosa which debuted back in October 2008 as a liquid perfume. I have just finished the new edition of the liquid which is now back in the E-shop with new photos. This botanical fragrance features the mystical and historical Oud from the far East. I used this earthy, woody note to bring in the wild quality of the woodland rose.


Since the wild roses bloomed two months ago I used a non-native variety for all the new photos. a few which are included here in the blog post with the rest slowly being uploaded to the Flickr pool.


In the third edition of the tribute to her favorite Rose perfumes in Sniffapalooza Magazine Rapahella wrote this:

"This is a gorgeous natural perfume and an instant hit with those that sniff this natural perfume. Many of us were fortunate to receive samples of Rosa at a Sniffapalooza event where Roxana Villa was a featured guest speaker. Roxana continues to amaze with her naturals perfumes and is garnering quite the reputation as a top natural perfumer. This is a fragrance that truly blooms. I consider this my top "metaphysical perfume" along side Amouage Attar.


The California wild roses at the bottom of our slope, known as Californica rosa, didn't bloom at all this year. I'm not sure why the flowers are so profuse in the wilderness but not here. Must ask a native plant expert, wonder if it has to do with this weird weather?

Read more about Rosa here at this journal.

Photos by Roxana Villa