Rosa solid is back in stock!

Rosa, the perfume created in honor of the California wild rose is now back in stock in her luscious creamy version. The new edition was created using the same formula and pretty much the same exact vital plant essences as in the previous version.

One thing I have noticed when a new edition is fresh is that the aroma will be much lighter than an older edition. When the Rosa synergy is fairly fresh you will notice more dominant top notes with the rosy heart shining through crystal clear. When the formula has aged, more than 6 months to a year, the precious woods will create an earthy note that is not perceptible when it so young. This is the alchemy of pure, botanical perfume.

"A 3 to10 ft. tall clone-forming shrub with arching, dense, prickly stems.  It is frequent to locally common in moist places in shaded canyons, riparian woodlands and chaparral of the San Joaquin Hills, Santa Ana Mountains and foothills (Roberts).  Flowering Apr-July.  Native Americans ate the buds, flowers, fruits and seeds and made medicine from roots, petals and leaves.  Young wood was used for arrow shafts."1

1 http://nathistoc.bio.uci.edu/plants/Rosaceae/Rosa%20californica.htm

Rosa 2014

Monday morning I filtered the 2014 edition of Rosa liquid perfume and began listing all the variations. The wafting of the aromatic molecules from the filtering process wafted throughout the entire house for a few days and is still very present within the studio.

The photo above of the Rosa flacon was taken amongst fresh roses from a friend in Topanga, although beautiful and lush with a heavenly order they are not the California rose. Thus, once the real CA roses beginning blooming in the garden perhaps I'll capture a more authentic portrait of the fragrance. Since we just had a massive rain storm, this may transpire in a couple months.

Rosa flacon

Rosa 1 gram vial

Rosa sample set of liquid and solid

Rosa solid perfume sample

Wild Wonderful

The 2014 edition of Rosa as a solid is back. There were a few tiny modifications to the formula due to available ingredients but not enough to shift the aroma. I am happy to report that there was enough of the precious rose bourbonica from India to include in this edition.

As I have mentioned previously the botanical synergy used to create Rosa has a complex formula which includes two intricate chords, a rose and a leather combined with thirteen other plant essences and infusions. Part of the challenge of complex fragrances like Rosa is that before construction on the perfume begins, the chords must be complete and fully marinated. If an ingredient is unavailable for one of the chords then the perfume will need to be put on hold or reformulated to compensate for the missing notes. Fortunately Rosa was able to be completed with no hitches.

The rose is an elder in the scheme of medicine and history, she appears often and quite vividly. Fragments of her story go back to fossil records from 35 million years ago and Egyptian tombs. Although rose is purchased primarily by women, it is a scent that will also work on men because of the deep, earthy underpinnings.

Carl Jung wrote “The wholeness which is a combination of ‘I and you’ is part of a transcendent unity whose nature can only be grasped in symbols like the rose or the coniunctio (Conjunction).” In alchemy the red rose is associated with the male while the white rose is associated with the feminine. Rosa was designed after the five petalled pink rose of the California woodland, the combination of the red and white and of the ‘I and you’ described by Jung.

The fragrance combines the traditional heart opening, soothing aspects that aromatherapists so often praise in the aroma of rose amplified by twelve other botanical essences and two chords. The rich, verdant bouquet awaits you with its redolent balance of light and dark.

ArtHeart image by Greg Spalenka, available as a print here.

EDITIONS: Rosa

Each time I create the synergy and or chord/accord for my fragrances there may be subtle shifts in the aroma due to the variability of the raw materials. This aspect of handmade, uber niche, botanical perfumery gets even more compounded when multiple chords appear in a fragrance. Sometimes the basic essences in one of my perfumes may stay the same while an essence in one or more chords will shift. These changes are extremely subtle, however, some of you have noticed them which has inspired this post titled "Editions" so that you will have a place to observe which perfume you may have. Keep in mind that the variability is one of the reasons why many perfume companies, both large and small, prefer to use stable and consistent synthetic aroma chemicals in their formulations.

 ROSA Solid February 2013

I just pulled the very latest version of Rosa solid from the "alchmezing closet" where it has been marinating to perfection. Rosa is composed of thirteen individual essences and two chords: a "rose" and a "leather". The leather contains two chords within its structure, the rose contains the elusive and hard to work with Rosa bourbonica. Of the thirteen individual essences two are attars from India and one is a co-distillation of Vetiver with Rose. As mentioned previously the Rosa bourbonica may not be part of future editions since I am out of it. There are a host of other essences in Rosa, including the attars that this may also transpire with.

The reason I am mentioning all this is so that there is a clear understanding why there are subtle aromatic diversities from one synergy to another. If any one of these materials shift then there might be a fluctuation in how the fragrance smells.

What is left of the  Rosa December 2012 edition, as of this moment, is a few samples, two honey pots and one compact. The formula for the February 2013 edition was doubled which produced some unexpected yet slight variations.

ROSA Liquid February 2013

The liquid version of Rosa contains the same essences as the solid, the only difference is that the liquid does not contain the infused plant matter that the solid does.

The Wild Woodland Rose is back!

"A rose does not preach - it simply spreads its fragrance."

~ Ghandi

Rosa, the perfume created for the wild, woodland rose of California is now back in liquid form! The flacon, the vial with 1 gram of juice and the samples have all been updated in the E-shop.

The reason this perfume was gone for many months was twofold: primarily because some of the precious aromatics were not available to me and secondly Rosa contains many chords and thus a complicated fragrance to make.

 I create fragrances from an artists perspective, not taking into account the possible extinction of raw materials. The challenge with this approach is that the perfume editions will change from one batch to another, even if I make chords to replace missing ingredients, there will undoubtedly be subtle fluctuations.

The February 2013 vintage of Rosa in her liquid form luckily did not shift from the last formula because two materials that were off the market eventually were made available again. I was working on creating chords of the missing materials, when, wahlah they returned.

Despite this rather fortunate turn of events, my amber bottle of the very precious Rosa bourbonica absolute also known as "Edward rose",  which is featured in both Rosa and Vespertina, is just about out. This honeyed, wood, rose essence comes from the dry dessert just outside the holy city of Pushkar in Rajasthan, India where it thrives alongside vetiver, another essence in both Rosa and Vespertina.

Many of the sacred oils that I use that come from India are cultivated and distilled in traditional alchemical vessels. The Rosa bourbonica from the region of Pushkar is prized for the high amount of Damascenone molecules present in the aromatic profile. The aroma is much deeper than other roses, with balsamic incense notes which pairs nicely with complimentary oils like Mysore sandalwood, vetiver and frankincense.

If I am not able to procure more Rosa bourbonica absolute for feature editions of  Rosa and Vespertina than it is possible the aroma of each will have subtle fluctuations. Due to the constantly shifting terrain of botanical raw material I am going to start putting a date on the listing of each item. For example, the date of the new Rosa liquid edition and Vespertina solid is February 2013. At this moment in time I am expecting the next editions will contain very little Rosa bourbonica.

Read about the orchestration of Rosa liquid here at the journal.

Woodsii

While prowling social media this morning I came across an interview on the Mountain Rose blog with herbalist Kiva Rose. The last question in the interview is "Is there one herb that you feel especially connected to, and if so, in what way?" Kiva choose the Wild Rose, Rosa woodsii, which is a sister to the woodland rose Rosa californica. I've seen Rosa woodsii at the Theodore Payne Foundation, it looks almost identical to Rosa californica.

Thus my SOTD, scent of the day, will be Rosa. 

Here is how Kiva answered the question, which is true for Rosa californica....

"While there are a number plants I feel closely allied to as medicine, the closest is our native Wild Rose,  Rosa woodsii. It’s a native plant common to much of the American West, and I love its rambling, brambly ways just as much as I adore its sweet scent, sour hips, and incredible medicine. Perhaps because of its beauty, the Rose’s healing properties are popular yet often underrated in modern herbalism, but I find it to be a profound nervine, anti-inflammatory, anti-infective, and tissue healer, in addition to its other traits. I certainly wouldn’t want to be without it! I also value the Rose for its thorns, the lessons of boundaries and self-protection inherent in such wickedly curved weapons. The Wild Rose is generous but with clear boundaries, abundant but wild, sweet but multi-faceted. I am forever finding new lessons to be learned from this plant and feel connected to it through both shared traits as well as the ways in which we’ve worked together to provide healing in so many people."

Talking Dirty

In French Goût de Terroir means Taste of the Earth. It is a term referring to wine and the flavors imparted by the earth in which the vines grow. The term originated in the 1700's and used for marketing later in the 1800's. Although the term appears to be specifically related to the taste of the dirt absorbed by the roots of the vine, other it is more a reference to the flavors of the terrain imparted on the vine. For example if you grow the same exact plant in two different parts of the world the wine from the two vines will have different flavors. This is due to the earth as well as the other three elements fire (sun), air (wind) and water (rain).


I came to this knowledge, not through wine but through the study of essential oils in aromatherapy courses. A lavender essential oil of the same species and variety grown in France will have a different aromatic make-up than one grown in Southern California. The 400 or more chemicals that make up the oil shift according the the conditions where it is grown, thus impacting the aroma.


For years I have been using an Oud from Cambodia for my perfumes. It is most prominent in Chaparral® and Rosa as well as featured in other perfumes and accords. This little Cambodia gem that I have been using is just about out and thus I will be switching to a different Oud obtained last year by way of Laos. Since the aromas are so varied between the two, the fragrance of the perfumes will be altered. This is one of the variables that exist in the land of natural perfume. In fact it is one of the reasons the large perfume houses prefer synthetics, not only because they are substantially less expensive and have extreme longevity but the aroma is consistent.


Nature is not consistent and although I work to have some consistency in my line sometimes mother nature has an altered plan. Cheers to our aromatic adventure and all those twists and turns that keeps us on our toes while still planted here on Earth.

Photos ©Roxana Villa, taken during a trip to Ecuador in 2009

Sage, Rosemary and Time

Saturday in the late afternoon, once all the orders had been packed, I headed over to my local family owned nursery. Autumn is the best time to plant here in the woodland because of the amount of rain we tend to get. Mom had given Greg and I a gift certificate for Christmas which I had saved just for this time of the year.

Potted grasses at the Nursery in late afternoon sun

I had my heart set on rosemary for the south border of the lot to create a nice screen from the neighbors while providing an extra food source for the honey bees. They absolutely adore the rosemary ground cover on the back slope. Other perks are that it grows well here and can handle the summer heat with little water.

For the front slope, which is the biggest and barest part at the moment, I wanted to pick up more sages, matilija poppies, artemesia and cistus. All of those are performing fabulously, with the added benefit of providing more nectar and pollen sources for my little winged friends.

I also was keen on picking up some violets. My mom brought over a nice sized clay pot of a cutting from her garden, which are the ones I use in the tincture for Gracing the Dawn botanical perfume. Since they are coming up gangbusters in her garden I figured perhaps its a good time to purchase them. No such luck, the nursery doesn't carry them, thus I will have to go elsewhere.

photo: Iceberg Rose

The nursery was however, well stocked on rosemary, sage salvia allen chickering purple rock rose cistus purpureus and the hardy white iceberg roses. No matilija poppies though. Thus we loaded up the car and on Sunday I spent almost all day digging holes
in the front slope. My initial idea was to put the white roses in between the native Rosa californica down along the bottom. However, when I started digging I realized that most of the entire front edge of the property is granite. Thus, instead, I dug out the native roses and moved them to the midslope area, on the other side of the matilija poppy batch. I'll be putting the cistus, aka rockrose, down at the bottom. The one I currently have in that location is doing great, unlike the roses that seemed very sad.

As I dug out the California roses I was quite shocked to see that they had actually managed to send shoots of roots down INTO the granite! My goodness. In text where I have written descriptions for my perfume Rosa, inspired by the native rose, I mention it is "an ancient survivor of the California woodland." I now have new respect for the plant and the term survivor. I hope it will be much happier in the mid-slope area where there isn't quite as much hard granite to deal with. Fingers and toes crossed. Meanwhile the cistus, aptly named "rock rose" should be quite happy down there.

photo: Cistus purpureus

The garden, after five years is finally starting to come together a bit. I'd still like to get rid of the icky Eucalyptus trees and plant more oaks in their place. However, in the meantime, the California cottage look is coming along quite nicely. By spring I should have some nice photos to share.

Iceberg rose planted among California native sage Salvia Allen Chickering

Beauty is an ecstasy

"A single rose can be my garden... a single friend, my world." ~ Leo Buscaglia

"Beauty is an ecstasy; it is as simple as hunger. There is really nothing to be said about it. It is like the perfume of a rose: you can smell it and that is all." ~ Maugham

These photos are of Rosa solid perfume in the compact format. The one pictured here was silver with a star pattern, this one belongs to my daughter Eve.

PERFUME NEWS

Here in the studio I've been working on a few perfumes. One will debut this Autumn, everything about it is a secret until the launch. The fragrance has been in development for a few years and is now finally resolved. There have been a few challenges, like certain raw materials being harder to obtain and more costly, but I've worked around those hurdles using some creativity.


The 2011 birthday perfume will be ready in just a jiffy, thanks for your patience, I think you all will enjoy what I've done. I've also got a new series in the works with a projected September launch for the first one. It is based on something I created about four years back and have eluded to it for awhile now. Others, like the solid version of Gracing the Dawn will be arriving shortly as well. So many new botanical delights for the nose to savor, stay tuned.

Images: Rosa solid ©RoxanaVilla, Jasmine painting by Albert Moore.

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

A Song for Rosa

The ancient survivor of the native California woodland known as the chaparral is Rosa californica. A five petaled deciduous native shrub important to local wildlife.

“And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies.”
- Christopher Marlowe

Rosa liquid botanical perfume was first unveiled at LA Sniffaplaooza during Fashion Fragrance Week when I was invited to be a speaker at the luncheon. Raphaella, the editor of Sniffapalooza Magazine, writes this about the liquid expression:

Rosa 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.

Rosa, besides being the name of the California wild rose and this perfume, it was also the name of my great grandmother. Look closely at the antique postcards I have been using lately as props for my perfume imagery, you will see her name Rosa Groppo.


The solid expression of Rosa debuted with her two other sisters Vera and Page 47 on the Flower Full Moon on May 27th. Although the solid expression contains the same accords the aromatic profile has a sweeter opening than the liquid. Rosa is a sparkling rose perfume unfolding from a green powdery rose bouquet into deep rich rose and wood notes. The fragrance blossoms on the skin of the wearer. The climatic ending of the orchestration is treasured Agarwood.


The fifth perfume in the series celebrating the aromatic landscape of the State of California is Rosa. Inspiration for this fragrance came when my friend Megan introduced me to the native rose of California.

"The rose distils a healing balm
The beating pulse of pain to calm."
~ Thomas Moore

The base ingredients for this perfume are golden jojoba seed oil and organic, beeswax from a small farm in Ojai, California. The beeswax is the only item in this fragrance that is non botanical. This green, woody botanical perfume has been created by hand utilizing pure essential oils, c02 extracts and absolutes. The ingredients include: my own leather and rose accords; vetiver and precious woods like the treasured agarwood; a very fresh rose otto from a small family farm in Turkey; a deep, resonant rose bourbonica absolute from India and several citrus oils.

Fragrance family: FLORAL
Leather Accord, Vetiver, Precious woods, Rose, Rose Accord, Citrus and and hand infused Lemon Geranium from an organic farm in Ojai.
There are two accords in this perfume, the Leather accord contains several accords within it.
More about Rosa here at the journal
Lucy of Indie Perfume on both Rosa and Sierra, liquids
Scent Hive Review of Rose products including Rosa liquid


Rosa solid perfume comes in an antique finish metal compact contained in a dusty rose hand crocheted, heirloom pouch. I pour the botanical perfume synergy into a combination of beeswax and jojoba. Once gently melted it is then poured into a tin placed within the metal compact. This ensures lasting performance so that the vintage gets better with age.
Another benefit to this is that when you are finished with your solid perfume the tin can be replaced with a new one. The compact is contained in a Dusty Rose hand crocheted pouch and packaged in a silk lined purple box.


Rosa is available as a single sample and in the Flower Full Moon trio set with Vera and Page 47. The tops of the little pink pots are color coded with a honey bee wax seal. Leave a comment here at this post and I will enter you in a draw for pink pot of Rosa in a lavender colored pouch. The draw ends on Monday, June 14th at 10pm PST.

Roxana at Indie Perfumes

I've been blessed once again by the eloquent word smithing of a lover of aromatics. Lucy Raubertas, who I had the pleasure of meeting at the Sniffapalooza Fall Ball, has written a very succinct and beautiful review of our botanical perfumes. Please head on over to her blog to experience beauty filled prose. I am so humbled, thank you very, very much Lucy! It's such a pleasure when someone who really "gets" what these handcrafted botanical perfumes are about, especially when it is an individual with poetic skills like Ms Raubertas.

IndiePerfumes

Vote for ROSA!

The perfume devoted to the California native wild Rose, Rosa, has been nominated in an Etsy poll for "Which flowers make your garden grow?" Vote for Rosa botanical perfume as your favorite May flower.

Here's how to vote:
1. Go to the Etsy main page here: http://www.etsy.com/
2. If you have an account, sign in by clicking the "sign in" button in the upper right corner.
3. If you don't have an account it's super simple to create one by clicking on the register button in the upper right corner.
4. Once you are signed in, go to this link and click on the little circle just under the photo on the left side. Then scroll down to the bottom of the page and click on the "cast your vote" button.
The photo may change places throughout the week. Intending she moves up to the top! Please help out.

Thank you so much!
Cheers to Roses, in particular the California wild rose which is blooming right now.

Rosa at Scent Hive

Rosa has received some praise and lovin' over at the Scent Hive on this beauty filled Sun day. Please click on this link and read about natural body care items that spring from a bed of roses.

7 grams of pure perfume of Rosa in a French flacon

1 gram of pure perfume of Rosa in a simple glass vial
~ or ~
.25 grams of the pure perfume of Rosa with your choice of two other perfumes

"It is at the edge of the petal that love waits."
~ William Carlos Williams

I took some photos of the Rosa flacon filled with the pure extrait and the pouch a few weeks ago. Above is one of the shots which I then took into photoshop and added an old black and white reproduction. The engraving is part of an image titled "The Sphere of Love", supposedly the symbols in the corners are letters which spell LOVE. Read more about Rosa and why I equate this perfume with "love" here at in this journal entry.


In the quiet of the studio today I am working on several perfumes. The scent filling the space in this sacred moment is of the rich and heavenly Orchid flower, Vanilla.

FLOWER POWER

The hillsides of California become ablaze with the blossoming of native flowers in March and April. The California Lilac known as Ceanothus and the wildflowers like the Lupine and Poppies start off the colorful festival.

To my delight I had the opportunity to experience the bounty of California's floristic spring treasures twice this weekend. On Friday morning I drove over to visit my friend Meghan who lives in the Malibuo Lake region of the Santa Monica Mountains. Meghan is a treat to spend time with, she is a smart and adventurous soul with a warm an loving heart. Her knowledge of California plants is quite vast and she has the mind of a scientist, the heart of an artist and experience of tracking. The sum of all those parts equate a grand time whenever I have the opportunity to visit with her.


I drove along Mulholland Highway out to visit my dear friend who is currently working on a masters degree in English and had just gotten back from South Africa. The morning drive was glorious with the blue expansive sky above me and the glorious California landscape dappled with native oaks stretched out before me. Buried teenage memories of treks to Junior Lifeguard Camp at Zuma beach bubbled to my mind and made me yearn for a dip in the Ocean.


Our mission with Meghan was to find a specific patch of Rosa californica, native wild roses, that grow en masse and were most likely flowering. Meghan had taken me to this same exact location back when I was researching the plant for the Rosa botanical perfume. At that time the flowering shrub was dormant. When we came upon the cluster this past Friday I was thrilled to see them flowering and deliciously seduced by their hypnotic fragrance.


From their we continued our journey along the trail to witness the blossoming of several other native flowers. We also encountered native turtles swimming in the Creek. This natural water source begins in Simi Valley at Hummingbird Creek and travels all the way to the Pacific Ocean weaving it's way through several cities and the Santa Monica Mountains.


On Sunday the second adventure into California native plants presented itself as a trek out to Claremont to visit the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens. I had been told about this vast native garden at the foothill of the San Gabriel Mountains while at a landscape design class at the Theodore Payne Foundation.

It took us a good solid hour to get out there with part of the journey along the infamous route 66. The gardens are extremely beautiful and display up to 70,000 plants with 2000 California native species on 86 acres of land. Founded in 1927 this is an ideal location to view the extensive variety of color, texture and pattern.


Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Gardens is closed part of the year, so plan your trip accordingly and be prepared for an awe inspiring experience that will open your mind to what California native plants are. Far different from the stereotypical cactus plants that so many associate with Southern California.

Photographs©Roxana Villa, opening shot was taken at the Santa Barbara Botanical Garden. Other photos were taken in the Santa Monica Mountains and at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanical Garden.