Lancôme unveils a petal-perfect rose fragrance collection
· New York PostEverything is coming up roses at Lancôme.
The French beauty company has introduced Absolue Les Parfums, a collection of 11 haute parfumerie fragrances showcasing the most romantic of flowers. From “6 AM Rose,” with its sun-kissed rose and lily of the valley accords, to “Rose or Die,” a bewitching blend of black tea and rose notes, the line explores the many facets of Shakespeare’s most-mentioned bloom.
Inspiration for the scents is rooted in Lancôme’s Domaine de la Rose, a leafy estate in Grasse, France, the perfume capital of the world. The company purchased the property in 2020 and Lucie Niney and Thibault Marca of Paris’ NeM Architectes renovated its famous pink house.
The blush-colored, eco-friendly manse hosts workshops, training sessions and events celebrating the company’s fragrance heritage. As for the gardens, horticulturalists cultivate the organically farmed fields of jasmine, tuberose, iris and several thousand Centifolia rose bushes.
The estate is open to the public the second Wednesday of each month. A guided visit lasts one hour and 15 minutes and is free of charge.
The Domaine serves as a type of olfactory laboratory. In fact, the Absolue collection features two, new patented extracts from the Centifolia rose, Lancôme’s signature flower.
The first was created without an extraction solvent, so it preserves the ingredient’s rich olfactive properties. The second, a natural absolute, highlights new olfactory aspects of the rose.
The scents were formulated by master perfumers and each celebrates rose in a distinctly modern way, capturing new moods or unexpected redolence in different weathers and times of day. “1001 Roses,” for instance, evokes a rose freshly picked from a garden on a sunny day. Perfumers Louise Turner and Christine Nagel used Centifolia and Damascena roses, accented with a creamy musk accord.
Perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin describes his ethereal “Rose on the Moon” confection as “a hypnotic rose, magnified by the sumptuous texture of sandalwood.”
Meanwhile, the sensual “I Flamed a Rose” by Daphné Bugey pairs rose essence from the Domaine with earthy patchouli and ambrox, a complex musky and woody note.
Each eau de parfum is bottled in a cylindrical flacon with a gold nameplate, and priced at $270 for 100 ml. The collection joins Lancôme’s other rose fragrances, from La Vie est Belle Rose Extraordinaire and Idôle to Idôle Now, and the house’s rose-infused makeup and skincare.
This fall, the bloom is definitely on the rose.