Perfumer Luca Maffei spent years capturing the essence of the perfumery in a bottle, lending peppery and mysterious tones over time, and being sure to create something that worked on anyone’s skin. “This is an intense rose, whose personality never fades away and mostly, never goes unnoticed,” says Maffei. To create a sustained bloom with wooded spice, he contrasted Moroccan rose absolute and Bulgarian rose essence with cypriol oil, saffron and the succulent shrub bushman’s candle. A fizzy pink pepper can be smelled right away; but the initial sparkle of AMNESIA ROSE is soon replaced by a satin density that carries through to meet a dry, earthy cushion of labdanum, patchouli, and oud.
It is a liquid that smells as though it’s been drenched with saffron and patchouli-edged petals, in a palette that veers out of fresh rose territory into a vintage, like blowing dust off a fine red wine.
Its first inhalation captures a moment just after twilight on a languid late fall evening, when the swing of a door brings a waft from a bouquet that breaks up stagnant air. This rose is not a deep red or a pale pink but a pastel purple so pale it is almost gray. Its petal edges are just beginning to curl, tilting open, with a fullness that mimics the shape of a bulbous tea cup, filled with rich spice and hunks of rare wood.
Its composition was inspired by the still life aesthetic of AEDES PERFUMERY, a place in New York City’s Lower East Side where abundant arrangements spill out of plump vases alongside feathered taxidermy and vintage fabrics. There is incense in the air and likely a blotter under your nose. The name comes from a rose varietal grown in France. While its smell is faint, its visual conjures a vintage look and feel that’s been translated into AMNESIA ROSE.
