Once upon a time, Rose de Mai was the main rose absolute used in fine French fragrances. These days the price is prohibitive and the absolute is mainly available to big houses like Dior and Chanel. But all is not lost! You can make your own Rose de Mai.
This is very much a wardia-type base (it is, in fact, based in part on a GCMS analysis of rose wardia by Firmenich). However, because I like to work with restricted chemicals I have been a little more relaxed around the formula than Firmenich needs to be due to IFRA. The restricted ingredients in this base can be easily substituted if you don’t want to use them but they are in very small doses so I can’t really see why there would be a problem anyway.
This base is expensive but well worth it I think. It can be used at mega-doses or micro-doses. Wardia was created before a number of truly astonishing rose chemicals were discovered. I have incorporated those chemicals into this base while remaining true to vintage perfumery by including a large dose of natural Rose de Mai absolute.
To purchase the formula for this magnificent rose base, go here:
How long would you recommend letting the base sit before using it? Mine still has a pretty distinct DMS smell but I just mixed it. Should I wait before incorporating it into a formula?
I would think you’d not notice the distinct DMS smell after a few days at the most.
I made the mistake of using a .1% dilution and had to try and salvage the base. Placed it on a hot plate around 150 F and after about an hour most of the excess DMS was evaporated. It turned out smelling absolutely beautiful!
Ah! DMS is definitely not a chemical you want to accidentally overdose 🙂 I’m glad it worked out in the end though.