SAMPLE .. Guerlain, Une Rose, 'One Rose', 1/2 ml. DECANTED SAMPLE from Flacon, Parfum Extrait, Flacon Quadrilobe, 1908, 1920, Paris, France

The House of Guerlain is one of the oldest perfume houses in the world. It was founded in 1828 when Pierre-Francois Pascal Guerlain opened up his first perfume store on 42, Rue de Rivoli in Paris.

Pierre-Francois composed and manufactured custom perfumes with the help of his two sons, Aime & Gabriel. His unique approach was to personalize perfume for a specific person, place or event. Honore de Balzac commisioned his own eau de toilette during the writing of Cesar Birotteau, and the periodical La Sylphide, le Journal des Elegances, scented each issue with a different fragrance by Guerlain.

Guerlain catered to the high society of Paris, and obtained a very loyal following. The perfume house was so successful that Guerlain decided to open a flagship store at 15, Rue de la Paix in Paris in 1840. The house was at its peak in 1853 with it's fragrance Eau de Cologne Imperiale. This perfume gained Guerlain the prestigious title of His Majesty's Official Perfumer of France. This in turn led him to create perfumes for other royals such as Queen Victoria of England, the Empress Sissi of Austria, the Queen of Belgium and Queen Isabella of Spain as well as other crowned heads of royalty.

Pierre-Francois passed away in 1854 and his sons inherited the perfume house. Aime became the master perfumer, a tradition that would be upheld for the next master perfumer in lineage. Gabriel managed and further expanded the house.

Launched in 1908, Une Rose suggests one thing .. roses. "Often called the queen of flowers, rose ranks high in the Guerlinade signature, present to some degree or another in nearly all Guerlain perfumes. Roses have lemony fresh, honeyed and fruity-floral facets, and smell at once clean, powdery and endlessly romantic. The scent of rose absolute is so rich and penetrating though, that it easily overwhelms the surroundings with its feminine floral trail. Whenever speaking of rose in a Guerlain context, it's tempting to make a comparison with Nahéma. A role model for hundreds, if not thousands of fruity-floral fragrances, Nahéma represented Jean-Paul Guerlain's vision of a rose perfume that was far removed from any rose cliché. Inspired by the stately sensuality of actress Catherine Deneuve, as well as the insistent and erotic rhythm of Ravel's Bolero, he used the newly developed damascenones, together with passion fruit, spices, and oriental notes, to make the rose feel gradually more and more voluptuous, rounded and glowing as Nahéma developed on your skin."

While there are no sources available on the Internet or in my books with the notes of this perfume, I am going to venture that the structure looks something like this ..

Top notes are Lemon, Aldehydes, and Neroli
Heart notes are Mai Rose, Bulgarian Rose, Jasmine, Violet, and Heliotrope
Base notes are Sandalwood and Almond

Offered here is a decant sample from this lovely perfume. Very rare and difficult to find now.