Dried dark-red to brownish petals; potpourri-like texture
Odor Strength
Medium
Producing Countries
Bulgaria, Morocco, Turkey
Pyramid
Heart
Faded, papery, tea-like. Dried rose smells like the memory of a rose: the bright fresh qualities are gone, leaving behind a warm, slightly spicy, dusty floral.
Warm, papery, tea-like rose without the bright dewy freshness of living petals. Spicier than fresh rose, dustier, with a dried-fruit undertone from beta-damascenone. A faint woody-stemmy quality emerges. Less green than fresh, less sharp, more intimate. The scent of roses in a grandmother's drawer.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Warm spicy-rose, faint dustiness
After a few hours
After a few hours
Papery-tea quality, dried fruit, rose oxide
After a few days
After a few days
Persistent warm floral-woody, powdery
Terroir & Origins
Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.
The Full Story
Dried rose is a natural note capturing the scent of rose petals after dehydration. The drying process fundamentally alters the rose's chemistry: volatile top-note molecules (citronellol, geraniol, nerol) evaporate, while heavier, more persistent compounds (rose oxide, beta-damascenone, phenylethyl alcohol) concentrate. The result is a warmer, spicier, dustier version of fresh rose.
The scent profile shifts from bright and dewy to something closer to tea, dried fruit, and old books. A papery-textile quality emerges as the petals become brittle. The spicy quality, often masked by fresher notes in living roses, becomes more prominent. Beta-damascenone, present at parts-per-billion levels, contributes a dried-fruit, tea-like character.
In perfumery, dried rose provides a nostalgic, vintage alternative to fresh rose. It functions as a heart-to-base note, more persistent and less volatile than fresh rose materials. The note works in vintage-inspired, melancholic, and autumnal compositions. Rosa damascena and Rosa centifolia are the species most commonly associated with this note.
This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.
Beta-damascenone, the molecule most responsible for the dried-rose tea-like character, was named after Rosa damascena but is actually found in higher concentrations in apple juice than in rose oil. The human nose detects it at 0.002 parts per billion.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Dried rose petals can be solvent-extracted to produce an absolute, or the dried-rose effect is achieved by blending rose absolute with tea-like, spicy, and papery modifiers. Rosa damascena from Turkey or Bulgaria is the typical source.
Dried dark-red to brownish petals; potpourri-like texture
In Perfumery
Dried rose is a heart-to-base note providing nostalgic, vintage rose character. The drying process concentrates heavier molecules (rose oxide, beta-damascenone, phenylethyl alcohol) while stripping volatile fresh qualities. It functions in vintage-inspired, melancholic, and autumnal compositions. Blends with oud, tobacco, dried fruits, and powdery-musky bases.
