Rose de Mai Perfumes & Fragrances

Rose De Mai fragrance note icon

Rose de Mai smells soft, honeyed and tea-like, with a green leafiness and a quiet fruity undertone. It is the gentler, more luminous cousin of the Bulgarian Damask rose and one of the great signatures of French perfumery.

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The flower is Rosa centifolia, the May rose, grown on a narrow strip of land around Grasse in southern Provence. Harvest lasts only three to four weeks in May, when petals are hand-picked at dawn and solvent-extracted on the same day to produce a fragrant concrete and then an absolute. Chanel secured its own Grasse fields in the 1980s to protect supply for N°5, and the Mul family has supplied the material for over a century.

Rose de Mai is a heart note and the soft, classical face of rose in perfume. It pairs with aldehydes and jasmine in Chanel-style florals, with iris and violet in powdery compositions, and with oud for a luxurious Middle Eastern lift.

Rose de Mai performs beautifully in spring, on warm days and in elegant daywear.