22 Rosa Davana

Quick profile

A deep resinous rose built on sandalwood and amber. It opens rich and warm and stays woody and balsamic from start to finish, with good projection and very long presence on skin.

This perfume is: resinous, woody, rose centered, mysterious, cultural
This perfume is not: fresh citrus, light floral, clean minimalist

Opening and evolution

The first impression is not a bright airy rose. It is rose wrapped in resin and sandalwood from the first seconds. Bergamot gives a short lift, but quickly the opoponax and styrax move forward, adding a dark, almost smoky sweetness. In the drydown, Mysore sandalwood and modern sandalwood molecules blend into a creamy, slightly spicy wood that carries a honeyed, re extracted rose and warm amber for many hours.

Notes

Top: Upcycled Rose Oil, Bergamot, Davana
Heart: Opoponax Resinoid, Styrax
Base: Mysore Sandalwood.

The story

Rosa Davana started from an opoponax base built for another perfume. Opoponax is a sweet myrrh like resin with a soft balsamic warmth. I built around it a classic amber structure based on high quality labdanum, giving depth and a slightly leathery glow. A generous dose of styrax adds smoke and thickness. This trio forms the backbone and explains why the perfume feels resinous from beginning to end.

The rose here is not decorative. It is an upcycled oil, extracted from the stems and remaining petals of Rosa damascena after the first distillation. This second extraction from Isparta in Turkey produces a darker, honeyed, slightly rough rose that stands up to resins. Davana from South India adds a fruity, herbal, almost liqueur like nuance that gives the scent its subtle cultural twist.

True Mysore sandalwood is used for its creamy, slightly milky and naturally sweet wood tone. Alongside it, Javanol and Bacdanol reinforce the sandalwood effect and extend its presence on skin. They are not there to replace the natural oil, but to stretch it and give diffusion.

The result is not a typical Western rose perfume. It feels closer to the atmosphere of a small temple shop in an Indian village, where wood, resin and flower meet in warm air. Yet it remains a classic alcohol based perfume that you wear as any other, for daily life or for a special moment. And there are no smokey facets or incense in this perfume!

If you are looking for something mainstream and clean, this will not be yours. If you enjoy dense woods, mysterious resins,  and a rose with depth, you will understand why this exists.