Rose SQ

Flowers wither. Red roses turn brown. Some flowers bloom once in their life for one night. Some petals are too delicate to be distilled without being softened, while others can only be harvested once a year at sunrise.

Rose is one of these, and it’s what makes it among the most expensive florals: delicate petals with a brief window in which to fully capture their fragrance at their peak… before the scent begins to wither.

There’s a palpable difference between fresh harvests and quality extracts and delayed harvests and generic production. Some roses smell bland, overly twangy, too candy-sweet. Then you’ve got this vintage Ta’ifi otto that’s sublime from start to finish with this distinct lemony tinge that makes it discreetly sweet without the twang and beautiful because of how precise the harvest time must have been. Like you held the petals to your nose early that very morning.

Very few people can insist on getting the best rose oil – not without committing to the entire harvest, which requires tons and tons of petals, and paying the hefty price. Even generic wholesale rose extracts can differ wildly in price, the better ones costing you four, five, six times the price of lower quality ones. That’s why these lemon sweet notes vary in intensity between even the best Ta’ifi roses. Timing is key.

What to do? Perfumers get in line and wait their turn.

It doesn’t work that way if you’re the Sultan. You get to mark the date because the harvest belongs to you. That’s why Rose SQ lets you smell the most exquisite Ta’ifi rose imaginable.

It’s hard to date them exactly, but both Royal Ta’ifi and Rose SQ are likely from the 80s and both were stored in the Sultan’s crystal. Royal Tai’ifi is more effervescent than Rose SQ, and the lemony note is a touch sharper. Rose SQ is more bourbon, the lemon note is smoother, and overall the scent is a bit fuller – not like an absolute, but it’s a notch richer than Royal Tai’fi’s more ethereal smell. Colorwise, Rose SQ is slightly darker (nowhere as dark as Damascenas, though) compared to the lighter yellow of Royal Ta’ifi.

Sultan Qaboos had a special love for Ta’ifi rose and Rose SQ lets you smell why. It’s as pristine a rose fragrance as you can capture with beautiful projection and when applied to clothing will linger for days.