Ah, rosewood, nothing to do with roses or the wood from rose bushes and all to do with fine cabinetry and guitars. French company Rive Sud Interior has released a candle which I cannot stop burning. In fact I am onto my second one.
The aesthetic of the company and therefore of the candle seems to be extremely soft focus. This candle will not scent your home; it will scent your study or the area around your armchair in a larger room. Despite this diffusion issue I can recommend this as a contemplative scent to accompany reading and writing. It will surprise you like a zephyr rather than becoming a slipstream of scent. There is an art to burning scented candles which took me 2 years to perfect; you can read my notes about candle burning technique here.
Rosewood does not smell of roses except to people influenced by auto-suggestion and then it does. It is called rosewood because it smells so nice as do roses. The scent could be described as sweet but not in a gourmand way. Sweet-smelling-wood is the closest description that I can come up with. Maybe expensive-cabinetry is a more accurate description if you want to tune your nose to this scent.
Rosewood trees are from the Dalbergia tree family. There are several varieties of which the most well known is Brazilian Rosewood. This South American product is sometimes called Rio Rosewood or Bahia Rosewood. The Indian variety is called Sonokeling Rosewood.
In aromatherapy rosewood oil is said to expand creative energy, stir up feelings of compassion and alleviate depression. How nice it is to have a candle that induces such effects.
Cinnamon and Guaiac wood are less than a whisper in the candle. It is all about the rosewood. The nose behind the candle is Delphine Thierry who I would describe as the Jean-Claude Ellena of the scented candle genre. This is an expensive item and only recommended by me to people whose wallets are full, credit cards zeroed and who appreciate subtly in scent.
Summary: Pianissimo Palissandre.
Let’s hear what the Perfume Whisperer herself, Jane Daly, has to say about another candle from this house.
Acqua di Latte: The scent is very soft and perfect for those of you that do not want to be overwhelmed by your candle scent experience.
Jane Daly
The Perfume Whisperer at Daly Beauty
Rosewood Candle
Rive Sud Interior
Nose Delphine Thierry
3 wick candle, 1100g, £250
Notes
Head
a scintilla of Cinnamon
Heart
less than a whisper of Guaiac wood
Soul
a zephyr of Rosewood
Rive Sud Interior – website
If they can deliver to New Zealand then they can deliver anywhere.
Further Reading
Daly Beauty – Acqua di Latte
Persolaise – Via Della Basilica
Riktig Parfym – Della Via Basilica
The Non Blonde – Via Della Basilica
The Scented Hound – Via Della Basilica
Chemist in the Bottle – Via Della Basilica
The Fragrant Man – Cire Trudon Scented Candles
What Men Should Smell like – The Rive Sud candle collection
The Fragrant Man 
From Rive Sud Interior a Rosewood candle seemed most interesting to me.
Well a basilica is a great place to be at this time of the year!
definitely (my candle is finished)
Ha, ha, off to church for you then. Do your people have the midnight services? I am looking forward to the frankincense censer swinging it’s way up and down the aisles. Candles vanish into the ether just like perfume! All that remains is an empty vessel. Wishing you and your family lots of light and love for tonight, tomorrow and beyond.
Off to Church tomorrow for a midnight mass
You make this candle sound so irresistible, but it’s so gosh darn it expensive. These candle makers really know how to rake us fragrance lovers over the hot coals don’t they? Lol. Wish there was a lower priced alternative, but that’s neither here or there. I’ve often wondered what rosewood actually smells like since it’s in my favorite wintertime fragrance Égoïste by Chanel along with a dark dried fruit accord that’s to die for. So rosewood doesn’t smell like roses at all? I thought if it had rose in the name then it must have some remnant of a Rose in there somewhere. This is news to me and I’m glad I read your post to educate myself about these things. As far as candles go however, I cannot burn them in my building, as they go against the building codes and will set off the fire alarms which are extremely sensitive. I could probably get away with burning them in my bathroom if I close the door. Now that’s a great idea huh? Lol
Ha ha. Well, strangely there is no need to light them at all. The scent will arise from the wax and surprise you from time to time. Now you know everything I know about candles. I see one on your window sill within the year!
Thank you for adding to the conversation with the Égoïste ingredient information. Now that is a ‘fume where your knowledge would surpass everyone else’s!
Waft On…
Wishing you and yours a wonderful Festive Season, Jordan. It has been an informative and interesting year following your blog, my head is still reeling from the verbal play and scents that have wafted through and enlivened my day.
My eyes have oft been delighted by your fair dinkum bush photos.
This season; may your heart by light, your fingers nimble, your skies blue, your eucalypts aromatic and your bees harmonic. I wish Joy to Your World and to you and…
Peace in the valley
Peace in the city
Peace in your soul
Beautiful wording, thank you so much.
Rosewood has nothing to do with roses but…it does have rose-like aspects that make it a good complement to rose based scents. Frequently perfumers will look for such accords. Hohoho…merry Xmas but don’t ask me what time church starts….
It won’t start without you surely Son of Abraham, Jesse, David….Thank you for your input about this ingredient David.
I adore Rosewood, one day, I am going to get it together and put in a Rosewood kitchen. I hate renos so will put it off while my kitchen still looks good as is.
I would like floorboards!
What is with wordpress? I already clicked on “Like” and I post my comment and it does not show. Will try again, however, it may cancel out my first “Like’, it’s been this way for a couple of weeks.
Yup, sure enough, I post my second comment and it says: “Liked”.
What? Now it says: “Like”?
the mysteries of the web!