Rochester Extrait de Parfum

Rich earth, crisp fallen leaves, sweet tobacco, a hint of patchouli, garden tomato, and newly ripened autumn gourds. Rochester was created using entirely botanical fragrance components. When young Margaret and Kate Fox first heard tapping noises in their family cottage, located outside of Rochester in upstate New York, people in the area became enraptured with the idea of communicating with the spirits of the dead. Before the year was over, the Spiritualism movement had spread from the beautiful but isolated urban area of Rochester to the rest of the United States and beyond. For us to classify it as an entirely botanical perfume, we chose to use only "raw" fragrance components, including absolutes, essential oils, and resins. Often in perfumery, the line between natural and synthetic components can easily become blurred since many heavily-utilized fragrance chemicals are found in nature, then isolated and synthesized in labs. For example, Methyl Nonyl Acetaldehyde, the aldehyde that famously gives Chanel No. 5 that synthetic, fresh quality, is found naturally in kumquat peels. Linalool, a vital component in modern perfumery, is found in nearly 200 aromatic plant species and can be quite concentrated in sweet orange, lavender, and clary sage. Whether these are synthetically reproduced in labs, or naturally isolated via fractional distillation, their chemical compositions are the same as their naturally occurring forms. However, we chose not to include any of these isolates in Rochester in order to stay true to our idea of an entirely botanical fragrance, and instead use only the numerous gorgeous natural botanicals available. The notes in a perfume do not necessarily equal components, even in botanical fragrances. For instance, the gourd note was created with an accord that emulates the delicately sweet, earthy vegetal scent of a fall gourd, despite no natural essense of such existing.