Pages

Sunday, November 17, 2013

La Rosa by Patricia Murphy c1959

Here is an oldie but a goodie from the 1950s and 1960s, La Rosa by Patricia Murphy Greenhouse Perfumes, Inc. Those of you who grew up in the New York City area during that time might remember the Candlelight restaurants, with their glittering candles, polished silverware and top notch wait staff.


Patricia Murphy had exquisite gardens and produced some of the finest soliflore perfumes ever made and sold then in her gift shops. Today I have a vintage 1950s perfume nip of the scent La Rosa. There are no official notes to be found so I have decided to open the nip and see what I can detect for you.

At first sniff, I smell the loveliest of fresh cut roses, those long stemmed type you used to get for Valentine's Day. Then a burst of citrus- bergamot and lemon, giving the roses a scent of Bulgarian rose or rosa centifolia. A hint of spiciness from carnations and the lilting bouquet of lilies of the valley round out the scent.
  • Top notes: bergamot, lemon
  • Middle notes: Bulgarian rose, lily of the valley
  • Base notes: carnation

Current Biography Yearbook, 1963:
"Patricia Murphy has also developed a line of floral perfumes, including Green Orchid, Gold Orchid, and Regina Rose."

1 comment:

  1. I'm seeing this two years after it was posted, but I want to thank you for mentioning Patricia Murphy's fragrances. Your expert analysis is most welcome. I'm working on a biography of Murphy and was glad to see your appreciation of this remarkable woman.

    ReplyDelete

All comments will be subject to approval by a moderator. Comments may fail to be approved if the moderator deems that they:
--contain unsolicited advertisements ("spam")
--are unrelated to the subject matter of the post or of subsequent approved comments
--contain personal attacks or abusive/gratuitously offensive language