To a Wild Rose
Avon (1950)

Avon To a Wild Rose is something of a relic in the world of rose scents, but since it launched in 1950 and not 1886 (the company founding year), it was already dated from the start. Avon had a knack for soliflores in it's early days as The California Perfume Company, since founder David H McConnell composed all of the early perfumes himself with a hobbyist's knowledge, but by the mid-century, Avon was really trying to branch more into complex florals and contemporary abstract compositions with trained in-house perfumers. The early stuff like Trailing Arbutus (1916) and Cotillion (1934) were fairly effective if conventional as a floral bouquet and oriental (respectively), but by the 1950's we saw a bit more risk-taking, particularly with dramatic naming. To a Wild Rose isn't an updated rose soliflore, and technically isn't even a true rose scent, which is what throws everyone off at first. What we have here instead of a true rose note is an impression of wild roses built up from then-conventional floriental ingredients. The overall ambiance of To a Wild Rose is sweet, mossy, ambery, and musky with those old-fashioned slightly-skanky nitro musks in place of the clean white musk we subsist with today. I wouldn't recommend this to fans of more modern airy or citric rose scents, as this is definitely not in that train of thought at all, and more like a 30's feminine perfume than one from the 50's.

To a Wild Rose opens with some slight citrus, likely citron as it's a tad too sweet to be bergamot. Crisp apple and orange notes follow, a very similar opening to other florientals of the day but without the daring spice of something like Tabu (1932). Eventually a composite synthetic rose note surfaces in the middle, as it would almost certainly have to, lest Avon present a lie in a bottle, but it's a very sweet, muted, unrealistic rose, much like one finds in a bar of Caress or pink Dove bar soap. There is a tiny bit of greenery in To a Wild Rose but it's nothing like the 70's galbanum-forward green floral chypres, and just provides the "wild" aspect of To a Wild Rose before the base takes over. Oh boy what a base this has too! We get a really rich oakmoss note, swaddled with nitro musks and the telltale Avon amber house note that seemingly was stuffed into everything until the 80's. Once To a Wild Rose fully finishes drying down, we're left with a rich ambery moss scent that really could be worn by anyone regardless of gender, as the oakmoss-rich heart of the stuff is just classic perfumery with no regard to marketing. Wear time is surprisingly long for something made primarily in eau de cologne strength (but a stronger "toilette water" form does exist, and even a parfum), with good sillage, but the sweetness and musk can overcome the moss and be a bit cloying at times.

To a Wild Rose is too rich and sweet for hot weather, which goes counterwise to most popular rose fragrances outside dark ouds, and it's far too unrealistic for hardline rose lovers. Oakmoss fans will eat this up with a spoon however, and richely baroque oakmoss compositions like this will definitely scratch that itch. I'm not surprised that Avon ditched this impressionistic rose for Avon "Roses, Roses" (1972), since that scent was literally nothing but rose, and almost a soliflore itself with musk and bergamot added. Fans of vintage Fabergé Woodhue for Women (1944) already know much of what to expect with Avon To a Wild Rose, just with a faux rose twist in place of Woodhue's er... wood tones. This stuff survived from 1950 until 1972, coming in all sorts of bottles, but the original presentation had a pink label and clear, fluted bottle that mimicked the shape of an empty single-flower vase. Pennies on the dollar this will be for anyone wanting a rich vintage mossy floriental, unless the rarer 60's spray cologne is preferred (they tend to hold top notes better). A wild rose with a mild presentation that won't fail to impress fans of oakmoss and nitro musks is what I get here. Something like this would be impossible outside of IFRA non-compliant artisinal niche today, but also admittedly not the most revolutionary scent from this decade either! A strong thumbs up, but keep this one for a casual fall scent or anytime for indoors use, male, female, or anyone.

The vintage description card from Avon describes this scent as floral & mossy. I would agree with that. The rose in this is very subtle and of the classic, old fashioned variety, which in this case means that it's not realistic enough to be immediately identifiable as rose. The old-fashioned synthetic rose is undergirded by moss as well as a slightly piney note. It is very pretty smelling and extremely unique. Not cloyingly feminine, this would smell pretty good on a guy. I enjoy this fragrance a lot, and reach for it fairly often.

This is one of my favorite fragrances of all time. This was all at once light, fresh, clean and cottony but thankfully not musky. It was rosy but not “flowery”. It made me think of wearing a crisp cotton eyelet dress on a breezy summer day. It was gently powdery but not gritty powdery like Ombre Rose. It was cleanly sweet but not piercing sweet. It did not yet have Avon's bizarre signature note they started adding later on that makes many of their fragrances dry down to the smell of a stale, sour cigar.

If anyone is interested, Avon's ' To A Wild Rose " has been revived at the Vermont Country Store catalog. I read somewhere that someone's grandmother loved it. I am looking for a rose scent that smells like "fresh roses", any suggestions?