Two scents, two stories of love among aristocrats

Not tonight, Josephine.” This was supposedly what Napoleon Bonaparte told Josephine when declining sex with her. This famous phrase may be fictional, but we do know one fact: Empress Josephine Bonaparte was using the very best perfumes at that time.

These scents were made by Francois Rance and his family, which in the 1600s produced perfumed gloves for the French aristocracy in Grasse, France.

The aristocracy may be different from you and me, but the good news is that these centuries-old scent formulas, jealously guarded in the family archives, are still intact in the Rance perfumery. And the  better news is that Rance perfumes are now available in the Philippines, right here at Rustan’s Essenses.

The Rance line of scents comes all the way  from Milan, where at the end of the 1800s, Alexandre Rance transfered the headquarters. Heading the company today is his granddaughter Jeanne Sandra Rance with her son Jean Alexandre Maurice Rance.

Speaking of aristocracy, there is another scent-sational brand (also so hot at Rustan’s Essenses) which was the favorite of Catherine de’ Medici, who married the future king of France, Henry, at the age of 14. Historians say “Catherine  was a legendary figure both for her political intrigues and her love of novelty. She is credited with promoting in the French court, innovations ranging from the sidesaddle to the handkerchief — even tobacco.” The brand is called Santa Maria Novella which created a fragrance called Acqua della Regina or Water of the Queen for Catherine.

You guessed it right, Officina Profumo-Farmaceutica di Santa Maria Novella has a religious history. It was started by the Dominican monks who began concocting herbal remedies in Florence where they settled in 1219.

Among these early remedies was Rose Water, which was prescribed as an antiseptic to clean houses after a plague.(It is still on the pharmacy’s shelves today, but reinvented for use as perfume or aromatherapy). Then there was the Vinegar of the Seven Thieves, a remedy for women’s fainting fits. (The vinegar is now still available for those who need a quick pick-me-up.) Another concoction was designed “to calm hysterical women”.(It is now called Santa Maria Novella Water, still  available to today’s modern women, and recommended for its “antispasmodic properties”.)

Today, the Santa Maria Novella pharmacy in Florence produces products ranging from colognes to anti-wrinkle gels to  soaps to room fragrances to candles. The monks’ ancient techniques have been mixed with modern technology, but each soap bar is still aged for a month before being chiseled by hand into its final shape. The place is a tourist attraction in Florence, with antique machinery, ceramics, utensils and a treasure chest of antique texts on display in the museum.The herbs used by the  company are now grown around the hills of Florence, but tourists may still relax and meditate in the aromatic herb garden which has remained untouched for centuries.

If Josephine Bonaparte was indeed using those seductive Rance perfumes, then maybe the truth is that Napoleon   would tell her in the bedroom: “Every night, Josephine.”

As for Catherine de’ Medici, the Santa Maria Novella herbal concoctions surely worked. After all, Catherine bore King Henry no less than 12 children.