MANILA, Philippines ? Marie Helene-Rogeon produces a perfume when she decides she likes a particular scent, not when test subjects guarantee its success. In fact, her small company doesn?t do market tests at all.

?I just decide,? says the founder of the relaunched Les Parfums de Rosine, a French perfumery once owned by the legendary fashion designer Paul Poiret.

Working for many years as marketing manager of a large company that also made perfumes, Rogeon saw how strategy, marketing and, yes, test markets, dictated the making of perfumes, assuring not a beautiful product but a commercially successful one.

?The result is so-so. It?s not [personal] and it?s not the way I want to make perfumes,? she said at a press preview of her line at Rustan?s Makati this week.

?Perfume is something creative. You find new ideals to create new fragrances. That?s beautiful,? she continued.

Rogeon, who works with a nose named Francois Robert, said a scent takes six months to a year, or even 11 years in one case, to develop.

?I stop when I really love it. To be honest, Francois tells me to stop because I could go on,? she added with a laugh.

Rogeon?s was a family of perfume-makers. It was her grandfather who made mustache wax for Napoleon III. In 1911, her grandparents worked with Poiret, who established companies for his daughters, Rosine and Martine.

Les Ateliers de Martine created decorative art for packaging and advertising. Parfums de Rosine produced perfumes, Poiret working with noses like Henri Almeras, who later created the phenomenal Joy for Jean Patou. Poiret preceded Coco Chanel as the first designer to have his own perfume.

Chanel introduced No. 5 in 1921; Poiret, La Rose de Rosine in 1911. Parfums de Rosine flourished until the market crash of 1929.

Love affair

In 1991, Rogeon, who grew up fascinated with little perfume bottles and braided silk trims lying around her grandparents? house, sought to revive the company, but with her own modern twist: She decided to focus solely on roses.

Apart from her love affair with the flower?for 20 years, she has had her own rose garden with 300 rose varieties?she pointed out that Poiret was also passionate about roses.

The rose logo on her perfume box is stylized from an original by Paul Uribe, who worked with Poiret at Les Ateliers de Martine. She says that in Japan, the nuances of the rose fragrance families have been classified into 12, such that the 16 perfume varieties in her collection are unique from one another.

Rogeon?s is one of the few perfume companies creating special niche products sold at exclusive distribution points, like Barneys in the United States, or Lane Crawford in Hong Kong.

It has only one boutique, at the Jardin Palais Royal in Paris. In the Philippines, it?s exclusively distributed by Rustan Commercial Corp. at Rustan?s in Makati, Alabang and Shangri-La.

Rogeon?s perfume line (she also has body creams and candles) is based on natural essences (or rose absolue and essence), such that varying results from each harvest of roses (sourced from Bulgaria, Morocco, India and the south of France) could alter the oils.

Robert?s constant challenge is to re-balance the mixture to make the quality and smell consistent.

Same spirit

Rogeon has reproduced La Rose de Rosine, though of ?a little different formula? in compliance with modern regulations, ?but in the same spirit.? The powdery scent remains its top seller. In fact, when she opened her boutique in 1991, she was selling only that one product, gaining her a lot of press for her audacity.

In Asia, where it?s warmer, Un Zest de Rose?a blend of lemon essence, orange peel, green tea, jasmine and rose?is the bestseller. Rose d?Eté, with top notes of green apple and reminiscent of fresh-cut grass, is favored by the Americans.

The beauty editors at the Rustan?s preview mostly picked Roseberry, which uses the unique raspberry essence. Its fresh green scent is reflected in its naturally green juice.

Rogeon and Robert create unusual combinations, infusing, say, mint with roses (Diabolo Rose), anise (Zephir de Rose) or its latest and so far only gourmand creation, Rose Praline, inspired by an Indian friend who especially mixed for Rogeon some black tea with chocolate.

Reacting to wrinkled noses over some of her headier perfumes, Rogeon said there are varieties she wouldn?t wear herself, but she?s no less proud of them as products. A perfume reacts differently to individual skins, so she advised against relying solely on smelling strips. She said new regulations also advise that shelf life of a perfume is 36 months after the first spritz.

Rogeon has two rose scents for men, Rose d?Homme, which took 11 years to develop and is now No. 4 across Europe and a favorite in the Middle East; and Twill Rose, a woody green scent better suited for warm weather. Japanese men are beginning to take to them. Rose d?Homme?s fans, Rogeon told Vanity Fair, include Johnny Depp.

Well, if it?s good enough for Mr. Depp...