An Afghan man opens the door to his blooming orange orchard.
Surkhrud (Red River), Nangarhar, Afghanistan
Photograph: courtesy of Véronique de Viguerie.

In Jalalabad, Afghanistan, a Pashtun poetry festival takes place every year during orange blossom season. This is where Mathieu started an essential oil distillery in the spring of 2005. In the surrounding valleys, where opium poppy used to flower during the years of war, one can now see (and smell) roses blooming.

Essential oils of rose and orange blossom are extracted from fresh flowers by steam distillation. Hand picking the flowers is a labor intensive activity. It takes over 4,000 Kgs of roses – 850 Kgs of orange flowers – to obtain one Kg of essential oil.

The precious essential oils of rose and orange blossom are a treasure for facial skin care. They are particularly known for their anti-ageing properties. As such they are featured in SAMA’s SÉRUM SACRÉ.
Orange blossom essential oil (aka néroli) is blended with iris root extract to compose the floral heart note of JARDIN D’IRIS Eau de Parfum. Rose oil is featured in AMBRE ROSE Eau de Parfum.