#6 : Oakmoss
Oak moss is a crossing between an algae and a fungus. It grows on tree trunks, without any humidity nor city pollution.
Warm and salty, this woody note is indispensible in a “chypre” accord, accompanied by bergamot, geranium and patchouli. It is also a fixing note for citrus, which plays an important part in a “fougere” accord.
Unfortunately, moss has been recognised as allergen by scientists, and its use is very restricted by the IFRA (International Fragrance
Association) nowadays.
That’s why so much perfumes has been reformulated andtheir smell changed suddenly.
(c) Laure BOYER, April 27th, 2012.
#5 : Rose.
Rose is the symbol of Woman in some religions and, among other, in litterature. Widely used in perfume creation, it is often accompanied with violet to give floral, feminine and delicate smells.
This flower can give differents facets, according to its origine.
Produced in France (more precisely in Grasse), rose is called “Rose de Mai” or “Rose Centifolia”. Honey and waxy, it distinguish itself from the fruity scent of the Turkish one. More fresh and smelling like the litchee, it is called “Rose Damascena”.
Both are extracted by volatile solvent extraction, thus giving a concrete in a first time, and after a second extraction, an absolute. In contrary, the essential oil is obtained by vapour extraction.
An ancient technique is the “enfleurage” (fresh flowers put on animal waxes) but it is not used anymore.
Composed by 300 different chemical compounds, rose is probably the most hard scent to replicate.
Perfumes, made in France or not, always contains rose in more or less high quantities, most in feminine creations sur as “soliflores” or “floral bouquets” (Joy of Jean Patou, Paris of Yves Saint Laurent …)
(c) Laure BOYER, April 24th, 2012.
#4 : Vanilla.
Do you want a feminine, sweet, and ambery breath for your brand ?
Put vanilla in your personalized perfume !
Vanilla-pod is the fruit of an orchid. Picked green on the tree, they become black after a long treatment. Pods are widely used for cooking, but they are also put under an alcoholic maceration to give a “teinture” for fine perfumery.
Extremely expensive, perfumers replace it with a synthetic molecule in their compositions : the vanilline.
(c) Laure BOYER, February 8th, 2012.
#3 : Sandal wood.
Sandalwood is found in the region of Mysore, India. The essential oil is obtained from its trunk, ground to dust, then distilled with water steam.
These trees begin to be endangered because of their illegal cutting . That’s why the sandal of Mysore is so expensive.
Widely used to make incense, in a perfume creation, it gives woody bottom notes, and it helps to fix a fragrance.
Sandalwood sublimates both men and women perfumes with its milky, smoky facets.
(c) Laure BOYER, February 8th, 2012.
# 2 : Iris.
Iris is probably the most expensive raw material of perfumer’s palette. Its price is so high that it’s used in very little quantities.
Iris is a purple flower, which has big white roots named “rhizomes”. Its rhizomes are firstly dried, during 3 years, then crushed into a thin powder, and finally distilled with steam. An “iris butter” is obtained, with a very little yield (hence its price).
Contrary to rose or jasmine, its petals can’t be extracted : it gives nothing.
Powdery, iris gives a smell which is similar to violet, due to the presence of a common molecule : the ionone.
Feminine and delicate : Thus is iris.
(c) Laure BOYER , January 31st, 2012.
#1 : Lemon.
Lemon blossoms in almost all perfumes, in their top notes. Used is a huge proportion in ‘Eaux de Cologne’ and ‘Eaux Fraîches”, this citrus is accompanied with other ones such as orange, bergamot …
Picked all year, most of the harvest is intended for food industry. Fruit pulp is used for producing juice. The essential oil is extracted by cold pressure on the zest. It’s a quite simple process.
Lemon expresses vitality, happiness, dynamism, youth.
(c) Laure BOYER , January 30th, 2012.
When orange tree reveals us its resources ….
Orange tree is full of different raw materials. From its leaves, we can extract “petit grain”. “Neroli” comes from its flowers, and essential oil of orange, from its fruits. All parts of the tree are treated to give noble raw materials for perfumery.
First, leaves give two type of “Petit grain” : essential oil and absolute. Essential oil is obtained by steam distillation, and absolute by solvant extraction.
Water allows to separate only the essential oil from a material (because oil mixes with water but not the other compounds as waxes, natural colorants …). Solvents allow to extract the essential oil plus waxes and colorants from the vegetal.
An essential oil is liquid, while an absolute is generally more stucky (because of the waxes which have been extracted at the same time).
Alike, flowers give three kind of products : essential oil, absolute and concrete. This is the same process as for leaves. Although, when flowers are treated by solvent extraction, they first give a concrete. Concrete is extracted with solvent to give absolute.
Concrete could be a solid or a stucky liquid. It depends on the quantity of waxes it contains.
Finally, fruit zest are only be distilled with water steam, giving orange essential oil.
Essential oil of orange is the most used oil worldwide, for perfume creation but also in medicine (for pills aromatization), food industry and house care.
In perfumery, essential oils, absolutes or concretes of orange tree are used mostly in Eaux de Cologne or Eaux Fraîches. Classified in the citrus family, this kind of scents are considered as top or heart notes. They are extremely volatile and evaporate very quickly.
Orange essential oil is a citrus, sweet note. “Neroli” (orange blossom) gives floral facets to a perfume, and “petit grain” is rather green.
(c) Laure BOYER , January 27th, 2012.