Shalimar: The Ambreine Accord

Perfumers work with a seemingly infinite number of ingredients all of which need to be memorized (at least in theory). In addition to these individual elements—chemicals, absolutes, and essential oils—are accords, which are combinations of more than one ingredient. Some of these accords are deeply personal and idiosyncratic, while others are part of the lingua franca of perfume making. One of these latter is the ambreine accord.

The first time I put together an ambreine accord, I thought I had discovered the secret to Shalimar. Clearly, a similar accord is at play in that beautiful perfume. It is a simple accord and, while it comes in many versions, it is usually based on six compounds—vanillin (or ethyl vanillin), coumarin, civet, bergamot, patchouli and, often, vetiver. In a perfume as extravagant as Shalimar, the original version would have contained relatively high levels of natural rose and jasmine.

Recognizing that Shalimar contains a leather element, I added a goodly amount of castoreum which turned it a deep golden. I added spices—nutmeg (absolute), coriander, cinnamon and cloves—to balance the intensity of the castoreum. This all lead to a deeply animalic and spicy perfume which needed to be lightened with top notes.

Many of the classic top notes—neroli, bergamot (already used), orange, rosewood (or linalool)—are built into an accord and placed on top of the ambreine concoction. I kept things simple and added rosewood (instead of linalool) and neroli to lead into the heart notes of the perfume.

After tinkering a bit, I came up with something more like Chanel 5 than Shalimar. I added aldehyde C-12 MNA to match Chanel’s deeply aldehydic masterpiece. When I smelled my concoction next to the real deal, I noticed that Chanel 5 had more ylang and rose than I had incorporated. I added some of those, but also, a big shot of jasmin to give the perfume extra richness and elegance. I’m encouraged, but to know if I’ve come up with something of value, I’ll have to wait a few days for the aldehydes and florals to work their way into the perfume.