Ambrette Seeds
Hibiscus seeds, also called ambrette seeds, smell like musk. In fact, they provide the only source of musk aroma that isn’t from an animal or synthetic. So, for anyone making a vegan perfume, ambrette seeds will add a note of something other, something tantalizing.
I’ve found them in three forms: the essential oil which is distilled; the absolute which is extracted with hexane to make a concrete and then extracted with alcohol; and a CO2 extraction, which uses compressed cold gas to pull out the aromatic components. While all three forms have the aroma of ambrette seeds—a kind of toasted nuts quality—the essential oil’s aroma is the brightest and most complex. It can also be the hardest to track down.
Ambrette Seed Absolute
When I first received my various ambrette seed absolutes and essential oils, in one I could just begin to detect the onset of rancidity and at these prices, well… So, I always store my ambrette seed products in the refrigerator. If I think they’re mature, I dilute them in alcohol to 50% to keep them from oxidizing. My working tinctures are at 10% concentration. Since I first made the tinctures, a couple of years ago, the aroma has “opened up,” to use wine lingo. Each sample has a musky, toasty complexity that works well with other musks as well as in florals
Ambrette seed is used especially with rose, neroli, methyl ionone, sandalwood, and hydroxycitronellal, to name a few.
Ambrette seed can always help a blend; its only drawback is its expense. As of today, I find the genuine product at about $11/milliliter if you buy an ounce, more if you buy less. Fortunately, a little goes far and lasts for weeks on a smelling blotter. Ambrette seed, for this reason, makes an excellent fixative and modifier for floral perfumes.
Roses IV
When rose is used in a perfume, be it in a dedicated rose perfume or another perfume to which it lends support, a synthetic rose is constructed and manipulated to create the particular nuances that contribute to the roses’ final character. In classical perfumery, a rose construction occurs around three focal points: phenylethyl alcohol (which smells like roses) and its esters (which contribute a honey component), citronellol and its esters, and geraniol and its esters. In addition to these three basic aromas, other compounds are used to enhance the basic rose. The damascones and beta damescenone contribute a sweet and subtle fruitiness. Rose oxide is often included for a subtle floral addition.
Green notes are very common in flowers and roses are no exception. The most classic green compound for roses is phenylacetaldehyde, but other compounds such as hexanol (and its esters), nonadienal, isocyclocitral, and violet leaf absolute can all be used. Perhaps surprisingly, roses contain aldehydes. The classic aldehyde used to contribute to the top note, is aldehyde C-11 undecylenic, but other aldehydes such as C-8, C-9, and muguet aldehyde are also used.
Other flowers can be used to support rose. The most common is muguet (lily of the valley) which is added in the form of hydroxycitronellal or Lyral. It is used often in perfumery to lend floral freshness. Other ingredients that are sometimes used are blue chamomile, Roman chamomile, palmarosa, carrot seed, guaiacwood, sandalwood, orris, and mimosa absolute.
Roses can be made spicy with eugenol, cloves, cinnamon, or pepper. Adding patchouli can turn red roses into white.
Last, rose absolute and rose otto should be added to fill in the spaces in the aroma and lend their natural complexity. In the old days (the twenties), a 10 percent addition of naturals was considered normal, but nowadays, in all but the most luxurious perfumes, natural rose is only added in minute percentages.
Roses III
Whether we like them or not, roses in perfumes are ubiquitous. They support other florals and lend a general sense of body to a perfume.
Most rose notes are now added with synthetics, but almost always a small amount of natural rose is added for support. Rose extracts come in five forms: otto (oil), absolute, concrete, CO2, and enfleurage.
Rose otto is a byproduct of distilling roses with water, yielding large amounts of rose water. When the rose water comes off the still and is allowed to settle, a thin oil slick appears. This is the otto and is very powerful and expensive. It does, however, go a very long way, making it one of the more viable naturals for use in a modern perfume. An otto, however, does not capture all of the scent of the rose, because the water-soluble components (mainly phenylethanol) are left behind in the rose water. A more complete picture can be achieved with rose absolute.
Rose absolute is prepared by extracting rose petals with hexane or ethyl ether and letting the hexane or ether evaporate. This leaves behind the solid concrete which contains not only the aromatic components, but also, waxes and other compounds that help fix the rose and make it last. When the concrete is extracted with alcohol and the alcohol evaporated off under vacuum, there remains the absolute. The absolute has an intense aroma of rose.
While less common, two other methods are used for extracting the essential aromas of roses. One is CO2 extraction—liquefied carbon dioxide is used to “distill” the roses in a cold process—and another is enfleurage, in which the petals are placed on trays of solidified fat until the fat is permeated with the roses. The fat is extracted with alcohol, the alcohol evaporated, and there remains the enfleurage. The enfleurage is similar to the absolute, but even more delicate and complex.
Reconstructing Jasmine
I recently put together a chart with the names of flower complexes on one axis and compounds (and some naturals) on the other axis. This allows me to see at a glance the range of amounts of each chemical perfumers use to make flowers. Here, I’m using the chart to analyze jasmine perfumes.
Jasmine consists of almost half benzyl acetate. Benzyl acetate does indeed smell like jasmine—a very rough version—and enters into any formula I’ve ever seen. It is usually combined with other benzyl esters—benzyl acetate and benzyl propionate are among the most common–to give shape and individuality to the flower.
Second in importance to benzyl acetate, is indole. Indole is rather rank smelling stuff (it’s a little like stale mothballs if there is such a thing) that occurs in the flower as a means of attracting insects. While it may be hard to imagine in a floral perfume, there is no jasmine without indole. No light without the dark. Usually, 1% to 2% is included in the formula.
C-14, (gamma decalactone), has a distinct aroma of peaches and is often added for a subtle fruity effect. A small amount (under 1%) of methyl anthranilate (which smells like Welch’s grape juice) contributes another fruity nuance.
Many flower formulas, not just those for jasmine, include amyl cinnamic aldehyde and hexyl cinnamic aldehyde to give cinnamic notes and to provide fixation,
Musk is usually included. Ethylene brassylate was common, but is now replaced by more “modern” musks.
Certain compounds are used almost universally in flower perfumes. Phenyl ethyl alcohol, which smells like roses, is one such example. The ionones—alpha ionone is used in jasmine—are very typical and help connect florals with woods such as sandalwood.
Muguet—lily of the valley—notes are almost always included when reconstructing the flower’s aroma. Hydroxycitronellal is classic; then came Lyral and Lilial which have since been banned, so other muguet compounds are being developed to take their place.
Modern perfumes almost all contain Hedione. It is fair to say that there has been no more influential substance in perfumery since the sixties, when it was discovered.
Almost all perfumes contain linalool or linalool acetate to give freshness. When I think of linalool, I think of those tear-open packets of towelettes they use to hand out on trains and airplanes.
Last, the best formulas call for jasmine absolute to fill in the spaces and lend a final naturalness. Nowadays, a percent or two is typical in the finest perfumes, but in the 1920s, a well-known perfume manual insisted that 10% was the minimum needed. I make my own flower complexes in this way and it is very hard to tell the difference between them and the absolute.
Oakmoss
There are few ingredients that play a more important role in the history of perfumery than oakmoss.
True oakmoss is a lichen that grows on oak trees. When it is extracted with a hydrocarbon solvent (usually petroleum ether or benzene) and the solvent evaporated off, there remains a concrete. When this concrete is extracted with alcohol and the alcohol evaporated off (preferably under vacuum) there remains the absolute. It’s hard to say that the absolute smells like moss (who knows what moss smells like?), but it does have a characteristic aroma that ends up being called “mossy” for lack of a better description. It is earthy and a little bit reminiscent of hay. It ranges from dark brown to dark green although decolorized versions are much lighter.
Oakmoss absolute is fundamental to chypre perfumes, which are based also on jasmine and bergamot. It is added to any number of perfume creations, particularly fougères and “moss” perfumes to improve tenacity and add complexity. I use it to add base notes to florals.
There is one big problem. Oakmoss, in anything other than derisory concentrations, is forbidden by IFRA, the organization responsible for consumer safety in the European Union. Fortunately, rather than having to abandon such perfumes as chypres that rely on oakmoss, a number of manufacturers have come up with oakmoss versions with the offending toxin taken out. Because none of these (expensive) interpretations captures the total aroma and feeling of authentic oakmoss, I have combined them with each other and with some celery seed essential oil to round out their aroma and create the feeling of the authentic product.
Now that I have a workable and legal oakmoss mixture, I’m going to set out to make a chypre and to experiment adding my oakmoss mixture to any number of perfume experiments.
Frankincense II
Frankincense is a resin that drips down the side of four different species of Boswellia, a small tree found in India, Arabia, and Africa. The resin hardens into translucent pearls, which can be converted into an absolute by extracting with a hydrocarbon solvent, but most of the time, frankincense (sometimes called olibanum) is distilled to produce an essential oil.
Most of us are familiar with burnt frankincense, the kind encountered in a Catholic church, but when frankincense is distilled, it has a different aroma profile than when it is burnt. The smell, I hate to say, reminds me of lemon furniture polish. Achieving the aroma of burnt frankincense is something else entirely and depends on other aroma chemicals or an actual tincture of the smoke.
When I first decided to experiment with frankincense, I ordered the essential oil—the distillate—from as many sources throughout the world as I could find. After accumulating about 20 samples, I determined that they all had this similar problem—the furniture polish thing—except one. This exception—I ordered it from a wholesaler in Singapore–was purely balsamic with none of the terpenic lemony aroma. I have never smelled a substance like it, before or since, a substance more balsamic than anything I have ever experienced. When I ordered more, they had moved on to a new batch and the balsamic odor was much diminished. It was a one-time find. Unfortunately, I’ve used it all (thinking I could just order more) except for a small bottle I show to friends and curious visitors.
Usually, Frankincense is used as the essential oil, especially helpful in colognes in combination with bergamot and orange, and as a fixative in all manner of perfumes.
Frankincense is also sometimes used as a resinoid, made by extracting the residue leftover from distillation. The resinoid doesn’t have much aroma, which makes it useful as a powerful fixative.
My Chypre Progress
A chypre is a perfume based on oakmoss, bergamot and jasmine. It has an almost infinite number of facets that can be exploited by adding other substances such as spices, roots, herbs, and green things. Chypres were in style years ago such that older people now associate them with old ladies. Younger people, fascinated with their complexity and not having smelled them for a lifetime, are more open. It seems that chypres (French for Cypress, associated with oakmoss) are making a comeback.
One dastardly problem is that IFRA—the international association that regulates such things—has made oakmoss taboo because it contains a substance that causes skin reactions. Why this is suddenly a problem when people have been wearing chypre perfumes for decades, I don’t know, but contend with it we must.
To work around this problem, I’ve ordered versions of oak moss (with the offending ingredient taken out) from Robertet, Ferminich, and Givaudan as well as Orcinyl 3, which has a lovely oak moss-like top note. I blend these four ingredients and, by adding a little celery seed oil, have come up with something that, while not identical to the real thing, is pretty close.
To make the chypre base, I added an accord of jasmine and bergamot until the chypre came into balance. I’ve now come up with a rich, very jasmine-like, chypre that won’t break any rules.
I made 10 test tubes of the base (in this case, the chypre) and added a different ingredient to each one. I added nutmeg absolute, fenugreek essential oil, saffron absolute, ginger essential oil, cinnamic alcohol, coriander essential oil, and styrallyl acetate to the chypre base in separate test tubes. I now must wait, at least overnight, to see how the perfumes are developing.
Wood Synthetics III
Isolongifolanone has a bright woody elegance that lightens fragrances and gives them lift and sheen. ABC (Arcadi Boix Camps) comments that it has “immense olfactory value” and points out its role in both top notes and bases notes. It’s a compound I keep returning to and working with because it smells so good on its own.
Timberol, also called norlimbanol, is very commonly used, especially in woody compounds containing musk, and amber notes. It is very persistent and harmonizes with a great number of other woody compounds and particularly with patchouli. It is used in accords containing labdanum and in sandalwood accords. Here’s a quote from Chandler Burr: “Norlimbanol is one of the most amazing scents around, a genius molecule…quite simply the smell of extreme dryness…a multi-sensory Disney ride.”
Perhaps most revolutionary is iso e super. It has a woody character, but it goes well with ionones, quinolines, amber compounds, castoreum, methyl ionones and countless other perfume ingredients. I appreciate its ability to harmonize with both violet ingredients and with woods. It occurs frequently in both feminine and masculine fragrances. It makes up part of the Grossman accord.
Sandela enters into almost all sandalwood accords as a fixative. Its aroma is delicate and can be difficult to tease out. I sniff it in the morning when I can smell the most subtle scents.
Santalol (of which there are more than one isomer), gives sandalwood its aroma. Unfortunately, it is almost as expensive as an excellent quality of sandalwood, but being more powerful, is sometimes used in sandalwood accords. It’s pretty beautiful stuff, even on its own. I use it rather abundantly in Green Iris.
Sandalore is effective in even trace quantities and lends a warm and natural sandalwood effect It can be combined with allyl ionone, isobutylquinoline, gamma-undecalactone, miraldile acetate, fixolide, vanillin and ethyl vanillin. Some have said that with ebanol, it forms a suitable sandalwood replacement. A bit of an exaggeration, maybe, but a hint as to its effectiveness.
Two important sandalwood chemicals, bacdanol and brahmanol, are sometimes used to replace santalol in a sandalwood formula, “…but they are more powerful and more musky, lacking the outstanding floral character of the natural chemical [santalol].” (ABC)
Oxyoctaline formate is delicate and has a particular floral radiance that makes it useful in any number of fine fragrances.
Wood Synthetics II
Okoumal is not as powerful as other woody chemicals, but has an elegant softness. It is long lasting and makes an excellent fixative while leaning toward amber. It brings richness and warmth. It combines well with other sandalwood “replacers,” such as ebanol and works well with cedar compounds. Okoumal is very long lasting.
Tobacarol is well named and useful in a large number of fragrances to lend spicy, amber, and tobacco notes. Like tobacco itself, it works well with citrus notes, especially, lime. Tobacarol makes an excellent fixative and can be used to flesh out a fragrance.
Hydroxyambran “…works extremely well with the limbanols, okoumal, and tobacarol. It provides body and fixation…”
Spirambrene resembles bois ambreine forte, orlimbanol, cedroxyde and cedramber. According to ABC, it imparts velvety nuances to woods.
Ebanol is a strong, distinctly sandalwood aroma that seems to enter into every sandalwood formula. ABC warns that it must be fresh or it develops off aromas.
ABC describes polysantol as one of the best sandalwood chemicals available. It apparently has a fruity nuance (hard for me to detect) that’s missing in sandalwood. He extols blends with firsantol because firsantol doesn’t have the fruity note and blocks it in the polysantol. He suggests an accord with ebanol, bacdanol, brahmanol, blue chamomile and sandela. He always includes sandela in his sandalwood accords because it is such a great fixative.
Firsantol is related to polysantol, but it’s dryer and doesn’t have the fruity note. ABC says it’s one of the best sandalwood chemicals around.
Koavone is less a sandalwood chemical than a floral-woody compound. It smells to me like methyl ionone and woods. ABC says it provides lift to top notes when methyl ionones or iso e super are used. I use it to provide a link between woods and florals.
Wood Synthetics IV
Okoumal is not as powerful as other woody chemicals, but it is soft and makes an excellent fixative.
Tobacarol is an ABC (Arcadi Boix Camps) favorite. He describes it as “…warm, woody and spicy, with notes of clove, mace and nutmeg, ambery, tobacco and others.” It works extremely well with citrus notes, in particular, lime. He describes its usefulness as a fixative and to provide body to a fragrance. He suggests a couple of accords, but most of what he calls for is unobtainable by ordinary mortals. Tobacoral can be used in fragrances up to 10%.
Hydroxyambran “…works extremely well with the limbanols, okoumal, and tobacarol. It provides body and fixation…”
Spirambrene resembles bois ambreine forte, orlimbanol, cedroxyde and cedramber. According to ABC, it imparts velvety nuances to woods.
Ebanol is a strong, distinctly sandalwood aroma that seems to enter into every sandalwood formula. ABC warns that it must be fresh or it develops off aromas.
ABC describes polysantol as one of the best sandalwood chemicals available. It apparently has a fruity nuance (hard for me to detect) that’s missing in sandalwood. He extols blends with firsantol because firsantol doesn’t have the fruity note and blocks it in the polysantol. He suggests an accord with ebanol, bacdanol, brahmanol, blue chamomile and sandela. He always includes sandela in his sandalwood accords because it is such a great fixative.
Firsantol is related to polysantol, but it’s dryer and doesn’t have the fruity note. ABC says it’s one of the best sandalwood chemicals around.
Koavone is less a sandalwood chemical than a floral-woody compound. It smells to me like methyl ionone and woods. ABC says it provides lift to top notes when methyl ionones or iso e super are used. I use it to provide a link between woods and florals.
Dihydro ionone beta has been around a long time and has just recently been widely rediscovered. It reminds me a bit of orris and ionones. It has a woody and floral character that adds sophistication, elegance and beauty to blends.
Kohinool is another of ABC’s favorites. He says it forms a “dream accord” with iso e super. Kohinool is both woody and floral so it’s less a sandalwood chemical than a compound occurring in any number of fragrances. Combinations ABC suggests include iso e super, kohinool, cedroxyde, norlimbanol, boisanol (which I don’t have), trimofix and amber ketal.
I recently acquired a small bottle of mysoral, which has been captive for years. Of all my sandalwood chemicals, this one smells the most of sandalwood. ABC describes it as being resinous and likes to combine it with frankincense from Oman or Somalia. He describes a couple of complicated accords containing frankincense, helvetolide, coranol, cashmeran, pink pepper, cetalox, tuberose absolute, osmanthus, ebanol, alpha-damascone, gamma decalactone, ethylene brassylate, ethyl vanillin. He mentions that javanol and mysoral are especially synergistic.