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Powdery notes (continued)

Mimosa

The mimosa is a difficult flower to work with in perfumery. The first time I smelled it as an absolute, I found its scent far from the smell of mimosas in bloom at my parents' holiday home in the Var. And this is certainly why, many years later, I wanted to find the delicious smell of fluffy balls in a perfume, caressed by the wind, the exercise was difficult! And even though Champs Élysées was much maligned, I am proud of this first co-creation of my career.

I have just returned from a trip to Russia, where it is still very popular. It has been for a long time one of the leading products in Eastern and Northern Europe. And in our boutiques, it has an honourable place in the sales of Guerlain perfumes.

Won over by the fragrance of these little yellow balls, Captain Cook brought mimosa back during one of his voyages to the end of the world in 1770. This shrub native to Australia where fossilised traces prove that it was already growing there 250 million years ago.

The mimosa quickly won over the aristocratic salons in Great Britain and then in France. Empress Josephine had already tried to plant mimosas in the greenhouses of Malmaison. However, it was only acclimatised in the south of France about 150 years ago. The mimosa bushes were brought back from Mexico by Napoleon III's troops and, since the end of the 19th century, it is a flower that symbolises the Côte d'Azur.

The mimosa is mainly cultivated in the south of France, India, Egypt and Morocco.

In perfumery, it is treated by extraction with volatile solvent, which produces an absolute. But the concrete (the first product resulting from the extraction) can also be treated by molecular distillation, thus obtaining a molecular distillation absolute, which is olfactory different and almost colourless.

 

 

Olfactory description of the mimosa: floral, powdery, honeyed, almondy, it has a rather pronounced green facet, as the leaves are distilled at the same time as the yellow balls. For me, the mimosa note has very light accents of cucumber and even melon.

Approximate price: Abs mimosa India 560 Euros/kg.

Here is a list of some perfumes containing a powerful mimosa note:

  • Mimosa pour moi L'Artisan Parfumeur
  • Champs Elysées Guerlain
  • Summer Kenzo
  • Pour Femme Bulgari 
  • Amarige mimosa Givenchy

Some anecdotes

  • It is said that the mimosa blooms in winter on the Côte d'Azur, because it thinks it is in Australia where its fellow plants bloom at the same time. So in summer!
  • In Spain, its flowers are said to symbolise reunion.
  • The mimosa is the flower offered on grandmother's day, Marcel Pagnol said: "grandmothers are like the mimosa: it's sweet and it's fresh but it's fragile...".
  • The mimosa is edible: mimosa balls are made of sugar and flavoured with mimosa. On the other hand, it is not possible to crystallise the flowers directly, it is unfeasible because the flower is too fluffy.
  • There is a mimosa syrup, a few drops in the champagne is great!
  • Don't miss: the latest Ladurée macaroon with mimosa.

 

Cassia

Cassia is a flower of the same family as the mimosa (the acacia), the difference being that it has thorns on its branches. Like the mimosa, it is a rather difficult flower to work with in perfumery, its scent is denser, more mysterious with animal notes close to those of ylang-ylang, sulphurous effects and aldehydic accents. It is used in the composition of Après L'Ondée by Guerlain. There is also a lot of cassia in fleurs de Cassie by Frédéric Malle with 4% cassia absolute.

 

Some synthetic powdery products

Methyl Ionone

The first ionone was discovered in 1890. Ionones in perfumery have allowed perfumers to reproduce the scent of the violet flower quite faithfully. Because, as you know, the violet does not give off its soul.

Olfactory description: floral, violet, powdery, raspberry, woody.

Après l'Ondée was one of the first perfumes to contain these molecules, followed by L'Heure Bleue, Météorites, Vol de Nuit and Insolence by Guerlain, then Florentina and Dovana by Sylvaine Delacourte.

 

Heliotropin

Heliotrope does not give off its scent but fortunately its odour was discovered in 1869 by Fittig and Mielk, this raw material is synthetic but can also be obtained from vanilla (tahitensis).

Olfactory description: floral, almond, mimosa, heliotrope, lilac.

Again present in Après L'Ondée, Heure Bleue, Insolence by Guerlain, Florentina and Dovana by Sylvaine Delacourte.

 

Vanillin

Vanillin is the odorant principle of vanilla beans (planifolia) and is widespread in the plant kingdom, but always in small proportions. It exists in Siamese and Sumatran benzoin and in clove essences. It is therefore mainly obtained by oxidation of iso eugenol (i.e. from cloves).

Present in many Guerlain perfumes along with the majestic natural vanilla in the form of absolute or tincture that it "sweetens": natural vanilla is only slightly sweetened.

 

Sylvaine Delacourte powdery perfumes

Discover Florentina and Dovana from the Musk Collection by Sylvaine Delacourte.

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musk and Vanilla Collections. You can try them thanks to the Discovery Boxes (5 Eaux de Parfum x 2 ml) and rediscover these raw materials as you have never smelled them before.