Other plant materials

There are animal, synthetic and vegetable raw materials used in perfume compositions. The latter are composed of flowers, fruits, spices, woods, balms and resins. There are also many other plant materials that can be used in a fragrance. We have listed them below.

Natural almond 

There is a synthetic note called Benzoic Aldehyde, that has been obtained naturally. It is made from the apricot kernels by a hydrodistillation process that extracts benzaldehyde (the product obtained is called natural benzaldehyde).

Obtainment
The raw material used is the fruit, which is crushed and then macerated in lukewarm water for 12 to 24 hours, allowing the essential oil to form. A special distillation process produces a purified product.

Characteristics
Colourless, very pale yellow liquid with a pleasant, penetrating smell reminiscent of freshly crushed almonds.

Other almond notes in perfumery:

• Tonka bean and its constituent, coumarin.
• Heliotrope or heliotropine
• Anisic aldehyde

Fragrances with almond notes
The natural almond is present in the top note in Florentina from the Sylvaine Delacourte Musk Collection. This scent is also found in L'Instant Magic, developed by Randa Hammami and Sylvaine Delacourte.

The health benefits of almond
The almond is very rich in vitamin E, minerals and trace elements. It is an alkalizing, highly nutritious, energetic and remineralizing nut. Cholesterol-free, rich in phytosterols and vegetable proteins, it is beneficial for the chest, lungs, stomach and intestines. The almond possesses antiseptic properties that preserve the good balance of the intestinal flora. Its richness in magnesium and phosphorus absorbed by the body makes it an excellent tonic for our nervous system. Its high calcium content is excellent for bone health.

Ambrette or vegetable musk

Botanical name : Abelmoschus moschatus

Up to 3.50m in height, the ambrette is the cousin of the hibiscus. It has a large sulphur-yellow flower with a brown throat, it is used for its seeds inside fruits with large brown capsules.

The ambrette’s seeds exhale a very pleasant scent, somewhere between amber and musk. The latter are bean-shaped and are surrounded by a seed coat (a living tissue) containing oil. A yellow resinous substance gives the seed its distinctive smell, which is even more sensitive when crushed.

Vegetable musk 

It is, in fact, a vegetable musk with a natural presence of ambrettolide, not to be confused with ambrette musk (a toxic nitrated musk with musky notes), that is now banned in perfumery.

Each year, about sixty tons of seeds are produced. The harvesting period is from June to July and everything is picked by hand. This product is excessively expensive and luxurious, only few perfumers use it. 

Treatment of the ambrette 
The ambrette is processed by distillation, the product obtained is an essential oil wrongly called ambrette butter because of its pasty consistency.

This oil is then fractionated to remove the remaining solid organic acids, and gives a final product called the absolute. Extraction with supercritical CO2 is an interesting method, as it is more suitable for training heavy molecules, with a much higher yield.

Scent
The scent of ambrette is sweet, musky, amber and slightly animalic. It is also fruity, slightly floral, with a note between pear and plum brandy. Its high concentration of farnesol gives a note that is close to lily of the valley. It is a product of exceptional power and tenacity. 

History of ambrette
Ambrette seeds were used for their relaxing and stimulating virtues, but also for their antiseptic and aphrodisiac power. In the past, they were used to provide good oral hygiene and, in the form of an emulsion, to relieve itching. Today, ambrette seeds are sometimes added to coffee, but also to certain traditional herbal liqueurs, such as Benedictine.

Perfumes with ambrette

• Champs Elysées Guerlain
• Musks Koublaï Khän Serge Lutens
• Clair de Musc Serge Lutens
• Bois farine L’Artisan Parfumeur
• N°19 Chanel
• Dovana Sylvaine Delacourte

Birch wood 

Birch tar essence is obtained by slow distillation of the wood. Birch is a tree native to Russia and Northern Europe. Also known as white birch, it grows wild. The oil obtained after distillation is dephenolised and washed in an alkaline medium in order to be used in perfumery. Nowadays, a reproduction made with five to ten raw materials is used to replace birch wood, which is now considered toxic and is therefore banned.

Birch tar is used in Russia for tanning skins, and is incorporated into certain pharmaceutical preparations. Some birch tar derivatives are also used as a flavouring for chewing gum, toothpaste and drinks.

In perfumery, the scent of birch wood gave a leathery note to these emblematic perfumes: Chanel's Cuir de Russie or Guerlain's Cuir de Russie, particularly leathery perfumes. Birch wood is also present in Shalimar and Habit Rouge by Guerlain, as well as in many oriental fragrances with leathery facets. These fragrances had to be reformulated, and birch wood was therefore replaced by reproductions based on natural products such as cade oil and cistus labdanum, often mixed with synthetic notes of the IBQ style (green and leathery synthetic note, with a scent close to rubber) or southern.

Cade essence is another leathery raw material. Used in cosmetics, it has anti-dandruff properties. It is obtained by distillation of the woods and roots of the cade tree, or juniper (oxychedron). This tree is notably present in Morocco and Iran. It is one of the characteristic plants of the scrublands and maquis. It participates in the creation of the birch wood accord.

Roman chamomile

Sacred flower in ancient Egypt, dedicated to the god Ra (the god of the Sun), Roman camomile has a very aromatic, slightly bitter scent, with fruity apple facets. This flower cultivated in Europe resembles a daisy and has medicinal properties. In perfumery, it acts more as a top note and blends very well with light floral notes.

Chamomile is found in Penhaligon's Jubilee Bouquet and was recently featured in Gucci's Memoire d'une odeur. However, this flower is rarely used in perfumery. 

Lemongrass 

Contrary to popular belief, lemongrass has nothing to do with lemon. It is a grass, a plant with tiny flowers grouped in ears, which is widely used in cooking and famous for its many medicinal virtues.

The different varieties of lemongrass 

• Cymbopogon nardus quality

The botanical quality cymbopogon nardus is a variety mainly grown in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The leaves are cut three times a year, then dried in the sun, bundled in bundles and distilled to extract the essential oil that has a rather warm and woody scent. This essence contains approximately 25 % to 40 % geraniol (a constituent of rose and geranium), 5 % to 10 % citronellal, 10 % to 15 % terpenes. Its english name is ginger grass.

• Cymbopogon winterianus quality

Originally from Java, this variety of lemongrass contains 25% to 55% citronellol and 25% to 45% geraniol. It is much fresher and more popular than the Sri Lankan variety. Often incorporated into fragrances for men, its scent is very lively and fresh, that sublimates the citrus notes. It has been widely used as a mosquito repellent, which perhaps explains its limited use in perfumery.

Cistus labdanum and its derivatives

Cistus labdanum is a resin, renowned since ancient times for its scent but also for its medicinal properties (it is an excellent healing agent). This bush is found in the countries bordering the Mediterranean, but the branches are only exploited in Spain and Morocco. The young shoots give off a scent and viscous resin, labdanum, a gum also known as "tears of Christ".

Its scent has some notes in common with ambergris: leathery, animal and herbaceous accents. 

There is an absolute cistus labdanum and an essence of rockrose. Depending on the method of extraction used (distillation or volatile solvent extraction), the scents will be very different.

Today, gum is obtained by boiling the branches in hot water and soda. The final products from this transformation and derived from the gum will have a name with the term "labdanum" (Absolute Labdanum or Labdanum Resinoid).

The products obtained from leaves and twigs by steam distillation or volatile solvent extraction will contain the term "cistus" (Cistus Essence or Cistus Absolute).

• Cistus essence has a very aromatic facet, camphorated, and gives vibration to the top notes. Its evolution then becomes resinous, woody, almost caramelised, but always rising.
• The labdanum resinoid is totally different, with a notable olfactory thickness, it is darker, but deep and warm. It is a very powerful note that takes a lot of space in a composition, and is close to that of incense with a burnt note, but also with leathery and amber facets, both vanilla and salty. This note is widely used in oriental or amber, chypre perfumes, and can be combined very well with isobutyl quinoline or IBQ (a synthetic green, leathery note with a scent close to that of rubber) to create leathery notes.

Nigelle 

Botanical name : Nigella Damascena

The nigella is the botanical neighbour of the aconits (herbaceous plant) and the dauphinelles (plant with clustered flowers). The nigella is an elegant buttercup with pale blue star-shaped flowers. This plant can grow up to 40 cm high and produces large fruits filled with small black seeds.

The nigella is an astonishing plant and its seeds have a fruity honeyed scent, strangely reminiscent of wild strawberries. It is very much appreciated by perfumers who have few natural fruity notes at their disposal.

Its name comes from the Latin word niger which means black. Moreover, this plant is very present in the rocky soils of the south, west and south-west of France.

Opopanax

From the Greek opos meaning suc, and panax meaning medicinal plant, it is a perennial plant of the umbelliferous family. One of the varieties is called Commiphora erythraea. Opoponax (can also be spelled "oppoponax"), is mainly found in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, where it grows between rocks and in the sand.

Like myrrh, its essence is obtained by exuding the bark and then processed by distillation. Opoponax is often used as incense, to purify the air. The plant has stimulating and relaxing virtues.

It is also used as a base note in oriental or amber type of perfumes. Its scent is sweet, warm, fruity, earthy and balsamic, but also leathery in the base notes. 

Opoponax is present in Guerlain's Shalimar and Chanel's Coco.

Oud wood

The oud has been used for centuries for medicinal and spiritual purposes. It appears in one of the oldest texts of  humanity (Indian texts, the Bible). Several religions, notably Buddhism, burn it to help meditation. In Muslim culture, it has been considered for some years as one of the fundamental ingredients of perfumery. It is a new woody note in the perfumer's organ, very different from the others. From now on, this scent attracts even European and Asian customers. 

Oud is a rich and fragrant ingredient produced by a tropical tree of the Aquilaria genus when it is infected by a certain type of fungus called Phialophora parasitica. The infected tree reacts by producing a rare and precious resin: oud wood, also known as agar wood, agar oud, or aloe wood. It comes from Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and India. It gives a woody, dark and intense note.

Only one specimen in a hundred contains the precious resin, but as it is impossible to guess which one, it is necessary to cut down a considerable number of them. Today, these Aquilaria trees are now protected in many countries. In some trees, the fungus is sometimes inoculated artificially.

In most of the niche, confidential, or exclusive fragrances of major brands, there is not even a drop of real oud, because its price is higher than that of gold. They often use reconstitutions or compound accords with other natural or synthetic woody notes (cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, incense), sometimes combined with Cypriol, another very aromatic and powerful woody note, and leathery and animal notes (as opposed to fresh fragrances - citrus, fruity or floral).

These "false ouds" or reproductions possess an incredible power, even more than the real ouds, and make it possible to create very effective fragrances.

Sesame

Botanical name : Sesamum indicum 

Immortalised by the tales of the One Thousand and One Nights, sesame seeds have played a role in everyday life since the most distant times.

Originally from Central Africa, sesame comprises 36 species and is now found in 60 countries. Indian sesame is the most widely used variety.

It is a grass with a square-sectioned stem that can grow from 0.60 cm to 1.50 m high. The flowers are white and look a little like a wolf's mouth. They have elongated capsules containing about 60 small oil seeds similar to linseeds.

The scent of sesame is very well known and blends well with woody or oriental notes. It has warm bread, maple syrup, coffee, peanut and hazelnut effects. To be used in perfumery, sesame is most often treated by extraction with C02, a process that allows it to preserve its original scent. 

In Osiris from Sylvaine Delacourte's Orange Blossom Collection sesame is combined with honey, cedar and orange blossom. 

Blond tobacco

It is an annual plant, sometimes reaching a height of 2 metres, native to tropical America. The leaves are very large and long. After being harvested and dried, they are subjected to non-alcoholic fermentation.

Absolute is obtained using volatile solvents. The raw material is dark in colour, but the absolutes are often discoloured. 200kg of dried leaves are needed to obtain 850g of essence. 

The smell of tobacco is earthy, animalistic, with notes of tonka bean and dried hay. Its scent is also warm, honeyed, sweet, and blends particularly well with leathery, woody and chypre notes.

Lime tree

This tree can grow up to 30 metres high and live for up to a thousand years, it is mainly found in Europe. It is distinguished by its silhouette with ascending branches, curved at the end. Its flowers have five yellowish-white petals that are very fragrant. There are 45 different species of lime tree. 

In perfumery, hydrolat by distillation is used to extract the essence from the flowers (that are harvested in just 3 days). However, the lime tree is most often reproduced as a reconstitution in perfumes. In fact, it is not easy to use because the scent has herbal tea connotations.

Its soft and delicate scent is widely used in eaux de Cologne and has a slightly honeyed note. 

Fragrances that contain lime blossom 

• Water from the Sky Annik Goutal
• Extract from Songe L'Artisan Parfumeur

Sylvaine Delacourte fragrances

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.