Civet

Animal notes of natural origin are today forbidden in the perfume industry. The main ones are civet, musk, castoreum, ambergris and hyraceum. Natural animal notes in perfume creation were used in very subtle fragrances to enhance smoothness in fragrances. Some flowers such as the jasmine, naturally contain animal notes called the indole that can be isolated and used by perfumers to enhance the other notes.

History of animal notes 

Animal notes were discovered around 330 BC by Alexander the Great. They were very useful for perfumers, who appreciated the strength of their scents, as well as their excellent staying power. Animal notes were already known by the Egyptians in Antiquity (Cleopatra herself particularly appreciated the smell of civet).

At the beginning of the century, almost all perfumes were made with animal notes. They contributed to the staying power, gave roundness to the fragrances and were great base notes. The civet note was used in perfumes for men and for women, or unisex perfumes such as Jicky by Guerlain.

The scent of the raw product is extremely strong, but it softens once integrated with other scents such as rose, jasmine and ylang-ylang, for example, and often improves the cohesion of the fragrance, while bringing an almost aphrodisiac-like sweetness.

For the protection of animals, animal notes are prohibited today, except gray amber because it does not involve animal suffering.

Nowadays, musks are less and less present in perfumery because they no longer correspond to the desires of the consumers who appreciate the scents less than before.

What is civet?

The word "civet" is used to refer to both the animal and the secretions produced by it. It is a small carnivorous, marten-like mammal that is native to Ethiopia. It is also known as the "Abyssinian cat". The animal produces secretions in the form of fat in its perianal region, which they use to mark their territory. 

To extract this fat, a curettage (a painful process for the animal) was carried out approximately every ten days, while the civet was raised by farmers in cramped cages. Big brands themselves tried for a while to set up farms for raising civets in cages, but these were systematically exposed by local activists: this approach was therefore unsuccessful and later banned.

Due to the difficult harvest of this fat, the price of the product was very high.

The different uses of the civet 

The production of this raw material came mainly from Ethiopia, and many farmers lived from the breeding of civet. It changed very suddenly when public opinion, alerted by the media and environmentalists, changed consumption patterns. The civet was then used by Ethiopians as pure fat, they smeared it on their wedding nights, and it was a rare and appreciated perfume. The civet fat was kept in zebu horns, which allowed its conservation, they could contain from 400 grams to one kilogram of product. The product, initially in the form of a soft paste, solidified over time, facilitating its transportation.

The civet was used, among other things, to flavour snuff. In addition, the name "civet" was also used for a long time to designate tobacco shops, some still carry this name today.

The scent of civet 

The smell of civet is very aggressive, it has a strong animal and fecal odor. It is treated with a volatile solvent and infused in alcohol. The infusion is a technique of keeping civet fat in a hot liquid (oil or alcohol).

In the 1970s, the actions and campaigns of animal defenders encouraged most perfumers to abandon its use.

Today, civet is replaced by synthetic products civettone or by a base created by the perfumer-creator. It’s usually composed of a mixture of several synthetic animal raw materials and plant-based natural materials that gives off animal scents. The jasmine flower or cumin can be interesting when well dosed, otherwise they can give a "sweaty" side to the perfume.

Civet was present in Chanel's N° 5 (the 1925 edition), associated with aromatic notes such as lavender in Jicky and Mouchoir by Monsieur by Guerlain. These perfumes were then reformulated to adapt to public demand.

The civet in a perfume, like other animal notes, can give a sensual, bodily, animal, sexual original note. If they are well dosed and orchestrated in a perfume, they can be interesting in a chypre or oriental perfumes. 

Sometimes, in perfumery, the dirty is the booster of the clean, as in some eaux fraîches, jasmine, orange blossom, lily, tuberose smell like indole, scatole, can subtly accompany the clean notes.  

In confidential or niche perfumes one can smell animal inflections, but they are controlled, subtle, hidden. The dirty is not the enemy of beauty.

Sylvaine Delacourte fragrances

Discover Sylvaine Delacourte's brand with her Orange Blossom, Musks 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.