High Impact aroma chemicals Many chemicals have very strong strong smells. Ay full concentration these are often unpleasant but when diluted to a suitable strength with smell good, and provide something special to your fragrance. many have already been mentioned, although I think you will need some chemistry knowledge to understand the articles fully. I shall give a few more common ingredients
Dimethyl Sulphide.. Sulphide. . This smells like rotten cabbage, yet at the right dilution is floral. It is found in Geranium oil, and if you wish to make a tropical fruit salad it is most useful. Lychee comes to mind. Thiolimonene. Also called Corps 1492. In concentrate smell like Thiolimonene. burning rubber; in dilution like Grapefruit. There are other sulphur containing chemicals that smell of Grapefruit too, including Thiogeraniol and Thioterpineol. Buchu Mercaptan . pare Menth-8-thiole. Cat's Pee or, Blackcurrant. Widely used. The Pyrazines . Very strong. A wide range of odours from Bell Peppers to Popcorn. 2-methoxy-3-iso butyl pyrazine is the Bell Pepper one. Iris Nitrile and Violet Nitrile. Nitrile . Not so common, but very useful. Metallic, Iris. Furfuryl Mercaptan. Mercaptan . This chemical can be smelled at ridiculously low concentrations (0.005 parts per billion). At the right strength smells of coffee creams, Diacetyl and Acetyl Methyl Carbinol both Carbinol both smell of cream, butter and dairy products. There are more but I think that is enough to be getting on with. Please be aware that if you are going to order these, they are very strong. strong. Hedione, Benzyl Acetate, Linalol, Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol, Geraniol, Citronelol, Methyl Ionone, Iso E Super, Aldehyde C14
Jasmin de Grasse Replacer Base Quantity
Ingredient
255
Hercolyn D
150
Benzyl Acetate
140
Isophytol
100
Ethyl Linoleate
95
Benzyl Benzoate
28
Linalool
22
Jasmin Absolute
20
Hedione
18
Cis Jasmone
17
Jasmolactone
15
Indole 100%
12
Methyl Anthranilate
12.5
Phytol Acetate
12
Cis-3-Hexenyl Benzoate
12
Eugenol
8
Benzyl Alcohol
7.5
Farnesene
1.7
Phytol
1.5
P Cresol
Comments
1.2
Ambrox
0.5
Terpineol Alpha
0.5
Vanillin
0.4
Geraniol
0.4
Methyl Heptenone
0.3
Cis 3 Hexenol
0.15
Valspice
0.1
Guaiene
0.5
Cis-3-Hexenyl Acetate
2
Skatole 1%
5
Orange Blossom Absolute 10%
1
Methyl Salicylate
4
Methyl Benzoate
56.65
DEP/IPM/DPG/TEC, etc
1000
Perfume Formula: Flowers On The
Avenue On a recent trip to New York I spent the afternoon with Christine from PerfumerSupplyHouse. We had a great time sniffing various samples she had brought with her and samples I had carried from New Zealand for her. Christine had with her a small amount of peach leaf absolute which was amazing! I am fanatical about leaf absolutes of any kind (mango leaf, rose leaf, violet leaf, etc) so I decided to make a perfume with a peach note. Ultimately it ended up being significantly bigger than just a peachy perfume and the result was a huge bombshell of a floral aldehyde which ended up very reminiscent of a combination of Bois des Iles and Chanel No 22, both by Ernest Beaux in his early days at Chanel. This is a costly fragrance and absolutely not compatible with IFRA (or EU regulations potentially) but it is definitely one worth making for yourself or to give away to loved ones. It is very floral and would most likely be preferred by ladies, but these days anything goes and it is perfectly fine for a gentleman to wear as well.
Top Notes
Aldehydes, Neroli, Peach Heart Notes
Iris, Ylang Ylang, Jasmine Tuberose, Rose, Orange Blossom Base Notes
Musk, Ambergris, Amber Opoponax, Vanilla, Sandalwood Vetiver, Precious Woods, Peach Leaf
The Formula As usual I have ordered the formula from largest to least amount of ingredients and, where possible, I have named substitutes as some of the items in the formula may be dif-
ficult for some to come by. Quantity
Ingredient
Comments
116
Hedione
102
French Jasmine Absolute
A good replica would also be fine
100
Helvetolide
Lovely musk with a pear-like top note quality
82
Ylang Ylang Extra
80
Iralia (Firmenich)
Cheaper methyl ionones are fine also
55
Linalool ex Bois de Rose
Synthetic would suffice
43
Cyclosia (Firmenich)
Hydroxycitronellal
40
Irrozol (Auram)
Iris Base
40
Methyl Cedryl Ketone
30
Tubereuse (Firmenich)
30
Muscenone
25
Iso E Super
18
Rose Wardia (Firmenich)
Rose de Mai base
16
Opoponax Doux (Auram)
Opoponax base
15
Linalyl Acetate
10
Neroli Bigarade
Neroli base
10
Tonkin Musk Replacer
Tonquitone or Shangralide would work
Tuberose base
8
Hedione High Cis
8
Vanillin
8
Vetiverol
8
Santalol
15
Benzoin Resin 50%
7
Exaltolide
6
Ambrettolide
5
Fixateur 505
5
Timbersilk
30
Aldehyde C-10 10%
30
Aldehyde C-11 Undecylenic 10%
30
Aldehyde C-12 MNA 10%
3
Bulgarian Rose Otto
Rose oil replacer will work
3
Orange Blossom Absolute
Orange Blossom replacer will work
2
Orris Butter
10
Gamma Undecalactone 10%
1
Peach Leaf Absolute
1
Carrot Seed Oil
5
Ambergris Tincture 10%
3
Violet Leaf Absolute 10%
Ambrox at 10% dilution
Thanks Christine!
1000
The Formula In days gone by, the finest neroli bases were simply built around terpeneless petitgrain with some additions to move it in the direction of the more floral and less-woody neroli oil. Petitgrain terpeneless is not prohibitively expensive (and is certainly vastly cheaper than neroli oil) and it is available from Vigon. Quantity
Ingredient
560
Petitgrain Terpeneless
190
Linalool ex Bois de Rose
100
Neroli Bigarade
80
Nerol
60
D-Limonene
9
Indole 10%
1
Aldehyde C-10
1000
Comments
Can omit but it really is a valuable addition
Parma Violet Base Parma violets have existed since the 16th century when Count Pierre Savorgnan de Brazza cross-bred two types of viola strains. Of the two types of parma violet he created, only one remains and it is that one which gives us the most beautiful of all violet scents. The smell of violet comes primarily from chemicals called ionones which were discovered in the late 19th century by mistake when scientists were investigating the odoriferous compounds of orris root in search of violet. They didn’t find it but their lab assistant did when he washed out their reaction vessels with sulfuric acid. That, of course, brings to mind the other famous perfumery mistake (or more likely myth) in which a wrongly dosed (too high) accord of aldehydes led a lab assistant to accidentally create the now famous top notes of Chanel Number 5 (a tweaked version of Ernest Beaux’s Rallet Number 1, in turn a tweaked version of his earlier Bouquet de Catherine made in honor of
Catherine the Great of Russia).
What Makes A Good Violet Accord Obviously a lot of ionones are necessary to make a good violet accord but there is a tendency amongst perfumers to create accords with far too heavy a dose. This may be in part due to the fact that smelling ionones can cause temporary anosmia (loss of the sense of smell) but most likely it is just because the ionones alone have such a distinct violet smell that it seems to make sense that more is good. On the contrary, while the ionones must be a large part of the accord, the real beauty in violets comes not from a heady dose of ionones but ionones nestled in an accord of other supporting notes. In fact, real violets contain only about 30% ionones. Boronia (a beautifully scented Australian shrub) contains roughly the same amount of ionones which may well be the reason that it works as such an amazing modifier in violet accords. Alas the cost of boronia absolute (five figures
per kilo) means it is pretty much never used these days (much like violet absolute which is now all but extinct due to price)..
Violet Accord Modifiers Other materials that form part of a good violet accord (parma or otherwise) are cassie absolute, civet, benzoin, costus (banned from perfumery nowadays), guaiac, mimosa, reseda (impossible to find), and the methyl carbonates (octine and heptine – allowed in only the tiniest amounts in perfumery now).
The Formula This is my personal parma violet accord which spares no expense in its creation. It is a truly beautiful accord base, in part, on a GCMS of the headspace of living parma violets. It has a luscious green foundation with rich florals (ionones, jasmine, ylang ylang) and highlights from rare natural ingredients. This accord is one of the most expen-
sive I use but it is well worth it.
Quantity
Ingredient
Comments
250
Methyl Ionone
Firmenich’s Iralia is the finest
100
Bergamot
100
Alpha Ionone
80
Benzyl Acetate
50
Beta Ionone
40
Benzyl Iso Eugenol
Soft spice
20
Orris Butter
A base would work if cost is a problem
20
Ylang Ylang Extra
20
Violet Leaf Absolute
Undiluted
18
Jasmine Absolute
A good Jasmin absolute replacer will work
14
Dimethyl Hydro-
Grassy/Hay note
Natural is available
quinone
10
Methyl Heptine Car-
Undecavertol or Violettyne MIP can re-
bonate
10
Cassie Absolute
5
Dihydro Ionone Beta
1
Aldehyde C-9
1
Aldehyde C-10
1
Muscone Laevo
5
Aldehyde C-8 10%
5
Cis 3 Hexenyl Acetate
place this
Fixative
Spiciness
10%
1000
http://frater.com/blog/2015/07/12/parma-violet-base/
asmin 231 by Firmenich I just got my order of Jasmin 231 today and I thought I
would tell you all about it as it is virtually never written or spoken about online despite the fact that it is was once a very important Jasmine base. NOTE: formula is now included at the bottom of this post.
This is pretty much the only information on it online: “In 1933, the Ruzicka [pictured] team [of Firmenich – then Chuit, Naef & Cie] developed a production of Jasmone, molecule that was first discovered in nature. Maurice Chevron creates “Jasmin 231,” a base of benzyl acetate and some other components that didn’t exist in the real jasmine. This jasmine base with narcissus nuances became very popular. “Jasmin 231 was used in Canoe by Dana !
and Joy by Jean Patou, unforgettable Cabochard de Gres and in Charlie by Revlon.” [Source] Maurice Chevron was the director of Firmenich from 1920. He started work in the perfume business at age 14 and worked for the last 32 years of his life at Firmenich. He spoke many languages and was truly a master
perfumer. I didn’t know what the base was going to be like but because of my interest in vintage bases I bought a kg anyway. It arrived today and all I can say is wow! This is a really special base that everyone here needs to try.
On opening the bottle you are hit by a definitely jasmine note of benzyl acetate – then the fun begins. It is absolutely loaded with cresylic notes (the narcissus nuance – pictured). It is so potent that my guess is that it’s a blend of phenyl cresyl acetate and phenyl cresyl phenyl acetate (rather than just the latter on its own). The benzyl acetate is fairly strong but I suspect there is also quite a bit of hydroxycitronellal and a few other chemicals that modify the BA and make it less dominant. Most likely there is linalool etc. It has incredible longevity – hours on the skin – I applied it around 10am this morning just by dipping my finger into
the bottle cap and the scent is still noticeable on my hand at 8:30pm. Most of what’s left is animal and cresols.
In addition to the cresylic notes and BA it has a HUGE amount of indole (the fecal note found in white flowers and poop) and an equally huge amount of civet (pictured) which is a glandular secretion from the civet cat from Ethiopia – it smells very fecal and urinous but very floral in small doses. They become very apparent within the first 10 minutes of the dry down and they remain as the dominant notes thereafter. It is almost like the benzyl acetate is a top note modifier of cresols, indole, and civet. Once it fades you have a wild animal on your hands. This is so beautifully put together that you can’t stop sniffing. I have gone back to the bottle numerous times today just to have another smell. It is truly amazing.
It was in the original joy – probably at around 25% if we are to believe Louis Appell who uses it in his formula. I have a vintage bottle of joy and those incredibly strong cresylic notes are definitely in there. They work wonders with the large quantities of natural rose and jasmine by opening them up and letting them blossom (an approach I definitely recommend to anyone wanting a vintage method of adding space to a fragrance that is too heavy). It was – I believe – also used as the jasmine base of First for Van Cleef and Arpels by Jean Claude Ellena before he renounced traditional perfumery for his minimalist approach. Vigon stocks this base and provide samples. The base itself is $583 a kilo – fairly pricey but not insanely so. The only downside is that the indole and civet are clearly synthetic or, at the very least, are supported by synthetics. Consequently I am going to spend some time tomorrow seeing if I can create my own version of this base using the largely natural ingredients that I am sure would have been used to begin with. I will rely on synthetics as necessary but outside of the PCA and PCPA I suspect most of it can
be recreated with natural extractions. If I manage to make a fairly decent reconstruction I’ll post the formula here. This is the link to the product on vigon for those interested in buying some or getting a sample. My perfumery interests lie especially in vintage fragrances and reconstructions or creations of fragrances using old school methods and ingredients (which is not to say I won’t use synthetics – they definitely have a very important place in perfumery – vintage included) so this base is going to be of great use in my current work.
The Formula I have spent the last three days working on this accord to see if I can get a duplicate formula and I think I have come pretty close! So, if you want to make your own version of Jasmine 231 this formula below should help.
Quantity
Ingredient
Comments
300
Benzyl Acetate
Basic jasmine chemical
200
Lyral
Like hydroxycitronellal but more tenacious
100
Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol
Important rose chemical
100
Cinnamic Alcohol
Soft sweet cinnamon odor
100
Benzyl Salicylate
UV protecting and oily/balsamic
50
Amyl Cinnamic Alde-
Oily jasmine note
hyde
50
Ylang Ylang
Naturalness and floralcy
40
Geranyl Acetate
Adds lift and brightness
18
Dipropylene Glycol
Dilutent – can use IPM
10
Neroli
For floralcy – could use petitgrain
10
Civet Synthetic
Animalic
10
Heliotropin
Contributes anise note in dry down
5
Methyl Anthranilate
Orange flower odor
5
Para Cresyl Phenyl
Narcissus/urine note – lasts through dry
Acetate
down
4
Para Cresyl Acetate
Mostly urine/hay – supports PCPA
3
Pimento Leaf
Allspice – very noticeable in 231
1000
The most important part of the accord above (in terms of creating Jasmine 231) is the para cresyl phenyl acetate, para cresyl acetate, and pimento. If you were to remove those you would still have a pretty nice standard jasmine accord, but it is the cresylic notes that add the very intense narcissus flavor that made Jasmine 231 so famous and popular. The pimento lends a subtle richness and rounding off of the cresylic notes in the opening moments of the accord. I also want to note that aside from the cresyls and lyral, natural versions of all of the rest of the ingredients are available. If you create this with all the naturals available it is 77.22% natural. If you substitute hydroxycitronellal for lyral you can get a mostly natural version of that. That would take the natural total to 97.2%. Having said that, I did spend a lot of time experimenting with hydroxycitronellal in this accord and I do think lyral is better due to
its tenacity. This formula is most likely not IFRA compliant due to the high amount of lyral and maybe even the cinnamic alcohol. Obviously that doesn’t concern me but I figured I ought to mention it.
Odour PROFILES / Fingerprints of single materials Even a single aroma chemical rarely exhibits a single facet in it's odour. For example, most would agree that Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol displays primarily a rose character but many find it has a green note, others comment on it's phenolic or chemical aspects. If relative proportions are allocated to each facet that the student observes then classification falls into place quite easily. (e.g., PEA might be classified as R, Rose 70% G, Green 30%.).
Relative IMPACT - a measure of 'strength' The expression 'impact' has been used in preference to 'strength'. Relative impact is determined by using a Micropipette to apply a fixed amount of Linalool onto a smelling strip. The test material is added until the odour impact is judged as the same. Linalool Synthetic was chosen as the control reference material as it is readily available, being one of the most abundantly used raw materials in perfumes and flavours and because the quality from the major suppliers does not vary greatly (Givaudan, BBA. Linalool from natural sources is not suitable). In terms of its impact it falls about midway in
the range of materials used by the perfumer.
Odour LIFE Odour life is determined on the smelling strip (thinner chromatography 'paper' gives more consistent results) to the point at which the material becomes weak and uncharacteristic of itself. The results of this type of examination are very dependent on the amount dipped, ambient temperature, humidity, air-flow and testers' di!erences and experience. Despite this even in poorly controlled conditions one is able to produce a set of comparative values that are worthwhile measures of raw materials relative blotter lives.
Function Every component in a perfume formula( 'compound') is there for one or more specific functions within the odour. In the program you will see that each material has a 4 letter code under Class. e.g. Benzyl Acetate might be classed as JfMF The first two letters indicate it is a Jasmin-fruity note, M indicates it is a Modifier, F indicates it is a Floralizer. Basic Material It may be there to give the basic smell of the fragrance, a rose smelling material in a Rose perfume, balsam, vanilla and oakmoss in an Oriental fragrance.
Basics therefore cover the whole spectrum of A-Z and the only materials with specific floral notes can be generalized as basics with the letter F for Floralizer M or T = Modifier to modify the fragrance, add style, naturalness, freshness, di!usion. Decoration for the fragrance like a banana note in
jasmin. T is used for specifically top-note modifiers such as the citrus notes (lemon, limes etc.) B = Blender Materials to blend the sometimes disparate basic and modifying notes, to round or smooth o!, to harmonise. Blenders usually have impact levels of 100 or less. X = Fixative In completion to fix the fragrance giving depth, substance and background. Fixatives usually have longer odour lives.
A Common Key Reference Classification Z Description Materials Fatty, Waxy, Soapy, Aliphatic Aldehydes, A ALI-FAT-IC Clean Alcohols Cooling, Berg Menthol, Camphor, B Borneol,Mint,Camp ICEBERG Eucalyptol hor Sour, Sharp, Citrus Citral, Orange, C CITRUS peel Lemon, Lime Diacetyl, Milky, Cream, D DAIRY Butyrate,Lactone,Vale Butter, Cheese rate Vegetable, Nut, Thiazoles, Pyrazines, E EDIBLE Fish, Meat Sulphides Sour, Sweet fruits, F FRUIT Allyl caproate, Verdox Strawberry G GREEN Cut-grass, Leaves cis-3-Hexenol, Triplal Cool Herbaceous Lavender, Sage, H HERB (Cool) notes (Terpene based?) Ionones, Methyl I IRIS Orris, Violet Ionone Fruity, Oily, J JASMIN HCA, Benzyl Acetate Narcotic, Jasmin
K KONIFER L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
Pine, Pineneedle
Terpineol, Bornyl Acetate Linalool, Vertenex, DMBC
LIGHT Fresh light floral Chemical Floral chemical Lily of the Valley, MUGUET Hydroxy, Lilial, Lyral Green, Fresh Heavy Sweet Narcissus, Ylang NARCOTIC Florals, Absolutes Ylang, Tuberose Aromatic, Deep ORCHID Salicylates, Benzoates floral Phenol, Medicinal, p-Cresol, Ethyl Phenyl PHENOL Honey Acetate Queen of the Benzoin, Tolu, Resin, Balsam ORIENT Terpenes Rose Otto, Citronellol, PEA, ROSE Absolute, Geranium Rhodinol Clove, Cinnamon, SPICE (Hot) Hot Culinary, Spice Thyme, (Cyclic?) TAR & SMOKE Smoke, Tar, Burnt Cade, Birch Tar Urine / Faecal / Animal, Faecal, Civet, Castoreum, ANIMAL Leather Ambergris Sweet Edible, Vanillin, Coumarin, VANILLA Vanilla Heliotropin Cedar, Santal, WOOD Wood, Oily Vetivert, Patchouli Sexy, Musk, Musk Ketone, X-rated MUSK Sensual, Sweet Galaxolide EARTHY Yeast, Fungal, Oakmoss, Calone MOSSY Moss, Marine Odourless Solvents, DEP, DPG, IPP, ZOLVENTS Solubilisers Ethanol, PG
