Extrait: Aglaia Absolute

Production: Solvent extraction from Aglaia Odorata

Origin: China

Use in Perfumery: A fresh light floral with a lemon jasmine character and a soft green undercarriage.  An unusual floral that adds freshness to heavier florals and depth to citrus.  Very useful to marry citrus and floral blends harmoniously.

Size 10ml

Extrait: Boronia Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh flower spikes of boronia megastigma.
Origin: Tasmania/Australia
Use in Perfumery: Its top note is fresh but the body is extraordinarily warm and rich in violet lily freesia notes against a beautifully soft green backnote.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: The concrete was exhibited at the British Empire Exhibition of 1924 yet has remained obscure until recently. It has been used as a flavour in confectionary. Recently it has become extremely rare as a result of gaining iconic status amongst natural perfumers.  

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Frangipani Absolute

Production: Solvent extraction from fresh flowers of Plumeria rubra acutifolia.

Origin: Haiti

Use in Perfumery: A rich deep warm and heady floral heart note that is also soft and complex. Suggestive of jasmine, orange blossoms, tuberose and gardenia. 

Comment: Vastly superior to the cloying Indian versions that are the more commonly available. Plumeria are most fragrant during the evening and at night in order to attract the sphinx moth which pollinates them. The flowers of this variety can be pink or white and yellow.  The flowers don't contain any nectar but get inadvertantly pollinated by duped moths going from flower to flower in search of supper.

Size: 10ml

Extrait: Gardenia

Production: Solvent extraction from fresh flowers of Gardenia jasminoides.

Origin: China.

Use in Perfumery: A rich floral heart note that is distinctive because it resonates with many other more familiar floral absolutes but yet remains aloof and splendidly itself. 

Comment: Usually described by reference to jasmine, tuberose and orange flower which provide the clues as to how the fake gardenia “soups” are made. It contains a fresh green sweet quality that distinguishes itself from those other heady florals. One kilo of concrete  is produced from three to four thousand kilos of flowers.

Size: 10ml

Extrait: Genet Absolute (Spanish Broom)
Production: Solvent extraction from very fresh flowers of spartium junceum.
Origin: France.
Use in Perfumery: Sweet fresh delicate floral and a hint of hay. Excellent for softening intense floral blends and warming citrus.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Grown in southern France and Spain since the 16th C as a perfume ingredient. The flowers are similar in appearance to those of the sweet pea to which it is related. The Plantagenets named themselves after this plant (planta genet).

Size 10ml.
 

Production: Steam distillation from leaves and branches of Pelargonium graveolens.
Origin: Réunion.
Use in Perfumery: A fresh rosy middle note with a slightly green minty quality. Very useful for bolstering rose, if not allowed to dominate. It can also be used to freshen up and bring depth to other floral notes.
Safety: Normal Usage.
Comment: Bourbon is indisputably the premium quality geranium oil.

Size 10ml.

Extrait: Immortelle Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh petals or concrete of helichrysum angustifolium.
Origin: France.
Use in Perfumery: Floral sweet and woody with hints of herb honey and hay. Base note blender in floral compositions. Lovely in masculine Chypre, Amber or Fougère fragrances.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Deserves to be better known.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Jasmine Absolute - The King of Flowers.
Production: Solvent extraction from concrete of jasminum officinalis.
Origin: Egypt/India.
Use in Perfumery: Traditionally used in the finest compositions with rose and neroli to provide classical floral heart. Will enhance almost any feminine blend and in lower doses almost any masculine fragrance. Quite intense heady floral character with fruity green backnotes. Its long dry out period helps the persistence of other floral scents in a blend.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Another indispensable oil for the natural perfumer. Like vanilla, synthetically ‘enhanced’ jasmines are so prolific that many people don’t like it until they come across the real thing, which has a depth and complexity that if used in the right proportions is magical. Remains inimitable.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Jasmine Sambac Extrait.
Production: Solvent extraction from concrete of Jasminum Sambac.
Origin: China, India.
Use in Perfumery: Sweet, fresh, light, white floral and lily like with a delicate, ethereal, soft, green backnote. Like its cousin above. a versatile, classy, floral middle note. Also known as Arabian or sometimes Tuscan jasmine. The English name is derived from the Arabic Zanbaq and has a long history of fragrance use in India where the plant is known as Chameli and the oil as Motia.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: I have been offered the absolute many times in India but never encountered one that justified the asking price (it is usually more expensive than j.officinalis or j.grandiflorum). However, one of my Chinese suppliers sent me a sample that had the tingle factor. It reminded me of the smell inside a quality florist’s shop. The top note has an elusive floral character partly reminiscent of bunches of freesias or lilies. It is too fresh to be heady, courtesy of the angelic, green back note. I sent a sample to a colleague from a French fragrance company. When I asked him for his opinion he said, ‘I want to lick it.’

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Lavender Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from flower heads of lavandula angustifolia.
Origin: France
Use in Perfumery: As a fresh floral middle note in almost any blend. Its ability to marry floral, herbal and woody notes in a blend is incomparable. Fresh floral lavender with backnotes of herb wood and hay.
Safety: Normal Usage.
Comment: The absolute is much more floral, deep and complex than the oil. Over familiarity and its popularity should not prevent its use, truly versatile, dark blue.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Linden Blossom Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from dried flowers of tilea europea
Origin: France
Use in Perfumery: Light warm citrus and floral with hints of beeswax and honey. Works well to green floral blends and to impart subtlety and warmth to citrus and Chypre fragrances.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Essential part of floral/citrus palette along with neroli.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Orange Flower Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh blossom of citrus aurantium var. amara.
Origin: Normal Usage
Use in Perfumery: As a fresh middle note providing a fragrant bouquet in many types of composition. From delicate light to rich intense heavy green orange blossom scent.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Extremely versatile and a candidate to prove the ‘less is more rule’. Blends beautifully with neroli and lavender absolute but brings out nuance in almost any other floral.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Osmanthus Absolute (Kwei Hwa, Mo Hsi)
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh flowers of osmanthus fragrans.
Origin: France.
Use in Perfumery: Sweet soft warm delicate jasmine like floral with hints of plum and dried fruit. A grown up floral, which adds interest and sophistication to fragrances. Blends well with mimosa and violet leaf.
Safety: Normal Usage.
Comment: Flowers of an evergreen tree native to China and Japan. It surprises. Part of the beauty of blending naturals is the effect that oils have on each other. Experience means fewer surprises but nature usually has the last word. Recently, when working on a perfume, osmanthus produced completely unbidden delicate notes of peach blossom. Beautiful.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Pink Lotus Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh blooms of nelumbo nucifera.
Origin: India
Use in Perfumery: In floral compositions to impart fresh floral warm rich and slightly heady notes. Blends well with quality green notes to produce exotic yet understated character.
Safety: Normal Usage.
Comment: Chosen from several kinds of lotus we found that the pink lotus was the most consistent quality and had the most unique fragrance. 

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Rose Absolute Maroc (Rose de Mai).
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh petals of rosa centifolia.
Origin: Morocco
Use in Perfumery: As for rose otto it can form the backbone of a blend and transform a lack lustre composition. It brings warmth, delicacy, smoothness, harmony and beauty. Again it will blend with almost anything.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Wax Lyrical.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Rose Otto – The Queen of Flowers.
Production: Distillation from fresh petals of rosa damascena
Origin: Bulgaria
Use in Perfumery: Only limited by cost as it is so versatile that it can be used in almost any type of fragrance to impart rich rosy floral notes. A middle note of great tenacity making it effective in small doses – a great harmoniser.
Safety: Normal Usage.
Comment: Perfumers are divided on preference for Turkish or Bulgarian. Originally, the rose of Damascus was introduced to Bulgaria by a visiting Turkish merchant. Bulgaria is now the largest producer followed by Turkey. Cultivation and husbandry is labour intensive, which combined with extremely low yields and the fact that more than one distillation is needed accounts for the cost. Rose is unquestionably the single most important oil in perfumery.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: Tuberose Absolute.
Production: Solvent extraction from concrete of polyanthes tuberosa.
Origin: France
Use in Perfumery: Mainly used in sweet, heavier floral and oriental compositions. Small doses enhance light florals with body. Sweet heavy floral balsamic with slightly green honey backnote. Has been described as a ‘well stocked garden at eventide.’
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Known as mistress of the night in India and Malaysia as the growing blooms get more intense after nightfall. The cut flowers are extracted by enfleurage because they continue to produce essential oil for 48 hours. Native to Mexico and highly valued by the Aztecs.

Size 10ml.
 

Extrait: White Champac Absolute, AKA Champak and Champaka
Production: Solvent extraction from fresh flowers of michelia champaca.
Origin: India.
Use in Perfumery: To impart powerful sweet heady velvety floral character with hints of lily and orange blossom. Versatile enough to produce delicate soft floral character of something approaching jasmine like intensity.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Flowers picked in the morning and woven into the hair gradually open during the day but being indolic, seduction happens at night when they release their soft magic, which hangs invisible in the air. The real thing is scarce.

Size 10ml.
 

  Extrait: Wild Dog Rose.

Extrait: Ylang Extra.
Production: Solvent extraction from freshly picked flowers of cananga odorata.
Origin: Madagascar.
Use in Perfumery: To provide lift and as a harmoniser in floral blends. Tropical floral quality with hints of fruit medicine and spice with a slightly balsamic dry out.
Safety: Normal Usage
Comment: Extremely useful especially in oriental compositions. Enhances most floral blends in small doses by bringing lightness. Low quality oils are used as a flavour in fruity chewing gum and highly synthetic versions are responsible for the bubble gum note in modern mass produced perfumes. Without gold there could be no false coin. Another oil, which can be used well below the level of conscious detection, yet which still imparts valuable body, some lift and a harmonising effect.

Size 10ml.