Lily of the Valley, Reconstitution of a Mute Flower
by FRANÇOISE RAPP
by FRANÇOISE RAPP
There are flower scents that are impossible to extract. These are called silent flowers. These flowers, whose scent perfumes the garden or the room when in plant form, give no essence. To the great despair of perfumers, they cannot appreciate an absolute or an essence of lily of the valley, honeysuckle, white lily, gardenia, jacinth, syringa or even sweet peas.
Regardless of the extraction process, steam distillation or extraction with volatile solvents, nothing works. It takes the work of the perfumer to reconstitute the scent of these flowers. This is called reconstitution and each perfumer has his or her own way of perceiving and restoring it.
What is a reconstruction?
A reconstitution is a mini-perfume, which may be made up of around ten constituents.
In conventional perfumery, perfumers would mix synthetics and naturals to recreate the subtle scent of lily of the valley:
What about with natural raw materials? You can choose essences that are rich in the molecules mentioned above or that have a score that is close to it.
Certified Natural Perfumers will only use essences and absolutes. No isolates!
And that is all the art of the natural perfumer. They will control the olfactory totum of the plant and its maceration. The master key is a great knowledge of raw materials! Each natural perfumer can thus offer olfactory variants with a greener, fresher note, etc.
Here are some ways to restore the delicate, carefree and innocent scent of lily of the valley using only naturals, the essences that you could use are:
And you, what would you use?
May you practice and be inspired by this exercise in style!
More about Lily of the Valley
Regardless of the extraction process, steam distillation or extraction with volatile solvents, nothing works. It takes the work of the perfumer to reconstitute the scent of these flowers. This is called reconstitution and each perfumer has his or her own way of perceiving and restoring it.
What is a reconstruction?
A reconstitution is a mini-perfume, which may be made up of around ten constituents.
In conventional perfumery, perfumers would mix synthetics and naturals to recreate the subtle scent of lily of the valley:
- Phenylethyl alcohol (green leaf side of the rose)
- Rose essence (richness of the rose)
- Hydroxycitronellal (lily of the valley green side of the rose)
- Rhodinol (geranium and mint side of the rose)
- Citronellol (fresh side and lemongrass of the rose)
- Linalool (fresh side of the rose)
What about with natural raw materials? You can choose essences that are rich in the molecules mentioned above or that have a score that is close to it.
Certified Natural Perfumers will only use essences and absolutes. No isolates!
And that is all the art of the natural perfumer. They will control the olfactory totum of the plant and its maceration. The master key is a great knowledge of raw materials! Each natural perfumer can thus offer olfactory variants with a greener, fresher note, etc.
Here are some ways to restore the delicate, carefree and innocent scent of lily of the valley using only naturals, the essences that you could use are:
- Chinese geranium richer in citronellol,
- Damascus rose,
- Petitgrain for its green note,
- Violet leaves absolute or litsea cubeba with its fresh green side, ...
And you, what would you use?
May you practice and be inspired by this exercise in style!
More about Lily of the Valley
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