Amyris
femme

Known by its Latin name as jasminum grandiflorum, the jasmine used in perfumery is surprisingly potent and multi-faceted, ranging from orangey-floral, solar, fruity (banana, strawberry, apricot), to animalic and spicy. Jasmine has an astonishingly complex structure for such a fragile flower that needs to be harvested very early in the morning before the sun spoils its fragrance. Its scent can only be extracted with volatile solvents and is very expensive due to its low yield of essential oil. Its kaleidoscope of nuances blends perfectly with other flowers as well as woods or oriental accords.

Most fruity notes used in perfumery are actually recomposed in the form of an accord, much like mute flowers. The pear gives a fresh, crisp, juicy scent used as a top note in a perfume. The fruit has more or less fruity or green facets, depending on the variety the perfumer has chosen to evoke. Very often, the pear note is combined with rose oil to highlight its fruity aromas.

Its name sounds like that of an Egyptian goddess and yet it is native to the Caribbean, and Haiti in particular. There, local fishermen poetically call it "candle wood" because they use it as torches thanks to its highly flammable properties. It is sometimes also refered to as sandalwood from the West Indies. This is probably because once distilled, Amyris balsamifera exhales sweet scents that oscillate between cedar and spicy, slightly smoky sandalwood. A classification among woods that clashes with its botanical genus, the rutaceae family, which also comprises citrus fruits.

Native to China, this fragrant and aesthetic flower has no natural extracts. Like all citrus flowers, it is mute, in other words, it is impossible to extract its subtle and airy fragrance. It is the perfumer's task to recreate its fresh sillage, comprising the sweet, tart and zesty facets of its sun-kissed fruit. Used in Eaux de Cologne as well as in eaux fraîches with citrus notes, mandarin blossom gives a fragrance a luminous floral aura.

If in the hearts of perfumers the rose is the queen of flowers and jasmine the king, then the iris is the empress. The part utilized in fragrances is not its flower, but its rhizome, i.e. its root. Perfumery uses the iris pallida, native to the region of Florence in Italy. After growing in soil for 3 years, the iris rhizomes are dried and crushed before being distilled to obtain an oil with a thick consistency, also called iris butter. This long transformation process and the very low yield it produces make it one of the most expensive ingredients in the perfumer's palette. The iris extract offers a very special floral note, between the violet and a soft wood, with very powdery and slightly chocolatey, cocoa-like facets. Endowed with exceptional persistence, the iris can be used in minute doses to add volume or in greater quantity to support a floral or woody accord.