There are animal, industrial, and vegetable raw materials used in perfume formulations, and recently we see the uses of flowers, fruits, spices, woods, gums, resins, etc., and there are also many other plant materials that can be used in perfumes. We have included them below.

Natural almond

There is a synthetic note called (Benzoic Aldehyde), obtained naturally, and it is produced from apricot kernels by a hydro-distillation process that extracts benzaldehyde (the product obtained is called natural benzaldehyde).

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The raw material used is the fruit which is crushed and then soaked in lukewarm water for 12 to 24 hours, which allows the essential oil to form and the special distillation process produces a pure product.

characteristics

A colorless, pale yellow liquid with a pleasant pungent odor reminiscent of sweet crushed almonds.

Other almond scents in perfumery:

• Tonka bean and its ingredient, coumarin.
• Heliotrope or heliotropin
• aniseed aldehyde

Ambrette or vegetable musk

Botanical name: Abelmoschus Moschatus

The ambrette reaches a height of 3.50 meters. It is a cousin of the hibiscus. It has a large, sulfur-yellow flower with a brown throat. The seeds inside the fruits are used with large brown grains.

Ambrette seeds exude a very pleasant scent. They are considered to be somewhere between amber and musk. They come in the shape of a bean and are surrounded by a seed coat (living tissue) that contains oil, a yellow resinous substance that gives the seed its distinctive aroma, which is more pronounced when crushed.

Vegetable musk

In fact, plant musk exists in its natural form (ambrotolide), taking into consideration not to confuse it with musk ambrette (a poisonous nitrate musk that has a musky hint), which is internationally banned in the perfume industry.

About sixty tons of seeds are produced every year and the harvest period extends from June (6) to July (7) and everything is picked by hand and this product is very expensive and luxurious, and only a few perfumers use it because of its high price.

Ampere extraction

Ambrette is extracted by distillation, the product obtained is base oil and wrongly called ambrette butter because it is thick and sticky like butter, this oil is then fractionated to remove remaining solid organic acids (impurities), and gives a final product called absolute oil extract ( Absolte), and there is also the CO2 extraction process, which is the purest method as it is more accurate in extracting the smell.

scent

The ambrette scent is sweet, musky, amber and slightly animalic at times. It also turns out to be fruity, slightly floral, with a sweet note of pear and plum. It is composed in high concentration by (farnesol) which is a close component of lily of the valley and gives strong and distinctive aromatic results.

Ambrette history

Ambrette seeds have been used for the beauty of their relaxing and stimulating scent, but also for possessing a musky, sensual, and aphrodisiac body. In the past it was used for oral hygiene as well as in the form of an ointment to relieve itching, today ambrette seeds are sometimes added to coffee, but also in some cultures it is added to traditional herbal liqueurs, such as Benedictine.

Birch wood

The essential oil of birch wood is obtained by slow distillation of the wood. The birch tree is a tree native to Russia and Northern Europe. It is also known as white birch. It grows in the wild. The oil obtained after distillation is removed and washed with an alkaline solution for use in the perfume industry. Nowadays the ingredient made from five to ten raw materials is used to replace the birch wood which is now considered poisonous and therefore banned.

Birch wood extract is used in Russia for tanning leather, and it is also present in some pharmaceutical preparations. Some birch tar derivatives are also used as a flavor for chewing gum, toothpaste, and beverages.

In perfumery, the scent of birch wood has been given a leathery note in perfumes, and birch wood is also found in many oriental perfumes with leathery facets. And these perfumes had to be reformulated, so the birch wood was replaced by many aromatic versions that were based on birch wood with natural ingredients such as alkyd oil and labdanum, often mixed with synthetic scents of the IBQ type (green and leathery synthetic note, with a smell close to rubber).

Alkyd oil is another dermatological raw material used in cosmetics. It also has anti-dandruff properties. It is obtained by distilling the wood and roots of the alkyd tree or Juniper (Oxidone). Create a birch wood scent accord.

Roman chamomile

An ancient and sacred Egyptian flower, the one considered dedicated to the god Ra (the sun god), Roman chamomile has an aromatic, slightly bitter scent with a fruity apple overtone, and this flower cultivated in Europe has medicinal properties as well, acting as a top note and blending well with light floral notes.

Lemongrass _

Contrary to popular belief, lemongrass has nothing to do with lemon. It is an herb with clustered small flowers. It is widely used in cooking and is famous for its many medicinal benefits.

Different types of lemongrass

• Simbaogon Nardos:

It is a plant grown mainly in Sri Lanka and Malaysia. The leaves are harvested three times a year, then dried in the sun, collected in bundles and distilled to extract the essential oil, which has a slightly warm, woody aroma. This extract contains approximately 25% to 40% geraniol (a component of rose and geranium), 5% to 10% citronellal, and 10% to 15% terpenes, whose English name is ginger herb.

• Sempapokon Wentianus:

Originating in Java, this lemongrass variety contains 25% to 55% citronellol and 25% to 45% geraniol. It is fresher and more popular than the Sri Lankan variety (Simpapugon nardoz) and is often incorporated into men's perfumes. Its scent is very lively and refreshing, which notes It has citrusy notes and has been widely used as a mosquito repellent, which perhaps explains its limited use in perfumery.

Cistus labdanum and its derivatives

Cistus labdanum is a resin famous since ancient times for its aroma but also for its medicinal properties (it is an excellent healing agent), this plant is found in countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, but the twigs are tapped only in Spain and Morocco The young buds give off a sticky, resinous, mucilaginous scent, also known as As "Tears of Christ".

Its scent shares some ingredients with amber: leathery, animalic, and herbal notes as well.

Depending on the extraction method used (distillation or volatile solvent extraction) is the consistency of Labdanum Absolute, and the scents are completely different.

Today, the gum is obtained by boiling the twigs in hot water. The final products from this extraction are (Absolute Labdanum or Labdanum Resinoid).

Ingredients obtained from leaves and twigs by steam distillation or extraction with volatile solvents contain the term Cistus Essence or Cistus Absolute.

• Cestus oil has an aromatic facet, lending hints of ambery to the top notes and then becoming a resinous, woody, almost caramelized development.
• The resins of labdanum are quite different, with a noticeable olfactory intensity, they are deeper, yet warm and it is a very strong component that takes up a lot of space in the composition, and is close to the smell of incense with a burnt note, but also with aspects of leather and amber, vanilla This note is used extensively It is used in oriental, amber, or chypre fragrances and can combine well with isobutylquinoline or IBQ (synthetic leathery green note with a smell close to that of rubber) to create leather notes.

Elchonies - Black Seed Flower ( Nigelle )

Botanical name: Damascene Shawnee ( Nigella damascena )

Chunays is a botanical neighbor to the Epiphytic (herbaceous plant) Delphinium (plant with clustered flowers), Chunays is an elegant herb with pale blue, star-shaped flowers. This plant can reach 40 cm in height and produces large fruits filled with small black seeds whose seeds have a honey-fruity aroma, eerily reminiscent of wild strawberries. It is highly appreciated by perfumers who have a few natural fruity scents in their office.

Its name comes from the Latin niger, which means black. Moreover, this plant is very present in the rocky soils of southern, western and southwestern France.

Opopanax _

It is a perennial plant and is found opoponax (also spelled "oppoponax"), mainly in Africa, particularly in Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somalia, where it grows among rocks and in the sand.

Like myrrh, the oil is obtained by distillation and opoponax is often used as an incense to purify the air.

It is also used as a base note in oriental or amber perfumes. It smells sweet, warm, fruity, earthy and balsamic, but it's also leathery in the base notes.

Oud wood

Agarwood has been used for centuries for medicinal and spiritual purposes. It appears in one of the oldest human texts (Indian texts, the Bible). And also in many religions, particularly Buddhism, it is burned to aid meditation. In Islamic culture as well, it has been considered for many years as one of the essential ingredients for perfumery. It is a new woody note in the perfumer's library, completely different from the other notes. Recently, this scent attracts European and Asian customers.

Oud is a rich and wonderful ingredient produced by a tropical tree of the genus Aquilaria, when infected with a certain type of fungus called (Phialophora Parasitica). The infected tree reacts by producing a rare and precious resin, also known as agar wood, or agarwood. It comes from Thailand, Laos, Burma, Vietnam and India. It gives a woody, dark and strong scent.

Today, Aquilaria trees are protected in many countries in their natural form, but in some trees the bacteria are artificially inoculated.

In most of the specialized or exclusive perfumes of major brands, there is not even a single drop of real oud oil, because its price is higher than the price of gold. They often use compound re-accordances with other natural or synthetic woody notes (cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli, incense), and sometimes they are combined with cypriol, another aromatic and very strong woody note, leathery and animalic (as opposed to perfume). Refreshing- citrus, fruity or floral).

'Fake oud' versions or imitations of oud have incredible power, sometimes even more than real oud, and make it possible to create highly effective perfumes.

Sesame _

Sesame seeds, immortalized in the tales of One Thousand and One Nights, have played a role in daily life since the most ancient times.

Originating from central Africa, sesame consists of 36 varieties and is now found in 60 countries. Indian sesame is the most widely used variety.

It is a herb with a stunted stem that can grow from 0.60 cm to 1.50 m tall. It contains white flowers that have the shape of oblong capsules, and inside them are about 60 small oily seeds that look like flax seeds.

The sesame scent is very popular and blends well with woody or oriental notes. It has the effects of warm bread, maple syrup, coffee, peanuts and hazelnuts. Used in the perfume industry, sesame is often processed by extraction with carbon dioxide, a process that allows it to maintain its original aroma.

Blond tobacco

Annual plant, sometimes up to 2 meters high, native to tropical America. The leaves are very large and long. After being harvested and dried, it is then subjected to non-alcoholic fermentation.

The absolute oil extract is obtained using volatile solvents. The raw material is dark in color, but the fired material often changes color. You need 200 kg of dried leaves to get 850 g of oil.

The scent of tobacco is earthy and animalic, with notes of tonka bean and dried hay. Its scent is also warm, honeyed, and sweet, and blends particularly well with leathery, woody, and chypre notes.

lemon tree

This tree can grow up to 30 meters in height and live for up to a thousand years, and is mainly found in Europe. It is characterized by its silhouette with ascending and curved branches at the end. Its flowers have five yellowish-white petals and are very fragrant. There are 45 different types of lemon trees.

In perfumery, water by distillation is used to extract the oil from the flowers (which are harvested in just 3 days). .

Its soft and delicate scent is widely used in eau de Cologne and has a slightly honeyed scent.