Wednesday, July 28, 2010

Perfumer's Palette Series - "Just " Jasmine


"it is the natural product par excellance ."
- Edmond Roudnitska

Tenacious , calming , soothing , penetrating , sensual , complex , aphrodisiac , heavy , musky , uplifting...is there nothing jasmine cannot do ? It is so unusual , it cannot be imitated , nor successfully created through chemical accords . They keep trying though don't they ?
There are over 100 varieties of jasmine , most native to India . Jasmine loves and flourishes in the sun , and develops the finest perfume in the heat . No wonder the plant in my back yard is so heavenly , it exudes an almost candy - like aroma . I can stand and inhale forever !

Commonly in perfumery , the rootstock is jasmine officinalis , grafted with jasmine grandiflorum . Sambac jasmine is native to Saudi arabia , has a spicier , even more penetrating odor . Jasmine must be pruned in the fall , as it flowers only on the young shoots .
Jasmine blooms at night , and it's blossoms are harvested early in the morning and retain their odor and continue to develop in complexity for several days .
Historically , the blossoms were then immediately placed in the chassis for enfleurage * . No longer commercially cost effective , enfleurage has been replaced with solvent extraction , a process of continually rinsing the flowers with hexane which dissolves the fatty oils containing the scent . ( sort of like dry cleaning ! )
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The resulting waxy paste is called a concrete . When dissolved with ethanol , a pure alcohol , the highly fragrant absolute is produced . Two thousand pounds of blossoms will yeild about three pounds of absolute ! I could not find the exact hz. vibration of jasmine , I am assuming around 50 hz. Please share if you know !
Jasmine will blend beautifully with almost any other essence ,smoothing and enriching them . It forms the backbone of many of the famously successful fragrance of our time . It's main chemical constituant is benzyl benzoate acetate , is very beneficial to the skin , whether dry , irritated or greasy .
* enfleurage is the process of placing blossoms on a bed of wax until the wax absorbs the scent . These plates of wax are loaded with blossoms many times until the wax is permeated with the oils from the flowers .
Formula for Essence Mousseline
musk....................5 drams
rose oil..................5 drams
neroli oil...............5 drams
sandal oil..............5 drams
bergamot oil........5 drams
vanillin.................7 drams
rose....................3 ozs.
jasmine.............5 ozs.
orange flower.....6 ozs.
Today I am wearing the bright and lovely Jasmine by Malak !
Some of my favorites :
TDC Jasmine de Nuit
Tuvache Jungle jasmine
Tauer Le Maroc Pour Elle
What is your favorite jasmine perfume ?
Don't forget to comment on the rose article to be entered in the drawing !
Drawing winner will be announced on Friday .

8 comments:

Suzanne said...

Carol, you little information vixen! No need to put me in the draw...just wanted to tell you that I am loving these posts!

waftbyCarol said...

Aww , shucks , moi ?

Thank you , it means alot to get your feedback .

Musette said...

I love that you are an Information Vixen! LOL! Great description, Suzanne!

I love TDC's Jasmine de Nuit and I'm thinking the Malak Jasmine might make a home here....but what really blows me away is Auroma's Jasmine essential oil (of course, diluted in jojoba - there may be folks who can afford pure jasmine essential oil but I suspect they are all Omani sheiks!)

Jasmine is tough to keep alive here - certain plants can be hothouse grown but I don't have a hothouse, alas...I don't seem to be able to keep them alive in the house.

ElizabethN said...

I love jasmine, and around these parts, it blooms much of the year and I get to sniff it in its natural form. As far as perfumes, I love Le Maroc pour Elle and SL Sarrasins. In fact, it may be time for me to order a FB od LMPE, of which I've been on a sample vial for a long time! That's potent stuff...

Tamara*J said...

I love Velvet&Sweet Pea's Puurfumery Jasmine Orange Blossom.
It is heady yet soft and I think Laurie does it beautifully and I have been meaning to get a hold of some- ohhh the laments of a perfumista. I am a fan of natural perfumery and Laurie has wonderful creations.I will get some soon..I also love Soivohle( can never spell it right-sorry!) Acoustic Flower, it is technically a gardenia scent but to my nose the jasmine really shines through in a great way.

Here's to hoping I win!

Thanks , Tamara

Julie Ellen said...

Many years ago on my first visit to Paris, I went to the Occitaine store on the Rue Moufftard. L'Occitaine did not have shops worldwide in every mall, nor did they have mail order or internet at that time. I found a bottle of jasmine EDT listed as from Julie's Garden and since Julie is my name, I bought it. to this day, I have not yet found the same pure, single note jasmine that was in that wonderful bottle, now long gone. I keep trying other scents, but none have given me as much pleasure as that simple solofloral. My current favorite is Jasmine de Nuit, but I am tring out some others as well. Love that Jasmine!! Thanks Carol for the great post and please enter me in the drawing. JE

Olfacta said...

I recently received a sample of attar of night-blooming jasmine, so strong that I've mixed it 5:1 with jojoba oil and may have to go to 10! Anyway, the DH noticed it and said it smelled...well, I won't use the exact work, let's just say # 2. And was proud of himself for knowing that, which was adorable, don't you think? And yes, it is very indolic.

I haven't found my perfect jasmine perfume yet. That's because when I lived in LA there was a night-blooming jasmine vine just outside my bedroom window. I've yet to smell any jasmine which even comes close. But SL a la Nuit is nice, although I hear it's been reformulated? I'll keep looking.

waftbyCarol said...

Musette - I need to get some absolute . my friend/aromatherapist Marilyn and I order from Essential Oil University .
Elizabeth - I've never smelled Sasrrasins...!?! I have le Maroc if you want a decant from me , e-mail me .
Tamara - I must sniff that Velvet & Sweet Pea stuff !!
and you spelled Soivohle right !
Julie Ellen and Olfacta , I think you would both really like the Malak Jasmine , very true and bright , not too sweet !
You're all in the draw !