Woods

 

Woods are part of the botanical raw materials used in the perfume compositions, just like fruits and flowers. Many woods can be used in perfumery, such as:

sandalwood, cedar, patchouli, vetiver, cypress, oudwood,Guaia wood, birch wood,

Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the only soft, milky and creamy wood. It is now banned from export and protected by the Indian government, so it no longer comes from India, but from Southeast Asia.

There are several botanical species of sandalwood, such as Santalum Spicatum, found in Australia it has the appearance of cedar or Santalum austrocaledonicum that comes from New Caledonia.

Natural sandalwood offers a dull and not very powerful note, but it is tenacious. This note is difficult to work with because it is not effective on its own in a composition. It is therefore often sublimated by other synthetic sandalwood notes. These synthetic molecules boost real sandalwood but must be handled with care, as they are quite far from the smell of natural sandalwood.

The fig tree accord, now a classic in perfumery, is composed of different woods, including sandalwood and cedar, as well as coconut, stemone (a green note), and the following synthetic sandalwood notes: sandalore, sandella, and polysantol ebanol. 

Cedar

The scent of cedar is reminiscent of pencil leads, sawmill and wood chips. This wood blends beautifully with vetiver and citrus fruits, especially grapefruit. In addition, many cedar molecules have been isolated from this wood and can be very interesting to use in a fragrance. This is, for example, the case of cedrol.

Patchouli 

The patchouli offers a very great sensuality to the perfumes. The dried leaves of the shrub produce a dark, earthy, camphorated, and almost medicinal woody note. The scent of patchouli was discovered in the West thanks to cashmere shawls imported from the East, that was wrapped in dried patchouli leaves used as protection against insects.

Recently the scent of patchouli got rid of the slightly dusty notes, the result is a very pure, slender, and majestic note, also called patchouli heart.

Vetiver 

Guerlain was one of the first perfumers to pay homage to vetiver with Vétiver by Guerlain (1959), it combines the fresh woody note of vetiver with citrus, tonka bean, nutmeg and a tobacco scent to create a unique accord that distinguishes the fragrance from other vetiver scents on the market.

The root of this wood produces an earthy, moist and smoky note, that gives vibration to the fragrance, from the top notes to the base notes. Indian or Reunion vetiver, also called bourbon, is the best for perfumery. Java vetiver is drier and much rougher, so it is less interesting in a fragrance.

Did you know that vetiveryl acetate, a molecule isolated from vetiver, is more expensive than the natural product? This vibrant woody scent is reminiscent of fresh hazelnut with more or less smoky accents.

The pine or cypress note

The pine note, or cypress, is a note little used in perfumery. There is pine essence, whose scent is fresh, rising, bitter, a little balsamic, as well as an excellent fir balsam note, that is extracted from the pine needle and provides a slight gourmand note with a raspberry facet.

There are synthetic molecules extracted from cypress: Borneol and Iso bornyl acetate, which gives a smell of pine trees heated in the sun.

The oud wood 

Many perfumes are now composed of oud wood, also called"agarwood, oudh, agar wood, aloe wood, jinko or gaharu. It is, in fact, a very fragrant dark resin secreted in the heart of trees called Aquilaria when they are infected by the phialophora, a fungus.

As this raw material is very precious and expensive, only a few brands use it in its natural form. Most often, it is a reconstitution of the scent.

Currently, oud wood is really the trendy note in perfumery, and the list of perfumes that contain it is very long.

 

Gaiac wood

It is a wood with smoky and a bit of leather notes. If it is too dosed in a perfume, the scent can give a smoked ham note.

 

Birchwood

Contrary to what its name indicates, it is not a woody note, but a dark leather note. Now prohibited by legislation, there are however very good reproductions of this wood. There are very beautiful synthetic molecules in the register of soft and light leather, such as sudéral, that allows reconstituting leather notes (cf. Leather facet).

 

Synthetic woody notes 

 

In addition to these natural woods, there are also beautiful synthetic woody notes, such as:

Vetiveryl acetate 

This molecule, more expensive than natural vetiver, offers a vibrant and rising note, extremely fresh and pure.

Synthetic sandalwood notes 

There are many sandalwood molecules, such as polysantol, sandalore, sandella, that cannot replace natural sandalwood, but bring a lot of presence and diffusion in a fragrance.

 

Other synthetic woody notes include:

• Evernyl: a moss note often present in chypre perfumes 
• The famous cashmeran: a soft, almost oriental, woody note with scents of pine forest warmed by the sun.
• Ambroxan: a woody, musky and animal note evoking ambergris.
• Cedarwood and vertofix: notes close to cedar.
• Iso-e super: a velvety, almost musky wood that works well in all olfactory families. Trésor by Lancôme contains overdose of it.
• Karanal, ambrocenide, Z11, limbanol: amber woods give the fragrance an incredible power and trail. These hyper-powerful molecules are especially present in fragrances for men.

Synthetic woody notes have therefore greatly increased the possibilities of creation in perfumery. They can also embellish noble woody notes in a fragrance, such as vetiver, sandalwood, patchouli or cedar.