Inside every botanical scent, there are infinite stories; stories of plants & people and of moments in time, both past & present. The plants, trees, and flowers were each singular lives, cultivated or wild-grown; they had unique triumphs and struggles. Gardeners, growers, and distillers leave their mark on a botanical extract long before reaching a perfumer.
As I sit down to write this, the aroma of my bench is wafting over me —rich notes of cedarwood, cardamom, and pepper. I am reminded of my role in this story; the great responsibility I feel every time I work with botanical oils and isolates. I am a novice perfumer. I will likely retain the title of novice for the rest of my life. If working with both plants and their essences has taught me anything, it is this: to know something is to respect its infinite complexity. The best way forward is to accept the role of student as a permanent state of being.
Sharing the World’s Garden
Seeing where a scent has come from can give you a broader sense of botanical perfumery’s global nature. Cedar & Citrus - one of the first scents I composed and a favorite among many of my friends and customers - is a predominantly European concoction featuring scents from Spain, Italy, France & Bulgaria, with just a touch of Northern Africa via Morocco.
Many of the richest base notes and exotic scents we love, like Sandalwood, Myrrh, and Frankincense, come from tropical or subtropical countries. These places still profoundly feel the effects of colonialism, where a century and more of exploitation for profit has left their people in dire need of economic autonomy and self-determination. I take great care in choosing a supplier for all of my botanical oils, isolates, and blend. This is particularly important for essential oils. I choose suppliers that demand the confidence of fair trade and environmental sensitivity.
Frankincense is a strong example of why careful and conscientious selection is essential. Frankincense is a resin collected from trees - the pieces are called ‘tears’ - referencing how they are wept from the trees that produce them. My resins and oils come from Somalia - the supplier is committed to fair wages, training, and medical support practices, as well as broader support in the community, helping to dig wells and build hospitals.
Bioregionalism & Scent
Bioregionalism in this context refers to how the specific environmental factors of place affect the scent outcomes of a particular plant, flower, or tree. In the wine world, this is referred to as terroir.
My favorite example of this is vetiver. Vetiver is a magnificent plant, a grass. Scents are distilled from roots at least 18 months of age. It is woodsy and smokey, earthy yet floral. It is also a very giving plant - fast-growing and renewable; it has been used in tropical climates to combat soil erosion. Additional studies show it has promise in water purification, removing pollution from sites affected by industrialization. Vetiver is a humble, hard-working beautiful plant, making it easy to adore.
Vetiver root hails from several different areas of the world, primarily India, Haiti, Java, and Madagascar. The oil from India is what most would recognize as true vetiver. It is a thick viscous brown liquid - almost a syrup. The scent is deeply complex, rich, and effusive. A little goes a very long way. Compare this to Haitian vetiver, which in my experience, is softer, rounder - less sweet and more earthy.
Learning about these nuances filled me with wonder - I felt connected to the broader world system and more attuned to its nuances.
Botanical Scent Selection & Intent
My scents are most frequently added to body lotion, wash, or bath treatments, each with different considerations. Wash-off or water immersion products can require a lot of scent and are ephemeral (aka short-lived). Compare this to lotions and other leave-on products, where the scent and the biochemistry of your skin intermingle to create a new scent story and are much longer lasting.
Leave-on v. wash-off is generally first level of thinking when aligning a scent blend and a formulation. For wash-off formulas, most precious essential oils are not appropriate as primary notes, unless used sparingly and respectfully. It is wasteful and disrespectful to the plant or tree. Precious essential oils are defined by scarcity and renewability. Sandalwood is a perfect example to illustrate this point:
Sandalwood essential oil comes from trees of at least twenty years of age, extracted from the heartwood, at least twenty years of life lived before it reaches a state considered ready to harvest. The world’s most renowned Sandalwood (S. album) came from the Mysore region of India. The insatiable hunger for this beautiful and nuanced scent led to a near-extinction event of the Sandalwood forests of the region. India now heavily regulates their Sandalwood production and exports to rebuild what was lost. But the old-growth Sandalwoods are long lost to time, and it will be many generations before we experience the scents available to perfumers in the 19th c, if that ever happens.
Modern Sandalwood is more of a sibling of India’s true Santalum album trees. Plantations are emerging in Australia (Santalum spicatum), Hawaii (Santalum paniculatum), and New Caledonia (Santalum austrocaledonicum) that offer alternatives. Each adds its terroir to the scent of Sandalwood, illustrating the magic of how bioregionalism affects scent outcomes and how our scent experiences are always evolving.
Alternatively, synthetic Sandalwood fragrances have made great strides in recent years. While many synthetic aroma compounds and their blends have gotten a bad reputation, in some cases they have been essential to removing pressure from critically endangered resources and, when used sparingly and correctly, give us the chance to continue to experience these scents without damage to the environment.
If you see true Sandalwood oil or isolates in a formula you purchased, offer it your thanks, it has given up a great deal to get here.
Sensitivity & IFRA Standards:
I use IFRA standards to determine scent concentration by component for each blend and formula application. IFRA publishes accepted standards for the bio-chemical components of fragrance by use category. For each botanical component, I have guidelines of acceptable concentrations that guide my decisions when setting standards for botanical fragrance by formula. All of my formulas are botanical scent light - so more often than not, my concentrations don’t approach maximum values. I love scent, but I also have sensitive skin. As a result, every formulation is about total skin health, safety, and a beautiful aromatherapeutic experience.
Please do let me know questions. Happy to answer. XX A
