Oriental Perfumes

The idea of the Oriental perfume goes back as far as recorded history.  The people of ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia and Rome were using the resins, balsams and spices available to them to create sacred incense and unguents.

The first modern Oriental perfume was Shalimar by Guerlain, created in 1921. It was formulated using a relatively new synthetic molecule, vanillin. Combined with labdanum and coumarin it formed the base of the perfume, along with incense and opoponax. The heart is composed of jasmine, rose and iris with lemon and lots of bergamot on top.
Shalimar caught the attention of the public at the perfect moment, when 1920's Europe was swept away by the exoticism and passion of the East.  It set a lasting trend that still intrigues and excites.

Oriental perfumes are almost always built around an amber accord.  There is no such thing as amber essential oil.  The accord is composed of a combination of vanilla and labdanum.  Other resinous notes are added for distinction, some to sweeten such as tonka bean or balsams, and some to darken and deepen like frankincense, myrrh and opoponax.

Oriental perfumes are further classified as Classical, Spicy, Woody, Soft (Incense) and Floral. Classical Oriental perfumes are dark and animalic with heady florals.  Shalimar is a perfect example. Spicy Orientals have a dry, woody base with spicy top note. Woody perfumes have a luminosity characterized by sandalwood and other rich woods.  Soft Orientals are darker and warmer but are less balsamic and animalic that Classical varieties.  They are ethereal and elegant with mysterious notes of incense and amber.  Floral Orientals combine the softness of florals with the warmth of orientals. Sweet spices mix with florals to create a sensual scent with depth and complexity.

To learn more and to create your own you can attend my Amber/Oriental Natural Perfumes class on Sunday, July 19th.

Amber

Amber, the fossilized resin.

There is no such thing as amber essential oil.  Essential oils (and absolutes for that matter) are derived from plants.  There is no one single plant that creates the note "amber". Some regard a certain species of fir grown in the Himalaya's as the source of the note but that would be false.  The oils we identify as "amber oil" are really proprietary blends, secret formulas, of oils and resins blended together to produce a warm, rich, caramel-like note. The concept of amber came into being in the late 19th Century with the development of vanillin (a synthetic vanilla) which was combined with labdanum, the exudate of Cistus labdanum.

Amber is a primary ingredient in Oriental perfumes, a classification heralded by Guerlain's Shalimar, which used vanillin, labdanum and coumarin (the principal note in tonka bean) to create a sweet, warm, powdery and erotic fragrance.  Not all Oriental perfumes, however, are ambery.  Opoponax and other balsamic and resinous materials are used as bases as well creating a wider spectrum of Orientals.

There are materials that are often confused with amber. The prehistoric tree, Pinus succinifera, produces a fossilized resin used in jewelry making.  A process called destructive distillation is used to produce a material called fossilized amber, or Baltic Amber. Most of what I've smelled is not pleasing and so not used much in perfumery.  I've sourced out a beautiful oil that is deep, rich and smokey with a subtly sweet and lasting dry down. Ambergis is the waxy secretion of the sperm whale.  It is secreted by the gastrointestinal tract of the whale to coat and soothe it from the sharp beaks of it's favorite meal, the cuttlefish.  The mass is excreted and floats on the ocean.  The synergy of sun and salt water transform it into a sensual, warm and somewhat ambery perfume substance that lasts and lasts. Ambrette is rendered from a type of hibiscus and is referred to as the vegetal equivalent of musk.  It is ever so slightly ambery (but more animalic) and becomes sweeter during its long dry down.

Cistus labdanum

Natural perfumers seeking to create amber accords will most heavily rely on labdanum. As well as vanilla, other balsamic materials are used to create the chord.  Benzoin, from the tree Styrax tonkenensis, is secreted when the tree is injured and is soft, warm and caramel-like with a powdery drydown. Styrax, from Liquidambar orientalis, is another tree resin and smells a little like glue and cinnamon.  Other materials would be Peru Balsam, Balsam Tolu, opoponax and tonka bean.  Other camphorous materials, incense resins, florals and woods are included to add distinction.

Amber Oil

Years ago, after reading about the realities of amber, I attempted to create my own amber accord.  I collected every material I'd ever read might be included in formulating the accord and began to create my own.  It's wonderful - and useful - to have my own formula to use for blending perfumes.  Pleased with my concoction, I made my own version of Amber Oil (available on my website and Etsy store).

On the heels of my recent Spice Route perfume class (and the resultant research I did) I'm teaching a class on Amber and Oriental perfume making in my home studio in Brooklyn on Sunday, July 19th. We'll review the Oriental classification and pass around some examples of established and niche perfumes.  Resins, balsams, florals and spices that were discovered along the Spice Route will be discussed, explored and available to work with to create two perfumes.  For more information and to register look here.

Resins and Balsams

My recent class on the Spice Route has me surrounded by various resins and balsams.  They're a principal ingredient in Oriental perfumes and have been used as a fixative since the dawn of the spice route.  I've looked up the definitions of both, as well as gum and oleoresin, and they all appear to be the same.  

According to Elena Vosnaki :
"The distinction between resin and balsam is one of form, on a fundamental level: Simply put and generalizing, resinous materials come in the form of solidified, gum-like "tears" seeping from the elixir vitae circulating into the bark of big trees, such as the Boswellia Carteri (which produces frankincense). Balsams on the other hand are tricky materials, not necessarily tree secretions, often coming as they do from flower pods or bushy twigs (such as vanilla orchids or the Mediterranean rockrose). But there are exceptions to every rule: Opopanax, though resinous smelling itself, actually comes from a herb, opopanax chironium.
So the real focus when referencing balsamic and resinous terminology is how the materials actually smell and how they're different or common in scent, rather than what their origin is.  Therefore, for ease, resinous & balsamic materials are classified into 3 distinct olfactory profiles according to their aromatic properties first and foremost." 

Styrax from the Liquidambar orientalis tree, smells a little like cinnamon and glue.

In my mind balsams such as benzoin, peru balsam, tolu balsam and labdanum are sweeter and softer. They're gentler and enveloping and add a fixative quality to florals.  Resins like frankincense, myrrh, oppoponax and styrax are widely used in incense and have a more defined characteristic.  They're usually antiseptic so have a medicinal quality to them.

These materials are the basis for Oriental and Amber perfumes, some of the first perfumes, created since antiquity.  In ancient Egypt, Greece, Cyprus, Mesopotamia and classical Rome resins and balsams were combined with sweet and pungent spices and exotic flowers to create perfume for the gods.

I'll be hosting and Oriental/Amber perfume workshop in July in my home studio.  Email me for more information or to register.

Amber resin