Imagine walking through a garden filled with the most enchanting fragrances, so captivating that you wish to bottle them up and cherish them forever. But what if I told you there are some flowers whose scents are impossible to extract? These elusive blooms are known as silent flowers. Their enchanting aromas fill gardens and rooms, leaving perfumers devastated as they cannot harness their essence. No matter how desperately they try, perfumers cannot extract the scents of Lily of the Valley, honeysuckle, white Lily, lilac, gardenia, jacinth, syringa, or even sweet peas.
A Perfumer’s Greatest Challenge
Despite trying every extraction process known to humankind, fromion to volatile solvents, nothing works. It falls upon the shoulders of these skilled perfumers to reconstitute the scent of these mysterious flowers, a task as challenging as it is rewarding. Each perfumer has a steam distillat unique way of perceiving and restoring these elusive fragrances, and the true art of perfumery is herein.
The Art of Reconstitution
Reconstitution is the process of creating a mini-perfume that mimics the scent of a silent flower. This intricate concoction comprises around ten constituents, both synthetic and natural. In the world of natural perfumery, only essences and absolutes are used. No shortcuts or isolates are allowed! Mastering this art requires an in-depth knowledge of raw materials and the ability to control a plant’s olfactory totum.
The result? Each natural perfumer can offer olfactory variants of silent flowers that are greener, fresher, and uniquely their creation.
Recreating the Scent of Lily of the Valley
Let’s journey into the Lily of the Valley’s peaceful, carefree, and innocent world. It’s a scent that has eluded perfumers for centuries. Still, with a touch of creativity and knowledge, it can be recreated using a combination of synthetic and natural molecules:
- Phenylethyl alcohol (the green leaf side of the rose)
- Rose essence (the richness of the rose)
- Hydroxycitronellal (the Lily of the Valley green side of the rose)
- Rhodinol (the geranium and mint side of the rose)
- Citronellol (the fresh side and lemongrass of the rose)
- Linalool (the new side of the rose)
But what about using only natural raw materials? Fear not, for there are essences that are rich in the molecules mentioned above or have similar characteristics. For example, Chinese geranium, richer in citronellol, Damask rose, petitgrain for its green note, violet leaves abs., or litsea cubeba with its fresh green facet, can all be used to recreate the elusive scent of Lily of the Valley.