Read Essence and Alchemy Online
Authors: Mandy Aftel
Essence and Alchemy (16 page)
When you create a middle chord, you must remember that you will be adding it to a base chord, where it will contribute another layer of depth and complexity to the perfume. As in any other art form, it is important to practice restraint in the selection of elements. The bouquet must not only be pleasing in itself but also work in harmony with the perfume as a whole.
To construct a middle note for Alchemy, the perfume we began in the last chapter, we need to bear in mind the composition of its base chord, which contains amber, benzoin, and vanilla. These three base notes are very congenial and do not present much potential difficulty when choosing among the heart notes; we would have to select more carefully if we were building upon a base containing intense
or sharp notes like patchouli, vetiver, costus, angelica root, or ambrette. It is important as well to begin to imagine the top notes as you choose the middle ones. Complicated or charismatic top notes will require more restraint at this point than easygoing ones will.
or sharp notes like patchouli, vetiver, costus, angelica root, or ambrette. It is important as well to begin to imagine the top notes as you choose the middle ones. Complicated or charismatic top notes will require more restraint at this point than easygoing ones will.
For Alchemy, we'll continue with some compatible notes that almost everyone likesârose absolute, jasmine, and ylang ylangâand that will add a beautiful floral heart to our powdery base. We will need about eighteen drops of this middle chord:
8 drops rose absolute
7 drops jasmine absolute
3 drops ylang ylang extra
7 drops jasmine absolute
3 drops ylang ylang extra
Add each ingredient to the base chord drop by drop, making sure to smell after each new scent is added in order to take in the evolving changes in the blend.
Â
Here are some more middle chords to try, again with dominant note first.
Rosy, fruity:
rose geranium, litsea cubeba, Roman chamomile, rose
rose geranium, litsea cubeba, Roman chamomile, rose
Classic:
rose, jasmine, neroli
rose, jasmine, neroli
Exotic:
ylang ylang, jasmine concrete, kewda
ylang ylang, jasmine concrete, kewda
Radiant:
orange flower absolute, lemon verbena, lavender absolute
orange flower absolute, lemon verbena, lavender absolute
White blossoms:
tuberose, jasmine, champa
tuberose, jasmine, champa
Cool:
violet leaf, clary sage, orris butter
violet leaf, clary sage, orris butter
The Sublime and the Volatile Head Notes
There all is ordered loveliness,
Luxuriously calm, voluptuous.
Gleaming beds and chairs,
Polished by the years,
Such would decorate our chamber;
And the rarest blooms
Mix their soft perfumes.
Luxuriously calm, voluptuous.
Gleaming beds and chairs,
Polished by the years,
Such would decorate our chamber;
And the rarest blooms
Mix their soft perfumes.
â
Charles Baudelaire, “Invitation to the Voyage”
Charles Baudelaire, “Invitation to the Voyage”
79W
HEN YOU SMELL PERFUME, you absent yourself from habitual life and go on a journey. Scents materialize, one after the other, volatilizing and disappearing as if out of the mists on the horizon. There is a vitality to this carefully orchestrated unfolding, what we might call the
movement of scent
. This movement, this evolving of scented experience, is not a mere metaphor; we really feel it within ourselves. Smelling perfume is a meditation on what Gaston Bachelard calls “the fluid state
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of the imagining psyche.”
The radiant top notes are the invitation to this scented journey. They reach our noses first, establishing the scent's initial impression before they dissipate into the etherâliterally; the oils of which they are composed vaporize more rapidly than those of heart or base notes. Their evanescence makes them seem superficial, and in a sense
they are, yet a perfume that contains no head notes seems flat. As Bachelard puts it, “With air
81
, movement takes precedence over matter.” Just as movement is “an integral part of our inner lives,” top notes are an indispensable element in perfume.
they are, yet a perfume that contains no head notes seems flat. As Bachelard puts it, “With air
81
, movement takes precedence over matter.” Just as movement is “an integral part of our inner lives,” top notes are an indispensable element in perfume.
Top notes are easy to like, familiar, uncomplicated, strong but not heavy. They are sharp, penetrating, and extreme; either hot or cold, never warm. Many of them are familiar from cooking: herbs and spices such as coriander, spearmint, cardamom, juniper; citruses such as lime, bitter orange, blood orange, tangerine, pink grapefruit. Black pepper functions in perfume much as it does in cooking: at home in any blend, but only in small quantities, it offers pungency and definition. Sociable bergamot, used for flavoring Earl Grey tea, is comfortable in any company. Like your favorite clothing that forgives the extra desserts and lack of exercise, it never lets you look bad.
Top notes are inexpensive, easy to use, superficial, and spontaneous. Above all, they embody the experience of lightness, in the sense that Milan Kundera used it in
The Unbearable Lightness of Being:
“The absolute absence
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of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant.” They entice us into reacting, require us to be utterly in the present, seduce us out of our usual patterns of response. “Habit
83
,” Bachelard writes, “is the inertia of psychic development ⦠the exact antithesis of the creative imagination. The habitual image obstructs imaginative powers.” Because they last for such a brief time, top notes allow us to leave our ordinary course. The shifting nuances of scent that we experience with them can be imagined as the experience of change itself, grasped in the transition from one scent shape to another.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being:
“The absolute absence
82
of burden causes man to be lighter than air, to soar into the heights, take leave of the earth and his earthly being, and become only half real, his movements as free as they are insignificant.” They entice us into reacting, require us to be utterly in the present, seduce us out of our usual patterns of response. “Habit
83
,” Bachelard writes, “is the inertia of psychic development ⦠the exact antithesis of the creative imagination. The habitual image obstructs imaginative powers.” Because they last for such a brief time, top notes allow us to leave our ordinary course. The shifting nuances of scent that we experience with them can be imagined as the experience of change itself, grasped in the transition from one scent shape to another.
Being the most highly volatile, top notes are the least material of the perfume ingredients, straddling the physical and metaphysical worlds. It is no accident that they are called essences or spirits. Their
role in perfume corresponds to the alchemical process of
sublimatio.
Like the word
sublimation, sublimatio
derives from the Latin
sublimis,
meaning “high.” The distinguishing feature of sublimatio is elevation, the translation of a low substance into a higher form by an ascending movement.
role in perfume corresponds to the alchemical process of
sublimatio.
Like the word
sublimation, sublimatio
derives from the Latin
sublimis,
meaning “high.” The distinguishing feature of sublimatio is elevation, the translation of a low substance into a higher form by an ascending movement.
Sublimatio is a culminating process, the final transformation of the spirit from what has been created in time. A fixed body rises up, free of entanglements, and is volatilized. The spiritual is raised from the corporeal, the pure separated from the impure. So sublimatio describes the human effort at spiritual development as well, the attempt to discover a higher, better self. From above, we see more truly and completely.
The image derives, of course, from the chemical process of distillation, in which a solid is heated, passes into a gaseous state, and ascends to the top of the vessel, where, in a cooler atmosphere, it condenses. All top notes are essential oils and are rendered that way. They govern the mysterious process of diffusionâthe dissemination of molecules until a fragrance is evenly distributed within the available space. A diffusive perfume is one that quickly becomes apparent in the air.
The role of the top note, then, is both to lend definition to the perfume and to give it a starting point in the imagination of the smeller. From the standpoint of the perfumer, it finishes off the shape of the creation. A dull and powdery base note, for example, needs to be balanced with a sharp and shapely top note. As Edmond Roudnitska notes, “It is no mere chance
84
that our forebears called the list of constituents of a perfume and their proportions a âformula.' They must have felt, as they mixed their ingredients in the set proportions, that they were forming a shape and that this shape raised their mixture to the level of aesthetics.”
84
that our forebears called the list of constituents of a perfume and their proportions a âformula.' They must have felt, as they mixed their ingredients in the set proportions, that they were forming a shape and that this shape raised their mixture to the level of aesthetics.”
But while the top note marks the end of the journey of making the perfume, it also heralds the beginning of the journey of smelling
it. As the perfumer consummates her creation, she looks at it from above, from the point of view of the wearer. Seen from this perspective, the top note has an introductory relationship to the other elements. It is the first to come out and greet the person who opens the bottle of perfume. The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end in the dual processes of creation and experience.
it. As the perfumer consummates her creation, she looks at it from above, from the point of view of the wearer. Seen from this perspective, the top note has an introductory relationship to the other elements. It is the first to come out and greet the person who opens the bottle of perfume. The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end in the dual processes of creation and experience.
Alchemy has a symbol for this sort of circular process: the
ouroboros
âthe image of the serpent that devours itself and gives birth to itself. It stands for the unity that underlies the diversity of the cosmos, and the self-contained nature of the transformative process. Integration and assimilation lead to unification and creationâthe serpent eats its tail only to be rebornâand opposites are reconciled. In alchemy as in perfumery, what is heavy becomes light, what is light becomes fixed, what is above is below.
ouroboros
âthe image of the serpent that devours itself and gives birth to itself. It stands for the unity that underlies the diversity of the cosmos, and the self-contained nature of the transformative process. Integration and assimilation lead to unification and creationâthe serpent eats its tail only to be rebornâand opposites are reconciled. In alchemy as in perfumery, what is heavy becomes light, what is light becomes fixed, what is above is below.
The ouroboros
Here are some groups of top notes:
Â
Citrus
essences are tart, light, and fresh. They include bergamot, pink grapefruit, lime, lemon, blood orange, sweet orange, bitter orange, tangerine, and petitgrain. The best citrus oils for perfumery are cold-pressed from the peel instead of distilled. Citrus essences reach the smeller's nose immediately and directly, so differences in varieties are easy to grasp and interesting to play with.
essences are tart, light, and fresh. They include bergamot, pink grapefruit, lime, lemon, blood orange, sweet orange, bitter orange, tangerine, and petitgrain. The best citrus oils for perfumery are cold-pressed from the peel instead of distilled. Citrus essences reach the smeller's nose immediately and directly, so differences in varieties are easy to grasp and interesting to play with.
Sweet orange
, in the superior varieties that we now cultivate, was first brought to the West from southern China by the Portuguese around 1520. The sweet orange was introduced to the New World along with the lemon on Columbus's second voyage. From there they spread to the West Indian islands and to Florida. Depending on how and where it is expressed, sweet orange oil can range in color from pale to almost brownish orange. It has a sweet, light, fresh odor reminiscent of the scratched peel. Sweet orange is used in perfumery as a vibrant, simple top note and is my least favorite of the expressed orange choices available to the perfumer.
, in the superior varieties that we now cultivate, was first brought to the West from southern China by the Portuguese around 1520. The sweet orange was introduced to the New World along with the lemon on Columbus's second voyage. From there they spread to the West Indian islands and to Florida. Depending on how and where it is expressed, sweet orange oil can range in color from pale to almost brownish orange. It has a sweet, light, fresh odor reminiscent of the scratched peel. Sweet orange is used in perfumery as a vibrant, simple top note and is my least favorite of the expressed orange choices available to the perfumer.
Bitter orange
trees supply the perfumer with an encyclopedia of scents, as we have seenâneroli and orange flower absolute from the blossoms, petitgrain oil and
eau de brouts
from the leaves and twigs, and, from the peel of the fruit, bitter orange oil. As always, Arctander captures the nuances of bitter orange oil best: “The odor is very peculiar, fresh and yet âbitter' in the sense of âdry,' but with a rich and lasting sweet undertone. There are notes which remind of bergamot, grapefruit and sweet orange, but overall, the odor is distinctly different from that of other citrus oils. It is a different type of freshness, a peculiar floral undertone ⦠with good tenacity.” Bitter orange is dry and elegant and blends well with almost any other note.
trees supply the perfumer with an encyclopedia of scents, as we have seenâneroli and orange flower absolute from the blossoms, petitgrain oil and
eau de brouts
from the leaves and twigs, and, from the peel of the fruit, bitter orange oil. As always, Arctander captures the nuances of bitter orange oil best: “The odor is very peculiar, fresh and yet âbitter' in the sense of âdry,' but with a rich and lasting sweet undertone. There are notes which remind of bergamot, grapefruit and sweet orange, but overall, the odor is distinctly different from that of other citrus oils. It is a different type of freshness, a peculiar floral undertone ⦠with good tenacity.” Bitter orange is dry and elegant and blends well with almost any other note.
Grapefruit
oil is a relatively new essence, because the grapefruit itself has been in existence for only the past four hundred years, and until the beginning of the twentieth century it was a rarity. My favorite
grapefruit oil is cold-pressed from the peel of pink grapefruit. It is yellowish in color, with a fresh, citrusy, rather sweet odorâlighter and yet somehow more complicated than that of white grapefruit. Grapefruit is uplifting and reviving and blends well with basil, cedarwood, lavender, and ylang ylang.
oil is a relatively new essence, because the grapefruit itself has been in existence for only the past four hundred years, and until the beginning of the twentieth century it was a rarity. My favorite
grapefruit oil is cold-pressed from the peel of pink grapefruit. It is yellowish in color, with a fresh, citrusy, rather sweet odorâlighter and yet somehow more complicated than that of white grapefruit. Grapefruit is uplifting and reviving and blends well with basil, cedarwood, lavender, and ylang ylang.
Blood orange
is known for its unique red flesh and its intense taste. The oil pressed from its rind has a rich orange aroma with overtones of raspberry and strawberry. I adore it for the voluptuousness it lends to the top of a perfume. Even more than the other orange essences, it is prized for its antidepressant properties.
is known for its unique red flesh and its intense taste. The oil pressed from its rind has a rich orange aroma with overtones of raspberry and strawberry. I adore it for the voluptuousness it lends to the top of a perfume. Even more than the other orange essences, it is prized for its antidepressant properties.
Tangerine
essence is an infinitely better choice for perfumery than mandarin orange. Like the fruit, the oil is orange-colored, with a fresh, sweet odor and no dryness. It is lighter than blood orange but sweeter than bitter orange.
essence is an infinitely better choice for perfumery than mandarin orange. Like the fruit, the oil is orange-colored, with a fresh, sweet odor and no dryness. It is lighter than blood orange but sweeter than bitter orange.
Petitgrain
oil is yet another product of the bitter orange tree Citrus
aurantium,
this time from the green twigs and leaves. (Petitgrains are also made from the leaves and twigs of the lemon, lime, clementine, and mandarin trees.) Petitgrain oil has a pleasant, fresh odor reminiscent of orange flowers, with a slightly woody-herbaceous undertone. With its high odor intensity, petitgrain needs a light touch, but used with restraint it adds a refreshing note to perfumes.
oil is yet another product of the bitter orange tree Citrus
aurantium,
this time from the green twigs and leaves. (Petitgrains are also made from the leaves and twigs of the lemon, lime, clementine, and mandarin trees.) Petitgrain oil has a pleasant, fresh odor reminiscent of orange flowers, with a slightly woody-herbaceous undertone. With its high odor intensity, petitgrain needs a light touch, but used with restraint it adds a refreshing note to perfumes.
Bergamot
trees grow almost exclusively along the narrow coastal strip of the Italian region of Calabria. Their inedible fruit is lemon yellow and a little smaller than a sweet orange, about three inches in diameter. The oil is produced by expressing the peel of the nearly ripe fruit and is familiar to most people as the scent that dominates Earl Grey tea. When freshly pressed, it is green, but it fades to yellow or pale brown as it ages, particularly when exposed to sunlight, and the scent loses its radiant top note. It has an extremely rich, sweet lemon-orange scent that evolves into a more floral, freesialike scent, ending in a herbaceous-balsamic dryout. Although it is a citrus oil, it does not have the tang of the lemon or orange essences. In my custom perfume business, bergamot is the most frequently chosen top note. It lifts a depressed mood without sedating and soothes jangled nerves.
trees grow almost exclusively along the narrow coastal strip of the Italian region of Calabria. Their inedible fruit is lemon yellow and a little smaller than a sweet orange, about three inches in diameter. The oil is produced by expressing the peel of the nearly ripe fruit and is familiar to most people as the scent that dominates Earl Grey tea. When freshly pressed, it is green, but it fades to yellow or pale brown as it ages, particularly when exposed to sunlight, and the scent loses its radiant top note. It has an extremely rich, sweet lemon-orange scent that evolves into a more floral, freesialike scent, ending in a herbaceous-balsamic dryout. Although it is a citrus oil, it does not have the tang of the lemon or orange essences. In my custom perfume business, bergamot is the most frequently chosen top note. It lifts a depressed mood without sedating and soothes jangled nerves.
Bergamot
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