As the famous german poet Heinrich Heine said: "Perfumes are the feelings of flowers".
From innocent and pure to sensual and voluptuous, flowers are the true queens of perfume.
Discover 5 different perfumes that put flowers center stage, or envelop you with powdery musk.
White flowers like jasmine, orange flower and tuberose are indolic, sweet and opulent.
Rose is lemony fresh and romantic and is often combined with more powdery notes.
From the iris, not the flowers but the bulb is used in perfumery. It has to age for at least three years before its powdery, soft and earthy smell starts to shine, making it one of the most expensive ingredients in perfume.
For some flowers, like lily-of-the-valley, cyclamen or orchid, it's impossible to extract their smell. Their scent is recreated by combining different (synthetic) ingredients in a fantasy accord.
And there are many, many other flowers that play a smaller or bigger part in the composition of almost every perfume. The idea that flowers are only used in 'female' perfumes is therefore long since passed.
Musk originally was obtained from the glands of the musk deer who lives in the Himalaya. Fortunately, this cruel practice is no longer allowed and the musk deer is a now protected animal. Today, musk perfumes are created using botanical ingredients (like ambrette seeds) or synthetic components. The latter are called 'white musk' and smell clean, powdery and silky. Other 'musk' perfumes contain more 'dirty' components, referring to the original, animalic musk.
