Hot Chocolate via Magda Fou-Unsplash for DEEP Dive into Vanilla
Vanilla. The word itself can plunge our memory into the sweet abyss. Memories of cold nights with a cup of hot cocoa, perhaps. The vanilla ice cream cone that melted in your hot, summer hands. The vanilla extract that added that perfect touch to your grandmother’s holiday cookies. Maybe it’s not a food memory at all.
It could very well be a special memory of a certain perfume that sweetened your past.
Jicky vintage bottle from a former team member’s collection
Vanilla in perfumery seems standard fare nowadays, but it wasn’t always that way. Without going too deep into the history of vanilla, Vanillin and Ethyl Vanillin were first synthesized in the mid-late 19th century. Guerlain was the first to introduce the fragrance world to these two molecules in their modern classics, Jicky (1889) and Shalimar (1921). In both fragrances, the (ethyl) vanillin added a sweet warmth and created an addicting sillage like never before. The perfume world was hooked.
Angel Bottle via Mugler (composed in 1992 by Olivier Cresp)
Fast forward to the modern era, and we find vanilla becoming the cornerstone of many fragrance pyramids. One vanilla perfume that still fills the “90’s aisle” of my memory warehouse is Angel by Thierry Mugler. I didn’t know it was Angel at the time. It wasn’t until my early 20’s when I smelled the classic at a fragrance counter and was catapulted back in time. My older cousin wore this fragrance in the late 90’s, and I never knew why she smelled like some chocolate concoction.
Michael Schrammel perfumer, For The Scent of It
One thing I was surprised to discover as I began studying perfumery, is that what we think smells like vanilla doesn’t usually come from the actual vanilla pod. Vanillin and Ethyl Vanillin are the culprits in most cases. Smell a vanilla pod once and you may be surprised at the lack of what we think of as “vanilla”. As a perfumer, there are many ways to create a vanilla note. These are some of the materials I use to do so. Let’s begin our descent.
Mouillettes alongside Vanilla Pods and Benzoin Tears-For the Scent of It©
Vanilla Absolute is created through a solvent extraction of fermented and sun-aged vanilla pods. The green pods have little odor when first harvested, but then go through a treatment process that draws the natural vanillin out and turns the pods brownish black. Only after this “curing” can the absolute be produced. The final product smells like a dense balsamic vanilla, quite sweet with a lot of vanillin and a soft spice.
Vanilla SFE (CO2) is created in a similar fashion to the absolute except this is extracted using supercritical carbon dioxide, capturing more of the pods’ natural aroma. This IS vanilla. It smells exactly as if you were to take a dark vanilla bean, slice it open, and smell it. Notes of spiced clove, a creamy nectar, a dash of burnt marshmallow over a campfire, slightly animalic which lends itself to leathers and tobacco accords. I like to use this to add a rustic vanilla note without all the sweetness.
Vanillin is the molecule that gives vanilla it’s sweet aroma. Powdery, sweet, and smells like, well, “vanilla”. I prefer to use natural vanillin extracted from clove. It just has a touch more depth to it due to trace impurities from its source. In a perfume, vanillin has many uses. Aside from sweet and gourmand, it softens citruses, creates amber notes, and can help round off most compositions. It can enhance the petal character in florals as well.
Ethyl Vanillin is a similar aroma to vanillin, but roughly 2x-3x stronger. To me, it recalls the smell of a freshly opened bag of hot chocolate with marshmallows. Very sweet, powdery, slightly dusty phenolic. It can add a lot of body to a fragrance, but care must be taken since over time it can conquer what seemed like a well-balanced perfume.
Isobutavan® (Givaudan) is a favorite of mine. It smells like cream soda, white chocolate, creamy apricot-esque lactone and orange. Nostalgically reminds me of a creamsicle. In the deep drydown, it becomes mostly a sweet take on the ingredient.
Ultravanil® (Givaudan) is a newer material for me. Without dilution, it is quite potent and smells like a vanilla sweetened, smoother creosol (think spicy clove smoked over a campfire). I have found in small amounts it can transform vanillin and ethyl vanillin into a more realistic vanilla. It also pushes spice notes giving them more volume and tenacity.
Benzoin has a cinnamic vanillic aroma. It can be used to create a long lasting, balsamic vanilla and blends wonderfully with white florals, helping them last longer. Too much, though, and other materials will drown. Different sources/extractions/varieties of benzoin offer different scent profiles and levels of sweetness. Benzoin Oliffac® (IFF) is used as a replacement for benzoin that’s much easier to work with. Keep pliers around if you are working with natural benzoin. That cap will get stuck, and it will annoy you.
So, as you can see, vanilla isn’t just vanilla. There are a variety of ways to create this delectable delight in a fragrance. Without this delicious aroma, there would be no Nearly Nu or Tobacco Pod from For the Scent of It. In Nearly Nu, it lends its silkier side to helping create a delicate cloud of sweet luxury. While in Tobacco Pod, vanilla strengthens the entire fragrance, adding body and a sweet harmony to the other notes.
Nearly Nu: Top: Musk Mallow Heart: Iris Base: Vanilla and Tobacco Pod: Top: Spices Heart: Bulgarian Tobacco Absolute Base: Vanilla, Cedarwood
And remember, with vanilla in perfumery, you can have your cake and smell it too.
Contributor, Michael Schrammel of For the Scent of It
For The Scent of It Nearly Nu and Tobacco Pod
Thanks to the generosity of perfumer Michael Schrammel, we have a FULL BOTTLE of your CHOICE OF For The Scent of It Nearly Nu or Tobacco Pod to give to one lucky random registered ÇaFleureBon reader IN THE CONTINENTAL US ONLY. Please register here or your comment will not count. To be eligible, please leave a comment with what intrigues you about vanilla in its many guises, which of the two perfumes offered you would like to win and indicate that you are in the Continental United States. Draw closes 2/7/2023
All photos are owned by For the Scent of It perfumes, unless otherwise stated.
Editor’s Note: It is with great pleasure that artisan perfumer Michael Schrammel. who was my 2022 Best of Scent ‘Best Discovery” is now taking over the Notes from the Lab Column –Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief
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