ÇaFleureBon Notes From the Lab: Fantasy Notes + choose your fantasy giveaway

What are fantasy notes

A.I. by Michael

Fantasy notes. A bit of a misnomer in perfumery, if you ask me. Why?

A perfume is, in itself, a fantasy. It cannot exist without a little imagination from the perfumer. Almost everything in that bottle you’re smelling is fantasy. Even when a perfumer is recreating the smell of something of reality, we use a little of our imagination to do so. An orange smells like an orange, but to have it growing on a tree under a blue sky…ahh, herein lies the fantasy. Perfumes are fantastical tales written by authors, aka perfumers. Each material a sentence, an accord a page, a note a chapter. Just as Tolkien can trigger a reader’s imagination, so too can someone like Ropion trigger a wearer.

Take for instance Grand Soleil, the newest release here at For the Scent of It. There is a combination of both “imaginary” and “real” notes, all creating one fantastical view of a hidden oasis tucked high in the mountains with a fountain of youth in its center. Shiso leaf comes from its essential oil, while the goji berry is a fantasy note from an accord. The fountain of youth is represented by an “orange blossom water”, which is a fantasy note, yet it contains a non-fantasy material: orange blossom absolute. The lines are quite blurry in perfumery.

Fantasy notes in Perfumery

First off, what even is a “fantasy note”?

Fantasy notes have different definitions depending on who you ask. Some consider them to be “naturals” that do not have a means of extraction and must be recreated, i.e.; a peach, an orchid, litchi, tulip. Tulip and  orchid are both considered fantasy notes because their essences can’t be readily extracted and must be recreated by nose or by analysis. Yet, a Rose and Jasmine are not because they have a means of extraction. Think about that for a second. Realistically, 9 times out of 10, that rose and jasmine you’re smelling was recreated by the perfumer just like a tulip would be and may not contain even a trace of real jasmine or rose. So, I ask, isn’t this too now fantasy?

Ingredients used to reproduce floral perfumes

Mouillettes, For the Scent of It

I’ll explain. Take Linalool, Linalyl Acetate and Limonene, some Citronellol and Phenethyl Alcohol, and some Benzyl Acetate and Hedione®️. Extremely basic and simplified, that could equate to Bergamot, Rose, and Jasmine in a notes pyramid, respectively. These three would never be considered “fantasy notes”. But aren’t they having been recreated by the perfumer’s creativity? I personally find that interesting. This by no means diminishes the mystique of perfumery, but in my opinion, rather enhances it. To create something, one molecule at a time, with the imagination and creativity of a child with a fresh set of Legos.

Tulip perfumes are created by using fantasy notes, ingredients that cannot be extracted from the flower

Tulips Reaching for the Sun, For the Scent of It

How do you create a tulip or an orchid note though? What’s nice about these notes is that they are more so “general representations”. There are so many species of both flowers, all having their own aroma, or lack thereof. A tulip reaching for the sun can be created using a combination of light floral materials that smell of rose and muguet, another fantasy note. Some tulips can be sweeter with shades of green, while others have slight anise and spice notes. The sunshine above could be created using bright aldehydes and citruses; the ground below using patchouli and materials like Terrasol (Bedoukian), with its rich character of damp soil and fallen foliage.

Orchid perfumes use fantasy notes

Little Star Orchid, Aravind Tarugu Unsplash

With well over 20,000 species of orchids, it’s safe to say you can let your imagination run wild. Depending on the perfumer’s vision, an orchid note might have a sweet, vanillic aroma (vanilla bean comes from a type of orchid) with notes of jasmine and spices. Another orchid might smell of muguet with hints of rose and honey. Another perfumer’s orchid might smell of salicylates, which have a faintly herbal, solar, floral aroma and were used in many sunscreens. There actually were extensive studies done on the headspace of orchids by a man named Roman Kaiser. He helped pioneer the development of headspace technology that is used to analyse the aromas of flowers, fruit, etc. Using GC/MS, he was able to study the compositions of different species of orchids. Perfumers were then able to take this information and create orchid accords to use in their perfumes. What I find interesting is the fact that rose and jasmine accords/notes are created using headspace technology too.

Some consider fantasy notes to be those with which are complete fabrications of the perfumer’s mind and have no accessible aroma or extraction, ie; the smell of outer space, a tennis ball, metal, unicorn tears. Something like unicorn tears, now THAT is a fantasy note. Something that has absolutely no known smell and must be completely dreamt up. That, to me, is where the real fantasy lies. There’s no headspace analysis that can be done like with an orchid or tulip. Only the perfumer’s imagination and ingenuity.

What do unicorns smell like

Teardrop, Noah Grossenbacher Unsplash

Let’s talk about unicorn tears. Nobody knows what a unicorn’s tears smell like. But, with a little salty saline, a neon glow, some whispers of hair and a cotton candy sweetness and your imagination soars thinking the perfumer journeyed into the Forbidden Forest to find the mythical creature. A saltiness can be created using oceanic materials like Adoxal© (Givaudan) and ambergris, some coriander, vetiver, and salicylates. Like writing an imaginative story, the materials-the ink; the pipettes-the quill.

Neon. Therein lies a fantasy note. How would I create the smell of neon? Let’s do this one together. The process in my mind for creating a complete fabrication of the smell of neon light. Let’s begin.

Neon notes in perfumes

Neon Sign, For the Scent of It

First, I ask myself, “what would neon smell like if its image was an aroma?”. Fuzzy. Glowing pinkish hues that are almost otherworldly. Warm. Radiating. Rosy. Smooth, yet also harsh against the dark of the night.

Neon Rose Oxide Mouillette

Neon Rose Oxide Mouillette, For the Scent of It

Second, “what materials might translate these descriptors?” The first that jumps to my mind is rose oxide. Coincidentally, this material is often used in many notorious fantasy notes found throughout perfumery (blood, litchi, metal, etc, etscentera). Rose oxide is rather harsh and metallic rose geranium that almost tickles your nose with its freshly painted nails. From this material, I would build upon my descriptions of a Neon light.

As you can see, there is no one answer nor path to these notes. My neon in that moment was red, while yours could be blue. Unicorn tears to one nose might smell like a mermaid’s hair to another. Welcome to the Fantastical World of Perfumery!

Fun little moment: My wife read this and said, “I feel like I finally have an understanding of how you begin a perfume.”

Now I ask, what’s your fantasy?

Michael Schrammel of For the Scent of It Perfumes

Michael Schrammel is a Contributor for www.cafleurebon.com

Michael is the owner, perfumer and everything in between at For the Scent of It perfumes. His persistence, creativity, and desire to create an atmosphere drive his fragrance development. Self-trained, Michael started studying the art of perfumery in 2015 before launching For the Scent of It perfumes in 2021.

Read his Profile in American Perfumery here

All photos are owned by For the Scent of It perfumes, unless otherwise stated.

For the scent of it perfumes

As a thank you for enjoying Michael’s Notes from the Lab, For the Scent of It will be offering a 5 Sample Discovery Set of YOUR CHOOSING ! 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 entered, in the comments section below, describe what fantasy note would intrigue you most to see created by a perfumer. Let your imagination run wild. Draw closes 4/24/2023

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20 comments

  • I want to know what the alien diva Plavalaguna from the Fifth Element would smell like. Maybe outer space, which I’ve heard smells like burnt wires and raspberries, clay brick, and some extra terrestrial mix of florals and musk. Fun! I would love to check out samples from For the Scent of It. Crossing my fingers in the USA!

  • Brad Woolslayer says:

    I love the note of rhubarb, so I’d love to see more fantasy notes based on it. Perhaps the scent of freshly picked rhubarb mixed with some sweetened strawberrys, then served over ice cream. This would be a fantasy gourmand for me. I live in Maryland USA.

  • As a Bowie and NASA fan … obviously STARDUST. There’s so many ways you can interpret it. Metallic, chemical, fruity, dark incensey …. so many possibilities. Thanks for the opportunity, Southern CA here.

  • kusudamakitten98 says:

    This was such a fun read! I feel like I got a glimpse into the creative process behind making a fragrance. A couple ideas of possible fantasy notes — Circe’s potions from the Odyssey (I would imagine something animalistic mixed with sweet honey and wine) and tears of joy (to me, this would be a mix of aquatic accords and bright florals). Also, I would love to see a perfume based on Lavender Haze (I suppose either the Taylor Swift song or the 50’s phrase it’s based on) and the idea of a love glow that protects a couple from the outside world.

    From NJ, USA

  • It’s really nice to see For The Scent Of It growing and moving from Etsy to their own website. A scent that I would really be interested in seeing be made would Lunar Dust. From TX, USA.

  • This is amazing how the imagination works together with an olfactory perception of the world recreation such an increase piece of art. Love the article. Would love to get to know the scents. Thanks from NY, USA

  • My fantasy note is raw, fresh cut pumpkin, like carving a jack o’lantern on Halloween. That raw silk, slightly sugared vegetable sap smell that doesn’t contain a shred of vanilla or cinnamon or other ‘pumpkin’ notes that are all over perfumery. It is my Holy Grail and I have never found anything even remotely close to it.
    Love this article: it was far more educational than I thought it would be and read like entertainment. Well done!!

  • What an excellent essay, Michael.
    Intriguing, informative and encourages dreaming and creativity!

    Cheers!

  • Very informative article by Michael. I agree that even the perfume with most realistic, natural notes and ingredients, is an exercise in imagination, hence a fantasy. I am curious what perfumes Dolores in Westworld would wear (scientific fiction fantasy series on HBO). Thanks for a very interested article and draw. From continental United States.

  • After reading Nicoleta’s Best of Show Esxence 2023, I became fascinated with J-scents’ Hisui fragrance, which draws inspiration from Japan’s national stone. Ever since then, I have been curious about how Jade might be interpreted from the olfactory perspective of a perfumer. Thank you for the topic from DE, USA

  • foreverscents says:

    I love the idea of fantasy notes. It is so interesting to think that flowers like tulips are not used to extract their scent. Perfumers have to use their magic to approximate such a scent. My fantasy note would be the backstage dressing area of ballet dancers.
    I live in the USA.

  • In the Bible, Jesus tells his followers in Matthew 10:16 to be “Wise as snakes and innocent as doves.” I have often thought that both of these titles would be fabulous fragrance concepts!
    Wise as Serpents would have this damp, rich earthy opening with vetiver and ozonic notes, blood orange, and sandalwood — almost like a snake slithering in the grass. It would fade to base notes of labdanum and church incense with animalic undertones.
    Innocent as Doves would start out as a white floral with lily-of-the-Valley, olive leaf, currant, lemon and honey, then fade to fragrant spices, sage and church incense with a Cambodian oud backdrop.
    Thanks for this generous draw! I perused For The Scent of It’s website for a bit and found several fragrances that interested me.
    Indiana, USA

  • Regis Monkton says:

    I saw Michael Schrammel on a livestream on J.J. Colbourne’s YouTube channel, and I appreciated seeing what Michael is like and that he seems knowledgeable concerning perfumery. I’m certainly intrigued to try fragrances he’s made. I can like certain fantasy notes, e.g. perfumer Paolo Terenzi made a note called “red sand”, and it’s used in one of my favorite fragrances. I’m not sure what kind of “fantasy” note I’d like to experience, but it could be of some kind of ancient, extinct plant and that it’s very pleasant at the same time. Thanks for the generosity. I live in MD, U.S.A.

  • I’m really enjoying this Notes from the Lab series (I liked it on Facebook too) and hope they continue. Like Michael’s wife pointed out, they’re a really interesting glimpse at the creative process. Also, very informative—I didn’t realize peach, orchid, litchi, and tulip were all naturals that can’t be extracted for perfumery. I particularly enjoyed the detailed breakdown of how Michael would create a neon smell. Excellent write-up.

    Of the two definitions of “fantasy notes,” I’m most impressed by those are complete fabrications, but also reference very literal smells that seemingly defy replication. I’d like to experience the sun captured in a fragrance; not a summer’s day citrus, but the literal radiation-blasting, molten churn of a burning star. I’m thinking of the film Sunshine (2007) captured in a perfume.

    I’m in the midwest, USA.

  • Gnossiennes says:

    Thanks for the lovely writing, Michael.
    My fantasy notes may be the late autumn air that tells us winter is coming. It may be related to the humidity and in my understanding, the molecule amounts may be too low to be captured and represented in the fragrance. But fragrances of this kind may arouse my nostalgia.
    During reading, I was thinking about Oliver & Co’s Nebula 1, an artwork that uses the notes to re-present the colours and to interpret the image of a nebula. So, I was thinking why not let the perfumer takes the lead, and let the fragrances themselves indicate the best approach of imagination? As Micheal writes about unicorn tear and neon, I would be open to all the fragrances and look forward to seeing how the perfumers recreate the worlds in olfaction. Thanks again for bringing this new perspective on notes!
    Love from San Mateo, California.

  • Bryant Worley says:

    I’ve always liked the smell of gasoline, so let’s use that as my fantasy note. Also, the smell of rain-soaked concrete, on a humid day.

    I’d really like to sample your creations.

    I live in Waldorf, Maryland, USA.

  • I like comparing the fragrance molecules to legos. I mostly focus on the notes when I research a fragrance, didn’t give much regard to the ‘why’ the perfumer composed those specific notes. It truly is artistic and scientific. My fantasy scent would be eating my grandma’s fig pinwheel cookies on a mediterranean beach with my grandma. Thanks for the chance. USA.

  • sephrenia300 says:

    Lovely article! The fantasy note that would intrigue me most to see created by a perfumer is the scent of sorcery! Something dark and dangerous and seductive, with plenty of mystery. I live in the continental US.

  • wallygator88 says:

    Thanks for the really nice writeup Michael. It was really cool to get an insight into your perfuming.

    I was lucky enough to win a sample of this fragrance and enjoyed going over it and figuring it out.

    Cheers from WI, USA