Sunday, December 17, 2006

Fig

On the Yahoo group: Perfume Making, we're talking about how to create a fig scent. There is a fig leaf absolute but the absolute can't be used in a perfume because it's extremely phototoxic. This photoxicity is because of bergapten a component also found in bergamot and the component angelicin. I found an article about angelicin that you can read here where is told that angelicin was tested on the skin of mice and the outcome was that it produced skin cancer when administered with ultraviolet A radiation. Also Ifra(The International Fragrance Association) says that fig leaf absolute can't be used in fragrances.

I like to eat figs they are honeysweet and I heard that figs are real healthy. I like the smell of fig leaves as well, my brother has a fig tree in his garden and the smell of the leaves are wonderful. So I tried to make a fig scent not the scent of the fresh figs but the dried figs and a fig leaves scent.

This is what I made for the dried fig scent so far, I used benzyl alcohol(light floral), linalool(floral woody, rosewood like), amyl cinnamic aldehyde(waxy jasmine), benzaldehyde(almond like), coumarine(tonka like), benzyl benzoate(balsamic), exaltolide(musky), maltol(sugary), ethyl phenyl acetate(honey like), ylang ylang oil(exotic), vanillin and indole(animalic).

The smell of it does smell like dried fig indeed but it needs more of a dark sweet scent so I think for the next batch I will use also some labdanum absolute, beeswax absolute for the honey note and some Geranyl acetate to sweeten it and maybe some amyl salicylate as well for a sweet herbal orchid like note.

I also tried to make a fig leaf scent and used stemone(fresh green), galbanum oil( green), linalool, benzyl acetate(fresh jasmine fruity), beta ionone(woody violet), leaf alcohol(smells like fresh cut grass), cis 3 hexenyl acetate(green leaf), styrallyl acetate(green gardenia rhubarb), lindenblossom base, vertelione(violet leaf like), Phenylethyl dimethyl acetate(pungent green), black pepper oil and cyclogalbanate(green galbanum pineapple).

It's a nice green leaf scent but I want to make it more green maybe a bit deeper green, so the experiments will go on.

6 comments:

chayaruchama said...

What a delicious scent, Jenny !

I'll admit, I've always loved fig, but somewhat recently, it was the 'marketable fragrance of choice' that tired me...

Much the same way as 'oceanic' wore me out- although, when Comptoir and Issey Miyake began it, it was so refreshing.

Sensory overload can spoil the enjoyment of anything...

Oh, for the day when I will sniff some of your work !

I look forward to it.

Be well, lieve meisje !

Jenny said...

Hi Chaya,
I love to experiment and I love the smell of figs so why not try to create it. Is there any scent you would like in a perfume?
The perfume I created is maturing and will be send to you half January, can you email your address to me privately?
Have a fragrant day.
Jenny

Octavian Coifan said...

or maybe this kind of Fig - Eau Fraiche:

Bergamot 1500
Stemone 100
Cardamom oil 10% 200
Cassis Base Firm. 100
Hedione 2000
Octalactone γ 10% 300
Iso E Super 2000
Ambrettolide 200
Galaxolide 50% DEP 2000

Jenny said...

Thank you Octavian, I will try that one too. I never thought on using cardemom until now I used black pepper and myrcene. Don't you love the smell of Stemone?

Octavian Coifan said...

stemone & octalactone is already a little fig. :)))) I like stemone but I don't use it very much.

Jenny said...

Yes that's true, I played around with Stemone and used it in two perfumes right now, I just love green notes. What's your favorite natural and chemical Octavian?