The flowers around me are so inspiring these days. I can't get enough of smelling all these lovely fragrances. A lot of flowers are blooming in my garden and I can't resist to smell them every time I pass by them. When I smell them I wonder in my head what it is that makes these flowers smell so great. Last week my mother gave me beautiful flowers of Peony out of her garden they are white with little purple red spots on them. The funny thing is that the petals, that are soft like velvet, have a heart shape. The smell of these flowers are incredible it's soft, clean and fresh at the same time. It doesn't smell like roses, although it has some similarities, the smell of a rose is deeper. I took the vase with the flowers with me outside and went to my garden sitting at the table. I took also some of my aroma chemicals with me outside, and smelled the material that I thought would be in it and compared the smell of it with the flowers, to be sure if it is really in it or not.I can smell Citronellol a component that also occurs in rose, Citronellol has a rosy but also a bit of a citrus kind of odor. I also detect a Linalool note, Linalool occurs naturally in Lavender, Rose wood and many other plants and flowers. Linalool has a soft floral and a bit of a woody odor. Peony also has a little bit of a green note, what I think can be coming from Aldehyde Lauric C12, which has a clean fresh green smell. There is no doubt that it also contains some Geraniol which also occurs in rose and so many other flowers and even fruits. The smell of this flower also does remind me a bit of Honeysuckle somehow, so I guess that it also contains some Geranyl Acetate. I created my own Peony base based on this experiment and the similarity with the the smell of the real Peony flowers is striking. As far as I know there is no essential oil or absolute made from the flowers of Peony. I create a lot of my own bases this way, like I did with the flowers of Snowball Viburnum for example. These bases are not perfumes, but I use them as building blocks in my creations. I can't wait for the other flowers to bloom.
13 comments:
How marvellous to find such inspiration !
Peonies remind me of women , in general.
They are somewhat fleeting[don't last in the garden like marigolds, for example !], but so lush...
I smelled my first viburnum recently, and was blown away by that !
Narcotized, was more like it...
Hope you are well and happy, lievje.
I have 5 Peony plants that are just about ready to burst open. Since they came with the house and we did not plant them, I have no idea what color they will be. I'm hoping a deep pink, but any color will be lovely. Thye are truly one of God's most beautiful flowers with their hundreds of petals and gentle fragrance.
Have a great day!
Dear Jenny
I felt like at home when reading your post this morning. Sitting next to an old rose bush (almost a tree), sniffing and smelling some ingredients, dissecting and failing to bring everything together...
Nature's scents are so inspiring! Fragrant wishes and lots of inspiration to you!
Hi lieve Chaya,
Poenies are very feminine, their appearances, as well as their smell. Somehow I get a tender and soft feeling inside when I watch, touch and smell these flowers. Filled with respect I want to touch the soft velvet petals of it, and close my eyes and take a deep breath of this incredible beautiful flower.
Yes, the smell of Viburnum Snowball can really blow you away, it does have a narcotic smell, but the smell is ohh so lovely. To use it as the dominant note in a fragrance would be too much, but it would wonderfully blend with other flowers that temper the powerful smell of this flower.
I'm real fine Chaya and very happy, I'm in the mood for creating...... I hope you are fine too.
Veel liefs!
Dear Joyce,
Oh that would be a nice surprise than. I have a dark read peony in my garden but it didn't open yet. I must say that the white peonies of my mothers garden do smell better than the dark read peony that I have.
Yes I agree, these are one of the most beautiful flowers I know. The flowers are so breathtaking beautiful that it almost feel decadent or exuberant.
Have a great day too, Joyce!
Dear Andy,
Isn't it so much fun to smell all these lovely flowers around you? It's so nice to know that you do the same when you smell the flowers. I can't help it, when I smell flowers I instantly try to analyze the smell of it and want to know what it is that makes these flowers smell so great. Gladly it doesn't take away the fun of smelling the flowers, in fact it gives so much more fun to it.
We have a whole summer to sniff all these lovely flowers, and don't forget to sniff the flowers of your neighbours garden as well, you might find some new surprises there.LOL
Fragrant wishes and a lot of inspiration to you too Andy!
i have a question, how does a person begin to make their own perfumes?, lately something has been calling me into the perfme making thing, thanks!!
Dear Enrique,
That's not so easy to explain in just a couple of words. You can choose to do simple blends and stop right there or going to explore the craft further. That's what I did. I started reading books about perfumery and essential oils and wanted to create real perfumes, not simple blends. To create real perfumes is complicated.
If you like to know more about this craft I would suggest you join my group at Yahoo. This group has more than 450 members, some members are experienced perfumers and some are new in this field. There is a place for everyone on this group. I also created perfume making lessons, and right now we started special posts for the new perfume makers, to explain the craft a bit better to them. You are more than welcome to join the group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/perfumemaking/
try some eucalyptol and caryophilene(traces), some citral (traces) and also some indol.
peonies are between lilly of the valley and rose for the smell.
Hi Octavian,
Thanks for the info. I didn't use caryophyllene or eucalyptol, I used Myrcene for the peppery spicy note. I used materials like
Linalool-Geranyl acetate-Citronellol-Geranyl acetone-cis 3 Hexenyl sallicylate-cis 3 Hexenyl Caproate-Geraniol-Phenylethyl alcohol-Myrcene-Aldehyde C12 Lauric among others.
do you have any idea why there is no peony essential oil? I would love to use it if there were!
Hi, I think it's because it doesn't have enough essential oil. They would need too many flowers to get just a couple of drops essential oil.
Oh the smell of the peony. and when we moved I left them back at the old house. A friend gave me a huge bouquet of the white peonies you mentioned you had. Amazing! Oh I can't get enough of them. I purchased some peony eau de toilette tonight but I am not sure it will smell quite like a real peony. They were my wedding flower and it so reminds me of that day. Do you sell your mixed oil essences? Or would you consider selling some? I make candles and would love to have a peony candle but do not have the skills or time to mix my own oils (two kids, photography teacher, photography business, etc etc etc) I'm desperately looking for something that is as close as possible. thanks for considering.
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