News- Perfume culture

Tonka Bean and coumarine, from the bean to crystals

This raw material is highly valued in perfumery and increasingly well known today for its use in pastry making. It has always been a source of fascination because it is a multifaceted product with incredible olfactory aspects.

In reality the tonka bean is the seed of Dipteryx odorata Willd (it lies inside the fruit shell). The tree, which reaches 20–25 meters in height, with a trunk measuring up to 1.20 meters in diameter, grows mainly in the tropical South American forests of Venezuela, Brazil and Guyana. It can also come from two other varieties of Dipteryx: wild Dipteryx oppositifolia Willd and Pteropus Taub.

Scents and savors : when smells meet taste

The gourmand theme is still very strong in perfumery. At the Victoires de la Beauté awards, prizes were given to a cotton-candy shower gel, banana cosmetic oil, and a caramel and argan mask. The winning perfume was Repetto (fruity, vanilla). But to limit oneself just to sweetness is simplistic. The current interest in cuisine is a very strong trend, in fact. Nicolas recommends reading the special issue of Courrier International called “Gastronomy, the planet’s new religion.”

Vetiver : a palette of woody fragrances

Vetiver : a palette of woody fragrances

Widely known and used since Antiquity, vetiver (or vetyver) is a perennial plant originating in southern India, whose name is derived from the Tamil word vettiveru (Tamil is the language spoken in Tamil Nadu). The people of India were the first to recognize vetiver’s aromatic and medicinal properties, as attest ancient ayurvedic treatises written in Sanskrit around the year 1,000 BCE.

In the perfumer’s palette, vetiver (Vetiveria zizanioïdes of the grass family) is often combined with precious raw materials such as jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang, neroli and patchouli.