Tzapan
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2 years ago - 10/01/2023
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The grand delusional art of synthetics.

Maybe it all started in 1984 when Pierre Wargnye added a detergent chemical in the composition of Drakkar Noir for Guy Laroche, it made his portion so cleaningly green and its conifers and herbs so ultra fresh that the fragrance got instant success and was considered a novelty fougere, away from the too leathery compositions which shouted "I am a macho man!" The chemical was dihydromyrcinol. In the versiion of the fragrance available now is not included and though quietened, compressed down I quite love this fragrance now. It is a clearer and crispier Dtakkar Noir. But let's go to nowadays and talk about gourmand, for example. How do you expect your perfume to smell of cherry? chocolate?caramel? toffee caramel?amaretto? By nature's resource? lol...Of course not. They are synthetics! And of course there are qualities and differences even in synthetics. Synthetic oud, synthetic amber, synthetic ambergris! Oops, my worse scenario is a fragrance to contain ambergris in the dry down. I know, I know...It is supposed to be powdery skin scent etc I am.still wondering why another powdery dry down?...

Let's be honest and see a couple of the finest examples of this contemporary art diving in gorgeous synthetics. In 1996 we probably saw the first man's gourmand and that was A*men by Thiery Mugler. It featured notes of rum, caramelised sugar in butter, lactonic notes of milk and coffee beans. All notes mentioned were synthetic and gradually the fragrance became popular ,I bought it in the turn of the  millennium during a trip to London. I loved it because when you think of London you think of Indian spices and buy curry and rice from Indian restaurants. And somehow this fragrance was rich in spices and patchouli and I combined it in my mind with London! The perfume made a brand for men and women. Moreover what was your initial impression when you first tried Baraonda Nasomatto on your skin?Didn't you feel you have discovered a woodsy clean, absolutely clean fragrance? However, Alessandro Gualtieri had tricked you all! When you visited Basenotes or Parfumo among the notes included you read: whiskey and ambroxide. Two synthetics with woods a bit of rose and rosewood. Genial! Finally we are moving on to 2022 to the latest update of Kenzo pour homme edp. We read  the list of notes which is only three notes : leather, sea notes,patchouli. But actually there is no patchouli at all in the synthesis. The devious perfumer has managed to synthesise palo Santo wood with peper! Thank you for reading this article and I hope you didn't feel like wasting your time! What is your opinion on the art of synthetics?

Last updated 10/01/2023 - 07:51 AM
4 Comments
ChillScentChillScent 2 years ago
1
In this article, I could understand that "synthetics" means "not- natural". Actually, I think Synthetics is more than that. Synthetics or man-made just a production in lab, not mention about the scent quality. ALdehydes in No.5 is full of synthetics, and it is organic, also smell fabulous.
In this day, consumers seem to reduce their standard (maybe they have no point for references), Designer frag is more chemicals, Niche is something that I cannot understand them.
TzapanTzapan 2 years ago
Chillscent,artificial cherry, artificial raspberry ,even vanilla (coumarin) are stronger than natural ones. Niche also uses chemicals you pay a fortune for a fragrance to have this highly artistic perfumery!
OmnipotatoOmnipotato 2 years ago
4
The history of synthetics in perfumery is much older than that! Coumarin was first isolated from tonka beans in 1820 and was first synthesized in a lab in 1868! It was used in the original Fougere Royale by Houbigant in 1882. The original Chanel No. 5 was also full of synthetic aldehydes. Whether it is to recreate notes that would otherwise be impossible to add to perfumes, add facets to perfumes that have no analog in the natural world, or imitate very expensive natural materials that would make buying or creating certain perfumes cost-prohibitive, synthetics are an extremely integral part of perfumery.
TzapanTzapan 2 years ago
Omnipotato thank you for the extra informative comment!

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