alpha aromatics®In this post, discover what notes make up the characteristics of floral fragrances, and why their timeless beauty and fragrant delights are often used within perfumes and scented products.
Flowers have been the essence of delightful fragrances since the ancient Egyptians, Greeks and Romans blended plant-based ingredients including: blooms, leaves, seeds, woods, resins and gums to create scented oils that both adorned the human body and were burned as incense in homes and sacred temples.
Perfumes were worn by athletes, aristocrats, politicians, and royalty and they were integral to ancient culture because they became symbols of status and prosperity.
They also were designated for medicinal use in the treatment of lung and skin ailments and ultimately became part of an enduring trinity fusing ritual, beauty and commerce.
Archeological records indicate that in ancient Egypt, Palestine, and the Roman Empire, perfume factories were often situated near sacred temples, and they were always at work producing the great quantities of fragrances that were needed on daily basis.
On the island of Cyprus at Pygros, a 2003 archeological expedition uncovered a perfume-making workshop dating back to circa 1850 B.C., which is the oldest in the world to date.
Throughout the ancient world, perfume creation was a prolific ritual.
Tablets from Crete, Thebes and Mycenae document perfume processing, and frescoes from Rome and Egypt depict the art of perfume making. Frescoes from Pompeii and Herculaneum feature bands of cupids mixing scents in perfume shops.
What Are The Characteristics of Floral Scents?
Floral notes are often described as “figurative” or “abstract” and there are many of them, each of which is totally diverse from all others.
They are derived from the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that are emitted by petals and other floral tissues.
They comprise the most popular fragrance family used by expert perfumers.
Considered an ultra-feminine category and probably the most recognizable at first sniff, floral scents conjure a kaleidoscope of images relating to the warmth of summer gatherings and the exquisite bouquet of splendid, rich and colorful blooms.
These fragrances tend to be enhanced with notes such as: intense jasmine; sugary rosy peony; smooth, creamy gardenia; waxy tuberose, fresh, delicate lily of the valley, romantic musky rose, buttery, sweet magnolia, and sugary, warm and powdery mimosa.
In nature, floral scents function as deterrents to certain insects and attractors to others, namely pollinators.
They are often warmed with tinges of spice, the succulence of fruits and other sub-categories within the floral family.
The different categories of flowers are often ingredients found in the many scents formulated by our teams at Alpha Aromatics, and they include: green/spring or vegetal flowers; white or sensual flowers, tropical solar varieties; powdery flowers; spicy flowers; roses and atypical flowers. More details on each category are as follows:
Green / Spring or Vegetal Flowers
These include: very fresh daffodil, floral, green hyacinth and musky rose, which are often known as flowers of renewal.
All spring blooms can be treated in their natural state for use in perfumery. Known as “mute flowers,” their true scent can only be recreated by using other natural and synthetic products.
White or Sensual Flowers
This category includes: jasmine, tuberose and orange blossom, which is the only one in this group that can withstand steam distillation and be distilled to create the essence of neroli, vanilla-tinged and creamy magnolia and powerful, haunting gardenia.
Tropical Solar Varieties
These florals are indigenous to those areas of the world where the sun reaches a point directly overhead at least once during a solar year and thus their namesake.
Also known as exotic flowers they flourish in green, lush venues that are always warm and sultry.
They are all seeped in the culture of the land and have diverse symbols and meanings, but they share a fragile, brilliant beauty of spirit and color.
This category includes: delicate, rich frangipani, floral sugary and narcotic ylang ylang and creamy, redolent tiare flowers.
Spicy flowers
Fiery, piquant and bright carnation, cozy cinnamon, potent hot clove, biting pepper, resinous, sugary cardamom and the flower of the scrubland all provide warm, sweet smelling notes to perfumes.
They are often used as contributing exotic and fresh aspects to amber fragrances.
Powdery Flowers
This group includes: raspberry-nuanced iris; warm, sugary mimosa; cozy,
honeyed and balsamic cassie; woody-nuanced violet and vanilla-like heliotrope
Rare Or Atypical Flowers
Among this group are: green, leafy mango like reseda; warm, heady and floral champaca; honey-like, long lasting and elegant genet; sugary, heady floral pittosporum; mysterious, delicate and delightful mahonia and intensely floral, sweet and almond nuanced karo karounde.
Soliflores
These beautiful floral bouquets impart a narrative relating to only one flower.
Also known as as a “single floral aroma,” the key to understanding their exclusive use as heart notes in perfume formulations lies in their expression, which is totally subjective to the perfumer’s interpretation of that flower.
Just as beauty lies in the eye of the beholder, soleflores represent a perfumer’s particular preference for aromatic creativity. They are likely to contain some others scents, but all must complement the dominant note.
Soleflores also include fantasy scents.
For example, a rose scent can be anything as long as the smell of roses dominates the fragrance.
It can be tinged with the salty scent of a sea breeze or from a meadow of wildflowers touched by the glow of the sun.
There are many lavender soliflores on the market today and each is distinctive and unique because of the perfumer who created it.
A Few Examples of Our Recently-Designed Floral Scents
We are a creator, manufacturer and supplier of custom fragrances for use in scented products is both a leader and pioneer within the perfume industry.
With routes that stretch as far back as the late 1940s, our fine compositions are used for superior quality perfumes, personal care products, candles and diffusers, and fragrances for home products just to mention a few.
We rely heavily on meticulous research to stay on top of industry trends.
The following represent a sampling of some popular scents created by our master perfumers for diverse line of various clients and products.
Apple Blossom Teak
This fruity/floral fragrance tinged with woody nuances is loved by both men and women.
It opens with an exotic top note marked by slightly sugary pear, gingery, tropical mango, crunchy apple and mildly sweet and rich persimmon.
A floral heart note bouquet soon follows, brimming with dusty, woody violet, sweet, intense jasmine petals and faintly sugary and mysteriously alluring begonia blossom.
A base note of precious woods and warm, honey-like amber, completes this beguiling scent.
Lime Slice
Streams of luscious orange and fresh, sharp lime open this clean citrusy scent.
These aspects soon fade into a heart note comprised of sensual, herbal geranium, passionate, spicy rose and musty, green cyclamen that eventually fold into a final base note featuring dark, earthy patchouli with spicy tones that complete the scent.
Natural Honeysuckle Bloom
This exhilarating fragrance opens with a burst of aromatic and acidic citron and succulent orange.
These aspects soon meld into a floral/ citrusy middle note hallmarked by intoxicating jasmine, dreamy musky rose, spicy, herbal carnation and wild and sugary honeysuckle.
A herbal/woody base note characterized by slightly powdery and creamy sandalwood and green, fresh dried herbs completes this scent.
Cotton Flower And Tamarind
This tropical scent opens with streaming facets of sour-sweet and lemony tamarind, fresh, clean lemon and sharp lime.
These aspects soon fall way to form a redolent floral heart note featuring rich, intoxicating jasmine, fresh, sugary orange blossom and soft, powdery cotton blossom.
This memorable fragrance completes with a base note marked by aspects of lush elegant vanilla and earthy white musk.
Vanilla Flower Musk
The top notes of this sweet scent are marked by elements of candied, grape-like muscadine and slightly sugary and thick pear.
These aspects soon fade into a middle note featuring creamy, beguiling gardenia, intense jasmine and musky, dreamy rose.
A base note of rosy, buttery vanilla blossom, creamy sandalwood. balsamic and warm cedar and passionate musk complete this delightful fragrance.
Cherry Blossom Mimosa
Aspects of fuzzy, fruity apricot, crisp apple and slightly sweet pear open this scent, which soon fold into a floral middle note marked by facets of of milky, green lilac, musky, passionate rose, sugary and tart cherry blossom and very sweet, powdery mimosa.
Notes of sensual white musk, clean, balsamic cedar and lush, elegant vanilla complete this fragrance.
In Conclusion
If you own or in the process of establishing a new product line, the scent you select will make all the difference in the world as to how that product will be received on the market place. If appropriate, consider a floral fragrance!
And consider our master perfumers at Alpha Aromatics today for their help!
Final thought floral scents: To create a little flower is the labor of ages.~ William Blake
Photo Credits: Pixabay
