Why some flowers cannot be bottled
Lily of the valley, lilac and gardenia are among the most loved flower notes in perfume. Yet a perfume that smells of them rarely holds anything taken from the flower itself. The scent has to be built, and the reason is simple.
How flower scent is collected
Scent is taken from plants in a few common ways. Steam can carry the fragrant oil out of the petals, as it does with rose. A solvent can draw the scent out of more delicate flowers, such as jasmine and tuberose. Each method needs a flower that holds enough scent and that keeps its smell through the process.
Flowers that do not cooperate
Some flowers fail on one count or the other. They hold too little oil to be worth collecting, or the process changes the smell so much that the result no longer resembles the living flower. Lily of the valley, lilac, peony and freesia are in this group. Gardenia gives so little that an extract of it is rare.
So the scent is rebuilt
For these flowers, a perfume maker studies the smell of the living bloom and recreates it from other fragrance materials, adjusted until the blend smells like the flower. A blend of this kind is called an accord. The lily of the valley in a perfume is a portrait of the flower, made by someone who knows it well.
What this means on a notes list
A notes list names what you will smell, and a note is not always an ingredient. “Lilac” on the list promises the smell of lilac and nothing more. It also explains why the same flower can smell so different in two perfumes. Each perfume maker builds a personal version, and one may be greener while another is creamier.
A rebuilt flower is not a lesser one
Without this craft, many flowers would be missing from perfume altogether. A rebuilt flower also lets the perfume maker bring forward the side of it that matters most to the scent, such as the dewy green of lily of the valley or the creamy side of gardenia. Many classic Floral perfumes depend on flowers made this way.
Even roses get help
An extract of rose or jasmine smells deeper and heavier than the flower in a garden. To bring back the feeling of fresh petals, perfume makers often surround the extract with other notes. So a flower in perfume is usually an interpretation, whether or not the flower can be extracted.
One more habit
NOTE suggests smelling the real flower whenever you get the chance, at a florist or in a garden. It gives you a reference of your own for every perfume that names it.