Building on the Botanical Scents Fragrance Wheel: Green

Adding the Next Segment

Last week, we added the third part of the “second” wheel to the Botanical scents fragrance wheel:

The aim of this project is to reimagine the traditional fragrance wheel used by perfumers and make one that is suited specifically to botanical scents - used by botanical perfumers and aromatherapists.

Over the years that I have been studying botanical perfumery, I have come up with some of my own interpretations/understandings based on the traditional fragrance families/wheel, which - to me - fit more easily with botanical perfumery.

As I started to think about this project, I realized that my Botanical Scents Fragrance Wheel was going to divert from the traditional fragrance wheel by one major component. It would have a “central” wheel: FLORAL. The reason I came up with this was personal. The majority of my fragrances have a floral element.

Building on this central floral wheel, I added the third of five different categories - based on the traditional fragrance wheel but renamed to reflect both botanical and personal reasons. The first spoke of this wheel was BRIGHT, the second was VINTAGE, and the third was SWEET. This week, we are looking at GREEN.

What is Green in Perfumery?

My interpretation of green in botanical perfumery for this project is an extract (essential oil, CO2, absolute or other type of botanical extract) which is reminiscent of herbs found in the garden - such as mint (Mentha spp.) and lavender (Lavandula angustifolia). Note that lavender has a floral note too but it is not a deep floral like rose (Rosa spp.).

Green also includes fresh, green herbaceous notes and those reminiscent of the forest - just like in a fougère fragrance. Again, there is an overlap of some woody notes in next week’s final spoke of the wheel: DARK. But the kind of woody notes here include those of a “lighter” (top-middle note) persuasion such as juniper (Juniperus communis) and pine (Pinus spp.)

You can also combine extracts (as always) to produce this kind of “green” note.

Some straight extract examples which might contribute to a green aroma include:

• oakmoss (Evernia prunastri)

• rosemary (Salvia rosmarinus)

• melissa (Melissa officinalis)

• clary sage (Salvia sclarea).

You might be thinking that some of the above mentioned extracts aren’t traditionally or commonly used in perfumery and you’d be right. But remember that I am focusing on botanical perfumery - and to give a hint on where this is headed: I’m also thinking of functional botanical perfumery. More to come on that later!

So, we now have the central floral “wheel”, the bright spoke, the vintage spoke, the sweet spoke and the green spoke. This looks something like this:

Next week we will be adding the final spoke to the botanical scents fragrance wheel: DARK. Make sure to join me then!

By the end of the journey, we will have put together a botanical scents fragrance wheel that you can exclusively use with botanical perfumery. However, remember that this is simply my own interpretation and there is no one size fits all.

BONUS: I will also be including a separate bonus wheel for paid subscribers!

Learning botanical scents and organizing them into some sort of reference tool is extremely useful as a perfumer.

Perfume formulation can be a puzzle - but it doesn’t have to be! By subscribing to and reading my short FREE articles each week, you’ll get nugget-sized pieces of information to build your scent tools. Upgrade to paid to take that learning deeper, and get examples of actual oils, absolutes, and extracts to build into your botanical scents fragrance wheel (in the coming months).

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“Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.”

Pedro Calderón de la Barca (1600-1681), Spanish dramatist