⊛ learn · lesson 13

molecules you already know

ambroxan, iso e super, calone, hedione

some notes are one molecule.

besides flowers, woods and resins, perfumers work with single molecules, many of them made in a lab. a few turn up everywhere, from fine perfume to shampoo and laundry products.

ambergris, without the whale.

ambergris forms in the gut of the sperm whale. ambroxan gives its smell from a lab: one maker calls it the best material for a true ambergris note, and the most widely used ambery molecule.

the woody ambers.

a perfume magazine counts ambroxan and iso e super among the early woody ambers: lab-made molecules that work in tiny doses and linger on skin and fabric for a long time. detergents, softeners and deodorants use them a lot too. and some people can only partly smell them.