Re: meaning of perfume descriptors

[Guest guest]

> I am working on expanding my descriptor language for scent.

> (Thanks to Anya's class). I struggled with agrestic as I

> couldn't wrap my head around rustic, rock and pastoral all

> being in the definition. thanks to a post from Marcia in

> 2005, ...gotta love advanced search, I've got a better handle

> on it...To quote " Think all earthy and fungal odors " , so it's

> not just one smell but many in an amalgam. Now I'm

> struggling with lactonic= pertaining to the acids obtained by

> the oxidation of milk sugars, is it more sour, or sweet milky

> scent, or as agrestic, all of them. I'm just trying to

> figure out whether it's the milk I left for 2 weeks in the

> frig, came back and it knocked my socks off, or that sat out

> all day warm sweet smell of the milk left on the counter,

> after the cookies were eaten, and no one cleaned the glass.

> Anyone want to chime in...Marcia?

>

> Thanks in advance!

> Lynn

Hey Lynn,

Everyone else should pipe in here, too. Lactonic is probably one of the

most difficult odor characteristic to pin down, IMO, and a topic that could

probably keep discussion going for a long time to grasp it all. It really

does reside among a lot of perfume odors, although mostly faintly, not

usually overpowering. I do know that many Lactones have been synthesized,

including one they call Jasmine lactone, which occurs naturally in Gardenia

flowers, jasmine, osmanthus, tea, rare orchids and tuberose. The synthetic

material is described as " powerful, creamy, jasmine-peachy-coconut " .

Coconut meat (and most especially the synthetic fragrance) is definitely

strongly lactonic.

My mind takes me to the smell of the baby's breath right after feeding

(breast or bottle) . . . The warm butter being poured over popcorn

(clarified butter) . . . Whipped cream (sweetened) after you pour it over

the coffee/whiskey and it warms . . .sometimes I note a peachy/nutty

component. Lactones also occur in meat and mushrooms which will lend

towards " fatty/agrestic-fungal " . I remember a paper about flowers and fungi

mimicking each other's scent to attract pollinators and/or for disease

control, and jasmine lactone being a common scent denominator.

Depending on the material or accord, you may think:

Sweet and dairy-like with strong milky undertones

coumarinic with coconut, cream

sweet fatty coconut, with creamy dairy nuances

waxy, milky, coconut and tropical

Monoi d' Tahiti (strongly coconut)

fatty brown, with waxy nutty mushroom

Hope this helps. I'd love to hear other observations on this as well.

Be well,

Marcia Elston

Samara Botane/Nature Intelligence, est. 1988

http://www.wingedseed.com Online 3/95

http://www.aromaconnection.org Group Blog 2/07

" Historically, the most terrible things - war, genocide and slavery - have

resulted from obedience, not disobedience. "

Zinn

[Guest guest]

>

> > I am working on expanding my descriptor language for scent.

> > (Thanks to Anya's class). I struggled with agrestic as I

> > Thanks in advance!

> > Lynn

>

>

> Hey Lynn,

>

> Everyone else should pipe in here, too. Lactonic is probably one

of the

> most difficult odor characteristic to pin down, IMO, and a topic

that could

> probably keep discussion going for a long time to grasp it all. It

really

> does reside among a lot of perfume odors, although mostly faintly,

not

> usually overpowering. I do know that many Lactones have been

synthesized,

> including one they call Jasmine lactone, which occurs naturally in

Gardenia

> flowers, jasmine, osmanthus, tea, rare orchids and tuberose. The

synthetic

> material is described as " powerful, creamy, jasmine-peachy-coconut " .

> Coconut meat (and most especially the synthetic fragrance) is

definitely

> strongly lactonic.

>

> My mind takes me to the smell of the baby's breath right after

feeding

> (breast or bottle) . . . The warm butter being poured over popcorn

> (clarified butter) . . . Whipped cream (sweetened) after you pour

it over

> the coffee/whiskey and it warms . . .sometimes I note a peachy/nutty

> component. Lactones also occur in meat and mushrooms which will

lend

> towards " fatty/agrestic-fungal " . I remember a paper about flowers

and fungi

> mimicking each other's scent to attract pollinators and/or for

disease

> control, and jasmine lactone being a common scent denominator.

>

> Depending on the material or accord, you may think:

> Sweet and dairy-like with strong milky undertones

> coumarinic with coconut, cream

> sweet fatty coconut, with creamy dairy nuances

> waxy, milky, coconut and tropical

> Monoi d' Tahiti (strongly coconut)

> fatty brown, with waxy nutty mushroom

>

> Hope this helps. I'd love to hear other observations on this as

well.

>

> Be well,

> Marcia Elston

Hello Marcia,

Thanks for sharing. Again I find Lactonic's an amalgum to decribe a

family of many scents. Perhaps as I'm working on developing my

descriptors, I should stay graphic, I love baby's breath after

feeding, I can smell that right away, I used to kiss my babies cheeks

after as I loved that smell! Then fit those into categories of scent

like lactonic, agrestic etc. Yet another example of the Slow Scent

trail...

Again thank you for the insight.

Lynn