LABDANUM RESIN.
Working (first time)
Products:
i).Labdanum concret.
ii)Labdanum absolute.
iii)Solutions.
Use:
i) Perfume
Labdanum is a resinous perfume ingredient derived from Cistus creticus. It does best in amber-type scents, and has a woody or animal-like smell. This material's complex fragrance resembles that of ambergris, and works in many of the same perfume recipes, including scents designed for both sexes. Labdanum was historically collected from the coats of grazing animals that had eaten the rockrose. It has been prized as an incense, perfume, and ingredient in herbal medicine for centuries, and its use is documented in ancient Greece, Egypt, and Israel.
This material plays an important part in perfumes that reproduce the smell of amber oil or artificial musk due to its smoky and earthy notes. Labdanum may be listed as a sweet, woody, or musky ingredient in perfumes and perfume oils. It is often used to replace ambergris in older perfume formulations, since that ingredient is banned in many countries due to its association with whaling. Labdanum appears in men's, women's, and unisex scents since its musky smell is not considered to be particularly masculine or feminine.
People have used this material as a scent and medicinal ingredient since the ancient period. This perfume ingredient was often mixed with natural myrrh in incense preparations mentioned in the Bible, and was also used by Hippocrates and by Roman physicians to treat coughs, colds, and sores. Ancient doctors also used labdanum to treat some kinds of infections. Components of this resin, called labdane diterpenes, have been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-microbial properties in laboratory tests.
ii) Soap
iii) wax with labdanum.
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| Timothy Han. |
A dark and mysterious essence, its distinctly exotic combination conjured up by the woody base of Sandalwood and the musky Labdanum, a resin from the small Rock Rose shrub. The scent is finished with a top note of Black Pepper.
Timothy Han candles are 100% natural; handcrafted from pure essential oils, an unbleached cotton wick and soy wax free from genetically modified ingredients, herbicides and pesticides.
The aromatherapy grade essential oils each carry their own unique therapeutic properties capable of helping to revitalise and stimulate or relax and alleviate stress.
Perfumery.
The perfume of labdanum belong
Bases Notes in perfumery.
Chypre family
Chypre is the name of a family (or concept) of perfumes that are characterised by an accord composed of citrus top-notes, a floral middle, and a mossy-animalic base-note derived from oak moss and musks. Chypre perfumes may be modified by other notes such as patchouli (most often), vetiver, labdanum, ambergris and sandalwood oil.
History
The term chypre is French for Cyprus, and goes back to François Coty who created in 1917 a perfume of the same name from fragrance materials that came predominantly from Mediterranean countries. Coty's ‘Chypre’ became the most typical representative of a whole family of related fragrances, albeit perfumes of similar style had already been created throughout the 19th century. The chypre concept is characterised by the contrast between the fresh citrus accord and the woody-oakmoss fond; often patchouli is considered an indispensable element as well. Other main fragrance families besides chypres are fougères, orientals, gourmands, and florals. The chypre accord is used in both male and female perfumery. A notable literary reference to chypre is contained in the novel The Maltese Falcon by Dashiell Hammett (Knopf, 1929), in which the character Joel Cairo is described as carrying a chypre-scented handkerchief as part of his homosexual persona.
Chypre perfume.
Featured Review: Tom Ford Private Blend Moss Breches.
by Sali Oguri
NY Fragrance Examiner
It's been rumored Tom Ford Private Blend Moss Breches (2007) is being discontinued, a terrible shame if it's true considering Moss Breches, along with
Tobacco Vanille, is among my very favorites in the designer's ultraniche line. Among these, Moss Breches is far, far away from the mainstream scents of today. It takes perfuminess to its highest level, played up by both Chypre and Oriental notes in a single composition, decadently retro in richly subdued earth tones. It's not a fragrance I immediately liked, but it's grown on me in the same way Penhaligon's Bluebell has. Both are what I'd refer to as "animalic", with the musky notes of labdanum and oakmoss being fairly pronounced in this dark, green Chypre blend, making it challenging to wear. However, it also has a warm and sweet, spicy gourmand charm to it. Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental comes to mind, except Moss Breches is a Chypre, along the lines of Sisley Eau du Soir and Paloma Picasso, just greener, with more damp earth-and-wet leaves - the deep foresty scent attributed to oakmoss. Shiseido Koto (1985), for those of you familiar with this hard-to-find fragrance, is probably closest to it in overall scent. Another comparison might be the discontinued Deneuve (1986), with Moss Breches being drier, dirtier, heavier and sharper. This is a strange, complex scent for those unfamiliar with the scent of Chypre, a classical perfume accord brimming with tradition and an antiquated past.
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| Moss Breches. |
Moss Breches, of course, would not be without mossiness. Oakmoss and tree moss are controlled ingredients in the perfume industry since it was declared by IFRA that these age-old ingredients turn into formaldehyde upon skin contact. Today, most of what we call moss is synthesized, but many vintage perfumes and even certain upscale perfumes do in fact contain moss. The scent, to my nose, is like that of damp autumn leaves, a bit dirty in an outdoorsy way. Many perfumes from the 1960s and '1970s featured oakmoss, such as Chanel N°19, Estée Lauder Aliage and Ô de Lancome. Actually, the use of oakmoss has been around since the birth of the Chypre fragrance family, long before the legendary Coty Chypre and Guerlain Mitsouko were born Chypre is named as such because the accord was born in Cyprus during Greco-Roman rule (Read more about Cyprus here:
Cyprus the Divided Country).
Another featured note in Moss Breches is labdanum. Labdanum is a resin traditionally used in Chypre compositions. It's a black resin taken from goat hair after the goats had grazed on the rock rose shrub and resins collected on their fleece. Although I'm skeptical that most Chypre fragrances today contain real labdanum taken from goat hair, the scent has remained a staple in perfumery. It has a heavy, resinous and almost woody, as well as animalic, scent, and acts as a fixative for perfume compositions (base note), making perfumes last longer.
Although Moss Breches smells like a traditional Chypre, I'm guessing the reason I like it so much is because it has a soft, almost vanillic aspect to it as well. The sillage is absolutely gorgeous, a dazzling mossy green. When I wear Moss Breches, I'm reminded of Japanese tea ceremony and its dark, refined green tea (which is a bitter taste/scent (and yet I love it)). According to
Chypre Perfumes blog: "The Japanese use labdanum in their Neriko mixtures, which are used during tea ceremony". I guess I'm not far off at all in my perception of the scent! On the same blog, the author writes that "Egyptians used it in their Kyphi mixtures and the Hebrews burned it in their temples". Perhaps Moss Breches is the kind of scent that can bring all kinds of deeply spiritual associations to people the world over.
