01 · distil
Steam through the plant
Steam carries the oil out of the material into a condenser. Oil and water part; the scented water left behind is a hydrosol, like rose water.
SteamCondenseSeparate
Ylang-ylang takes 22 hours in the still.
Tinctura, perfume house in York.
Press the bottle: first minute, first hour, next morning.
Coffee Yard, YorkFrom £32
See No. 1 FumusFirst minutenext morning
Every perfume is built in three layers that leave your skin at different speeds. Perfumers call them top, heart and base.
1st minute
Top notes: small, light molecules that leave first. Citrus and spice live here.
20min to 1 h
Heart notes arrive as the top fades, and are gone within the hour.
30minutes
Before the base notes are noticed at all. They hold the rest down.
24hours
Some base notes can still be found on skin the next day.
Where a scent comes from
Five ways to take a scent
- 01distil
- 02express
- 03extract
- 04tincture
- 05enfleurage
02 · express
Press the peel
Citrus oils sit in the peel and are simply pressed out, cold. Bergamot, lemon and grapefruit are made this way.
PeelPressCollect
The lotus oil in Tutankhamun’s tomb was pressed and kept its scent for 3,000 years.
03 · extract
Wash out the flower
A solvent draws the scent from fragile flowers into a waxy concrete. Ethanol washes it, cold drops out the wax, and what remains is the absolute.
SolventConcreteAbsolute
Cooled to about −15 °C to drop the waxes.
04 · tincture
Steep it in alcohol
Dry materials like resins and beans sit in ethanol until the alcohol has taken their scent. An ethanol extract of a dry material is a tincture.
SteepWaitFilter
Tincture of benzoin is still made. The house is named after the method.
05 · enfleurage
Lay flowers on fat
Petals are laid on odourless fat spread on a glass plate in a wooden frame, a chassis, and replaced every one to three days until the fat is full of scent.
LayReplaceWash
Developed in Grasse in the 17th and 18th centuries; now almost gone.
Same bottle, four juices. The colour is the perfume itself.
No. 1 · Resin and smoke
FUMUS
Frankincense, labdanum and a trace of birch tar.
- Top
- Elemi, Black pepper
- Heart
- Frankincense, Myrrh
- Base
- Labdanum, Benzoin, Birch tar
10 ml £32 · 50 ml £125 · 100 ml £175
No. 2 · Root and powder
PALLIDA
Orris butter, violet leaf and ambrette.
- Top
- Bergamot, Carrot seed
- Heart
- Orris butter, Violet leaf
- Base
- Ambrette seed, Sandalwood
10 ml £32 · 50 ml £125 · 100 ml £175
No. 3 · White flowers
SAMBAC
Jasmine sambac and tuberose absolutes over sandalwood.
- Top
- Mandarin, Cardamom
- Heart
- Jasmine sambac absolute, Tuberose absolute
- Base
- Sandalwood, Benzoin
10 ml £32 · 50 ml £125 · 100 ml £175
No. 4 · Beans and hay
FABA
Tonka bean, tobacco absolute and vetiver root.
- Top
- Bergamot, Clary sage
- Heart
- Tonka bean absolute, Tobacco absolute
- Base
- Vetiver, Benzoin
10 ml £32 · 50 ml £125 · 100 ml £175
Discovery set · £22
Wear each one for a day
All four perfumes in 2 ml vials, with a card that takes £22 off your first 50 or 100 ml.
Try all four
Fitting · 45 minutes · £15 off what you buy
Or come and try them on
Blotters first, then two on your wrists and an hour’s walk round York before you decide.
Book a fittingWhat people say
I bought it in November and wore nothing else until March. People at work ask what the church smell is.
It sits very close. My partner only notices it when she is next to me, which is what I wanted.
Proper jasmine, not soap. Two sprays at six and it was still there when I got home after midnight.