Known by its Latin name as jasminum grandiflorum, the jasmine used in perfumery is surprisingly potent and multi-faceted, ranging from orangey-floral, solar, fruity (banana, strawberry, apricot), to animalic and spicy. Jasmine has an astonishingly complex structure for such a fragile flower that needs to be harvested very early in the morning before the sun spoils its fragrance. Its scent can only be extracted with volatile solvents and is very expensive due to its low yield of essential oil. Its kaleidoscope of nuances blends perfectly with other flowers as well as woods or ambery accords.

Native to Indonesia, this aromatic plant has almost no smell in the earth. It is first necessary to dry its leaves and to let them ferment for its odorous molecules to form. After distillation, the oil must be aged in barrels for several months to allow optimal use. When ready, Pogostemon cablin reveals a powerful woody and earthy scent with smoky, camphorated, syrupy and even musty accents. Some say it recalls the smell of a damp cellar. Greatly appreciated in France by women of easy virtue at the end of the 19th century, patchouli was for a long time considered a little vulgar. Then the hippie generation of the 70's adopted it as a symbol of freedom and popularized the fragrance. Although it no longer carries a scandalous reputation, its powerful scent continues to fascinate and is used in both feminine and masculine compositions.

This is undoubtedly one of the most used ingredients in the men's fragrances of the 60s, giving off a very elegant earthy, smoky and root-like impression, with "green grapefruit" inflections. Its potency conjures up the image of a majestic tree, but the Vetiveria Zizanoides is in reality a small plant with green tufts and very deep roots. The oil is obtained by distillation of the roots, with two major sourcings, Java in Indonesia, for a particularly smoky variety, and Haiti. Vetiver is used as a base note.

Also called the May rose - because that is the month of its flowering - the Centifolia rose Pays particularly in the south of France. It is the other variety used in perfumery, along with the Damascena rose. Its name, "one hundred leaves" in Latin, is explained by its numerous overlapping petals. Particularly delicate, it flowers only once a year which explains its rarity and its high cost. The roses are picked by hand, early in the morning. Too delicate to be distilled, the harvested rosa Centifolia blooms are extracted with volatile solvents to obtain an absolute. This rose absolute is used in the heart and base notes of a perfume. Its generous and complex rose floral notes stand out by their beautiful petal-like effect and honeyed facet.

Despite its readily identifiable and popular perfume, the violet is a mute flower, as it is impossible to extract its perfume naturally. Only the leaves and stems can be used for extraction. The green scent of spicy cucumber they exude is antithesis to the flower's scent. To reproduce the fruity, gourmand and slightly woody fragrance of its petals, Francis Kurkdjian uses odorous molecules called Ionones (ionos means purple in Greek), discovered and made available to perfumers at the end of the 19th century. In feminine perfumery, the violet lends a powdery facet or a gustatory sensation that blends beautifully with rosy notes. Its green facet is widely used in men's fragrances.

There are several ways to process the Citrus Aurantium flower. By volatile solvent extraction to obtain the orange blossom absolute, or by steam distillation for the orange blossom oil. But beware, connoisseurs know it well: we don't speak of orange blossom oil but of neroli oil, since the Princess of Nerola, enraptured by its fragrance, brought it into fashion at the time of French king Louis XIV. The absolute is used for middle and base notes, with solar floral overtones, in turn fresh or heady, honeyed and animalic. Neroli oil has much more citrusy and green floral inflections, used in the top and heart notes of a fragrance. It is often associated with the smell of sun-dried sheets and flavored madeleines.

If in the hearts of perfumers the rose is the queen of flowers and Grandiflorum jasmine the king, then the iris is the empress. The part utilized in fragrances is not its flower, but its rhizome, i.e. its root. Perfumery uses the iris pallida, native to the region of Florence in Italy. After growing in soil for 3 years, the iris rhizomes are dried and crushed before being distilled to obtain an oil with a thick consistency, also called iris butter. This long transformation process and the very low yield it produces make it one of the most expensive ingredients in the perfumer's palette. The iris extract offers a very special floral note, between the violet and a soft wood, with very powdery and slightly chocolatey, cocoa-like facets. Endowed with exceptional persistence, the iris can be used in minute doses to add volume or in greater quantity to support a floral or woody accord.