Strawberry
APRIL 23, 2015 BY PERFUMER TALK 1 COMMENT
1315932The Strawberry is a delicious fruit with an aroma that is easy to recreate using only two (or three) aroma-chemicals. This strawberry accord was found by Jean-Claude Ellena. He suggests in his book “The Diary of a Nose” that Fructone and Ethyl Maltol (with the addition of Methyl Anthranilate for creating a wild strawberry aroma) can be used to create an olfactory illusion of strawberries. Making the accord at the end of this post will give you a taste of the way Jean-Claude Ellena recreates aromas with a realism that will startle and surprise you with only two or three materials. It is truly an inspiring method of creation which you can adopt and extend into your own method of creation.
It all begins with learning and memorizing your notes. This is the most important factor one should learn before composing a fragrance. This is what is implemented in all perfumery schools, but this should not deter you from creating accords yourself and finding which notes blend well with one another. This is a part of the learning process. Back to Jean-Claude, with knowledge of his fragrance notes, he recreates aromas by matching nuances in these aromas with fragrance notes that he has within his palette. The sweetness of strawberries reminded him of Ethyl Maltol and the tart fruitiness, of Fructone.
He begins his creation by combining scent strips and waving them in front of him like a fan. In this way, he is able to find new accords very quickly. Another example is an olfactory illusion of orange blossom. He uses only Methyl Anthranilate and Linalool (more when composing a scent) to create a convincing orange blossom accord.
Sometimes fragrance notes can create accords that are better than the sum of the two notes. An example would be the drydown of Ylang-Ylang oil (complete, fine quality in this case, though it does not need to be this quality to get a similar effect) with Beta Ionone. They create a beautiful accord that is hard to describe, but it is semi-metallic, raspberry-like and must be experienced to be fully understood.
It is recommended that all independent perfumers implement this method of finding new accords. It will inspire you to combine materials which you have not thought to combine before and it will speed up the time in which you will find new accords.
Jean-Claude Ellena’s Strawberry:
Fructone – 50%
Ethyl Maltol 10% DPG – 50%
Jean-Claude Ellena does not give any formulas for his simple note combinations, so we took matters into our own hands and created this accord which smells strikingly similar to the aroma of strawberries. We will leave it up to you to create an accord of Methyl Anthranilate with the accord above for a wild strawberry aroma. Once you find an accord, comment below and compare your accord with others. Happy blending!