The Solar Note in Perfumery
That’s it, summer is here! For many, that means heading for the seaside. Should you be unable to kick back and wiggle your toes on a fine-sand beach, good news: perfumery is here to give you a helping hand. A multitude of raw materials are capable of recreating the sensation of skin warmed by the sun on a beach, and one in particular achieves it brilliantly: ylang-ylang, an unctuous and intoxicating flower that Master Parfums invites you to discover today.
A Flagship Flower in Southeast Asia
The ylang-ylang tree is native to Southeast Asia, mainly to the Moluccas archipelago in eastern Indonesia. There, “the flower of flowers” is scattered on the bed of newlyweds on their wedding night. In the Philippines, ylang-ylang flowers are woven together with sambac jasmine flowers to make garlands that adorn religious images. It is also used in “boori-boori” ointment: mixed with coconut, it yields a concoction meant to nourish the skin and hair. In short, it is hard to find a flower more appreciated than ylang-ylang in the region.
The 1960s saw the rise of its international use as its essential oil became increasingly prized. In aromatherapy, ylang-ylang is credited with anti-stress, antiseptic and sedative qualities. On the perfumery side, it is appreciated notably because it is the king of the solar note. For many, the solar note tickles our memories and takes us back to a very specific product that was all the rage on beaches in the 1930s: Garnier’s Ambre Solaire.
Ambre Solaire, a Summery Proustian Madeleine
Before the 20th century, white skin was the preserve of the rich, tanned skin being a sign of the hard outdoor labour of peasants. In the 1920s, it was Coco Chanel who reversed the trend. Her luxurious life led her to spend her weekends outdoors, on boats, colouring her skin brown. Tanned skin then became a sign of wealth and the good life. Legend has it that in 1927, seeing Coco Chanel return from one of these weekends at sea, her skin burnt by the sun, Jean Patou decided to create the first suntan oil, designed to protect from the sun while covering the skin with a veil of bronze colour, the “tan.” This was Huile de Chaldée, which Henri Almeras, the perfumer of the house of Patou, adorned with spicy floral notes and enriched with benzyl salicylate, a molecule discovered in 1908 and used as a sunscreen, capable of absorbing UV rays.
Riding the enthusiasm for this oil, Eugène Schueller, chemist and founder of L’Oréal, also sought to create a product that would protect against nasty sunburn while allowing a gentle tan. And so, in 1935, Ambre Solaire was born, a tanning oil that soon established itself as a beach-bag essential, especially from 1936 onward, the year of the first paid holidays offering the chance to treat oneself to a sunny seaside break.
At the time, the sunscreen used in Garnier’s product was none other than the famous benzyl salicylate, which gives Ambre Solaire its very distinctive olfactory signature!
Benzyl Salicylate
Benzyl salicylate gives off floral and spicy, slightly iodised wafts and readily lends solar light to the compositions into which it is incorporated. It is often paired with floral notes; in Ambre Solaire, these are rose and jasmine.
Over the years, it became apparent that benzyl salicylate was not as effective as had been believed. As research gradually developed better filters, L’Oréal removed it from its best-seller… and then Ambre Solaire’s sales plummeted. Indeed, the molecule’s scent had by then durably won over consumers. Without a moment’s hesitation, the company reworked the product’s formula to reintegrate the salicylate—a star, in the end, far more for its smell than for its anti-UV properties. Since then, benzyl salicylate has definitively set down its bags in the world of perfumery.
And ylang-ylang in all this? It turns out that the most decisive component in ylang-ylang’s smell is none other than… benzyl salicylate, which is naturally present in it! One then better understands why the flower is perfumers’ choice par excellence for bottling the rays of the sun (often hand in hand with carnation, tiaré and frangipani).
Ylang-Ylang: A Brief Botanical Overview
In Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, “ylang” means wilderness. It is therefore in reference to its natural habitat that we know the tree, which belongs to the Annonaceae family and whose Latin name is “Cananga odorata.” It can measure up to 30 metres tall in the wild under suitable climatic conditions. When it is cultivated, it is pruned so that its pretty fragrant flowers are more accessible at harvest, and its height then sits between 2 and 3 metres.
The flower’s long, tapered petals, forming clusters reminiscent of stars, give off a fragrance it would indeed be a great shame to do without. Creamy and spicy, a touch fruity, the ylang-ylang flower radiates, imbued with the light of benzyl salicylate. It is an extroverted, seductive flower with a facet that is sometimes almost animalic.
Ylang-Ylang in Perfumery
The first ylang-ylang distillation laboratory in the Philippines came into being around 1860. Shortly afterwards, the flower began to be cultivated on a larger scale and to find its way to French perfumers. Ylang-ylang production in the Philippines has, however, declined greatly since then, and its main producers today are the Comoros Islands and Madagascar.
Ylang-ylang flowers can be placed in stills to obtain a beautiful essential oil. We speak of “fractions” of essence—that is, extracts with different densities and olfactory properties. We distinguish the extra superior fraction, the extra, the first, the second and the third. The extra superior is richer and fruitier than its counterparts, and the further down the list we go, the less intense the fractions are… which in return makes them fresher. Only 40 to 50 kilos of flowers are needed to obtain a kilo of essential oil, and ylang-ylang flowers several times a year. This makes it a champion in terms of yield, and the perfumer’s material that produces the most essential oil.
One can also extract from ylang-ylang a magnificent absolute, headier than the essential oil and whose spicy notes are even more pronounced. It takes no fewer than two tonnes of flowers to obtain a kilo of absolute.
A Few Perfumes Built Around Ylang-Ylang
- There is, of course, the timeless N°5 (1921) by Chanel and its marriage of aldehydes and a sublime ylang-ylang absolute.
- In the emblematic L’Air du Temps (1948) by Nina Ricci, perfumery’s first floral-spicy, ylang-ylang nestles at the heart of a magnificent bouquet sublimated by benzyl salicylate.
- With Mayotte (2006) by Guerlain, tuberose, ylang-ylang and jasmine make up the heart of this reissue of the fragrance Mahora. A touch of frangipani and neroli opens the ball, all enveloped by a vanilla base.
- The luminous, balsamic Songes (2006) by Annick Goutal combines ylang-ylang with Bourbon vanilla. Other flowers bring the solar note to life: frangipani, tiaré and jasmine.
- In 2013, Olivier Pescheux created Eau Mohéli for Diptyque. In this floral eau de toilette with green and spicy accents, ginger and pink pepper meet a suave ylang-ylang.
- Over at Embruns d’Ylang (2019) by Guerlain, cinnamon and clove exalt ylang-ylang’s naturally spicy side while coconut milk and vanilla give the fragrance a touch of sunburn.
- With La Dompteuse Encagée (2021) by Serge Lutens, ylang-ylang rubs shoulders with an almondy facet supported by frangipani.
- In Infusion d’Ylang (2022) by Prada, the flower remains solar, but is nonetheless more veiled and transparent than usual. It is a green, fruity perfume, with an evocative accord of banana and jasmine.
A Potpourri of Other Summery Notes
Ylang-ylang is obviously not the only one with the power to whisk us off on holiday in a single sniff. We can also count on…
- Other white flowers: orange blossom, jasmine, tuberose, frangipani, tiaré… Ylang-ylang, incidentally, often calls to mind monoï, an oil obtained after macerating tiaré in coconut oil. These are the great favourites when it comes to working the solar sensation in perfumery.
- Hesperidics: bergamot, grapefruit, lemon, neroli… The zing of citrus has a knack for transporting us to the Mediterranean coast in the snap of a finger.
- Marine notes: also called aquatic notes, their iodised scent can be obtained through synthesis with molecules such as calone or helional, but there are also natural aquatic notes, derived, for example, from certain algae.
- Fruity notes: thanks to synthesis, the smells of exotic fruits such as coconut, mango, pineapple or banana make their way onto our skin… A change of scenery guaranteed.
Whatever your destination this summer, why not continue your olfactory journey with the Pocket Quiz version of the Master Parfums game? The Pocket Quiz is 120 questions about the world of perfumery in a pocket format that lets you take it with you wherever you go… even to the beach!
Other sources consulted:
L’Ylang-ylang en parfumerie – Cahiers des naturels NEZ-LMR
