In perfume, the nearly odorless solar chemical benzyl salicylate has a magical power to open a fragrance up and add freshness, beauty, and radiance. Coco, by Chanel, is beautiful with its clove, patchouli, and lily of the valley components, but when benzyl salicylate is added to the mix, those three are transformed into the gorgeous Mellis accord – also found (with amber) in Opium by Yves Saint Laurent. In the words of famed perfumer Bernard Chant: “it produces a diffusing, blooming effect very pleasing to the public.”
The other main use of benzyl salicylate is in suntan lotions. This is partly because it was used in one of the first lotions and so became known for that purpose, but also because it has an indeterminate floral/musk scent that lends itself to fragrances that are more abstract.
Here the overdose of benzyl salicylate is paired with another massive overdose of gamma nonalactone which smells like coconut. Floral notes and green notes make this a beautiful summer fragrance (unisex) that will be loved by all. I cannot recommend this enough.
Top Notes
Bergamot, Rosewood, Mandarin
Passionfruit, Coconut, Pink Pepper
Cardamom, Cut Grass
Heart Notes
Ylang Ylang, Gardenia, Osmanthus
Base Notes
Musk, Ambergris, Benzoin
Sandalwood, Vanilla, Tonka Bean
The Formula
| Quantity | Ingredient | Comments |
| 250 | Benzyl Salicylate | Natural |
| 150 | Hedione | |
| 100 | Habanolide | Bright, diffuse Musk |
| 100 | Timbersilk | IFF |
| 80 | Ambrox Super | Firmenich |
| 50 | Linalyl Acetate | |
| 30 | Florol | |
| 30 | Rosewood Brazil | Rosewood Oil Replacer |
| 25 | Ylang Ylang Extra (Comoros) | Best you can find |
| 20 | Helional | |
| 20 | Nonalactone Gamma 100% | Coconut |
| 20 | Coumarin | |
| 15 | Bergamot Bergaptene Free | |
| 15 | Gardenia Storm | Auram International |
| 10 | Passionfruit Base | Firmenich |
| 20 | Benzoin Resin 50% | |
| 10 | Dartanol | Laevo-Bacdanol, Firmenich |
| 10 | Muscenone | |
| 7 | Exaltone | CAS: 502-72-7 |
| 6 | Scentolide | |
| 5 | Mandarin Base | |
| 5 | Vanillin | |
| 4 | Javanol | |
| 3 | Pink Pepper CO2 | |
| 2 | Cis 3 Hexenol 100% | |
| 5 | Cis 3 Hexenyl Acetate 10% | |
| 5 | Cardamom C02 10% | |
| 3 | Osmanthus Absolute 10% | |
| 1000 |
My blend has a strong cucumber smell, cut grass almost wet dog, I am not sure what’s wrong and it doesn’t evolve in a softer more tropical or fruity scent…, I am afraid I don’t like it, maybe it has to sit a bit longer. I haven’t used mandarin base, instead of that I’ve used Mandarin Red super conc.from Hermitage oils. Maybe it’s the Ultrazur or the Calone in combination with the Cis chemicals….I don’t know…
Did you use the passionfruit base from Firmenich and the full amount of coconut? I can’t imagine how it would create a cucumber wet dog scent – even with the substitution you made. There should be a very clear and dominant coconut/passionfruit note. The gardenia helps too – did you use a good sweet gardenia base? If you substituted something like styrallyl acetate it would definitely not have the same effect.
Yes I have used the passionfruit and coconut full amount, And a sweet Gardenia base, I must have done something wrong… because I’m also expecting something different and not an Uber fresh watermelon/cucumber smell.. I am going to blend this again for sure because this isn’t right.
Let me know how it goes!
Funny thing is that my diluted blend of last week smells different when sprayed on a table, I can smell the tropical vibe immediately. But after a while the Ultrazur/Calone -ish vibe shows itself. Could be I’ve overdosed one of the two accidently resulting in the marine, ozonic, watermelon smell overpowering it. Reading the Basenotes forums subject about Ultrazur explains the potency of this ingredient. Anyway, I am going to blend this formula again some time and I am going to use the Rosewood replacer next time, last time I’ve used Hermitage’s Bois de Rose E.O super premium, but that… Read more »
I honestly have the Same Problem.
At First its coconutty and tropical but forms Into a strong Marine smell, i personally dont dislike that but my Girlfriend hates that really much, she Said after showing her the neat ultrazur that it allmost just smells like that
Thanks Florian, that could make sence. Maybe the Ultrazur has to be a 10% dilution? That leaves room for experimenting!
Yes!
Just got an E-Mail from PellWall that Coranol is back in stock there
Same for me..have to order it ASAP! Thanks anyway for mentioning it.
I wonder if this may be the gardenia base – the one I use (an Auram base) is incredibly potent and I wonder if that base is helping to temper other materials. The ultrazur is not really in there in large enough a quantity to change the entire dry down. I’ll do an investigation and make sure all is fine at this end but the bottle of this I have sitting beside me is definitely not having these problems.
I’m going to remix this myself AND I will double check everything from my formula notes to make sure there are no errors on my part. Stay tuned!
Okay I’ve double checked and everything is as it should be. However, I am going to revert this to a formula that excludes the marine elements – taking it back to my original formula which was focused primarily around the overdose of Benzyl Salicylate.
This is version 2 of the formula – the original had marine elements that were not liked by all so this version is my original which focuses on the solar, floral, and fruity only.
Great, I am very curious what will be the result after mixing! what are the changes in this formula in terms of weight, which ingredients are increased? I don’t have the first formula here to compare.
Forgot to mention that I’ve ordered some chemicals such as Ambrox Super, Dimethyl Anthranilate (mandarin base) linalool oxide (Rosewood replacer).
I want to use exactly the same ingredients/bases next time.
My substitutes last time were: Ambroxan, Mandarin Red conc. Hermitage rosewood.
Great! I really wonder if the ambroxan quality made a difference – ambrox super is so beautiful to smell directly and there is a lot in this formula.
Removed: benzyl benzoate, amyl salicylate, calone, and ultrazur. Reverted to my original formula which was meant to be a megaoverdose of benzyl salicylate so that takes up most of the difference going up nearly double. It was that very high quantity that made the coconut and passionfruit blend so well at such a high dose of both – because benzyl salicylate expands them and stops them being cloying. This is a fragrance where each ingredient needs to stand alone in its beauty which is why I chose the musk I did, and the sandalwood chems (the two best in the… Read more »