Jasminum Polyanthum Enfleurage.

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My cold enfleurage of Jasminum polyanthum flowers, raw beeswax, and organic avocado butter. The winter pink jasmine from my greenhouse went into this enfleurage. The result is an organic jasmine polyanthum solid perfume-- a voluptuous floral rarity. The scent is fresh green with a stunning sandalwood base note. I have a limited quantity.

Jasminum polyanthum. Many-flowered jasmine. Winter jasmine. Pink jasmine.

Native to: Myanmar, China.

The scent of Jasminum polyanthum is so creamy, white-green, and fluffy that it seems less like a jasmine and more like a mix of sandalwood (Santalum spp.) and star jasmine (Trachelospermum jasminoides-- not a true jasmine). The base is buttery like sandalwood, without being oily, as if butter had no fat. The flower's lush dreaminess is similary to the warm amber humidity of star jasmine, but drier. Star jasmine has a wet scent with more body, transporting you to a rainforest, while J. polyanthum's perfume takes place on a soft tropical beach with sand so bleached and uniform in grain size that you cannot pick out the coral from the shells. Like plumeria, it borders on suntan lotion with its anti-gourmand milkiness (lotion). And other Jasminum species (grandiflorum and sambac) have a vibrant nectar note bulging between peach and beaujolais. J. polyanthum smells less vibrant and more feathery. Its fragrance is the cockatoo of jasmines. Indolic fecal fecundity is absent. It smells green, young, immature. It has blossomed without ripening. Unlike J. nitidum and laurifolium (angel wing jasmines), it doesn't have the "extra sharp," non-fruity indolic edge that is striking in the angel wing types. Adding to its childlike impression, there is something very nostalgic about J. polyanthum and redolent of a Tonka corporation children's toy from the 1980s: Keypers. The pastel Keypers were made in the shapes of animals (snail, horse, turtle, swan, ladybug) and their pliable plastic bodies had a distinct smell. It was less sweet than the smell of Cabbage Patch dolls, less plasticky than (the unscented) My Little Ponies or Barbies. The Keypers had the faded aroma of a vague flower. Jasminum polyanthum has the same powdery, fluffy scent, but much more concentrated. Sometimes people say they would prefer not to wear carnal smelling perfumes to work or in public-- these are usually compositions heavy in jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, musks, and animalics. Undoubtedly these are the notes associated with human, animal, and botanical sexualities. I always think it is funny when adults deem perfumes without floral sex organs on display as more appropriate to wear in public, and the more adult scents "obscene." It seems like olfactory catfishing to me, or like dressing as a child. When the obscene thing might actually be dousing oneself in prepubescent drag (no judgment). Because it is less candied, I hesitate to place J. polyanthum among the more childlike, prudish, and sugary Victorian flowers: phlox, carnation, dianthus, heliotrope. To me polyanthum is more along the lines of Bette Davis as Baby Jane than as the baby Baby Jane: the jasmine that dresses like a child.

Literally, "in flower," enfleurage is a traditional, labor intensive, and pure method of extracting fragrance, utilizing only fat and plant material. Enfleurage is also the method of perfume extraction that most closely replicates the odor profile of the original flower: each flower's complex fragrant arc from bud to bloom is recorded in fat, where it is stored. The scent is true to the blossom, but subtle, requiring you to bend in close for a sniff.

I have used enfleurage to capture jasmine polyanthum's ebullient aroma. Enfleurage produces a "pommade," which is a highly scented solid perfume and not to be confused with pomade for hair! This pommade consists of hundreds of individual organic jasmine blossoms that I gathered from my perfume gardens, laid onto an emulsion of organic avocado butter and raw beeswax. They are left to breathe on the fat through their fragrant lifespan, then removed, washed, and dried. I repeat this process to reach a high degree of fragrance saturation. Each reposition is a "charge," and this enfleurage was charged the traditional 36 times. The aroma is softer, richer, greener, and more delicate than absolutes of jasmine, with murmurs of vanilla and indole. It is very much the opposite of the shrill, overpowering version of a synthetic floral you find at the fragrance counter. Only you and those closest to you will be able to smell it. Apply to pulse points.

Photos: my Jasminum polyanthum enfleurage; J. polyanthum in the Wild Veil perfume gardens; enfleurage in 5ml and 10ml black violet glass jars.

PLEASE READ:
**Although the floral perfume produced by enfleurage is osmically balanced (meaning it contains sufficiently complex interplay of top through base notes to be considered a perfume in itself), it is a subtle creation. It must be given time to breathe on the skin. When cold, it may not smell much at all. Allow it to breathe and warm on a pulse point before inhaling deeply. Most noses love the aroma of my enfleurage but, a small percent of my clients are anosmic to enfleurage and therefore cannot smell the floral fragrance. This has to do with natural differences in nasal receptors and is not due to an issue with the product. I always recommend ordering a sample before committing to a larger size for this reason.**

A B O U T • W I L D • V E I L • E N F L E U R A G E

Enfleurage is a beautiful process whereby odorless fats that are solid at room temperature are used to capture the fragrant compounds exuded by plants. Enfleurage is by far one of the oldest methods of fragrance extraction, and it is nearly extinct. Only a handful of artisans still practice it today as it is no longer used in the manufacture of perfumes on a mass scale. A voluptuous art, enfleurage is quite the labor of love, consuming time, labor, and expense. Historically enfleurage was done by women, or maidens, in the fields of Grasse, France. Although far rarer to find enfleurage products in the market today, is still "largely" practiced by women.

There are two types of enfleurage: "cold" and "hot." Wild Veil exclusively uses cold enfleurage:

In cold enfleurage, a large framed plate of glass, called a chassis, is smeared with a layer of fat, traditionally unscented animal fat rendered from lard or tallow, and allowed to set. Wild Veil does not use any animal fat whatsoever! My enfleurage products are organic and botanical; I purvey fats from a variety of nut and plant butters such as shea, jojoba, avocado, fair trade palm, and mango. Botanical matter, usually petals or whole flowers, is then placed on the fat and its scent is allowed to diffuse into the fat over the course of 1-3 days. The process is then repeated (up to 36 times depending on the fat and the botanical matter) by replacing the spent botanicals with fresh ones until the fat has reached a desired degree of fragrance saturation. The cold fat process was developed in southern France in the 18th century for the production of high-grade concentrates.

In hot enfleurage, solid fats are heated and botanical matter is stirred into the fat. Spent botanicals are repeatedly strained from the fat and replaced with fresh material until the fat is saturated with fragrance. This method is considered the oldest known procedure for preserving plant fragrance substances. So far Wild Veil only incorporates cold enfleurage into products.

In both instances, once the fat is saturated with fragrance, it is then called the "enfleurage pommade." This is a highly perfumed solid fat, not to be confused with pomade used for styling hair. Historically, this enfleurage pommade was either sold as it was,* or it could be further washed or soaked in ethyl alcohol to draw the fragrant molecules into the alcohol. When the alcohol was separated from the fat and allowed to evaporate, it would leave behind the absolute of the botanical matter. The spent fat would typically be used to make soaps since it is still fairly fragrant. *This listing is for an organic pommade.

The advent of modern perfumery ushered in the ease and relative inexpense of commercial solvent-based extraction of natural materials along with mass production of synthetic compounds, making the art of enfleurage seem highly inefficient and costly in comparison. The method is now superseded by more efficient techniques such as solvent extraction or supercritical fluid extraction using liquid carbon dioxide (CO2) or similar compressed gases. Enfleurage had been the sole method of extracting the fragrant compounds (containing thousands of aromachemicals) from delicate floral botanical such as jasmine and tuberose, which are be destroyed or denatured by the high temperatures required by cheaper methods of fragrance extraction such as steam distillation. It is still believed by some perfumers that enfleurage remains the only way to capture and preserve the full range of complexity of certain scents, particularly of flowers.

s i z i n g ☽•☾
I offer this enfleurage in sizes of 1ml (a sample of approximately 20-25 drops), 5ml and 10ml. 1ml (sample size) comes in a hinge top pod. 5ml comes in a clear glass jar. 10ml is available in a glass jar or a round tin.

Please make your selection from the menu.

r a w ☽•☾ m a t t e r
Wild Veil natural perfumes are composed by me, Abby, using homemade, wildcrafted and organic aromatics in Vermont. These include my handmade enfleurage, tinctures, enfleurage extraits, absolutes, resinoids and concretes, and floral waxes. I spend as much time growing plants and foraging as I do composing perfumes.

h o w ☽•☾ t o ☽•☾ w e a r
The best way to experience a natural perfume is to apply it to well-moisturized skin, without rubbing in (absorption only shortens the wear time of fragrance) and without scrubbing off. Natural perfumes are dynamic and take a minimum of 2 hours to reach their final stage, or dry down. Enjoy the alchemical changes as they unfold from the initial intensity of top notes, to the warmth of the heart, to the depth of lower base notes.

☽•☾ Wild Veil ☽•☾ alchemy between earth and ether ☽•☾

☽•☾ All aesthetic material copyright Abby Hinsman 2021 ☽•☾