The woody family in perfumery
Coralie Frébourg
Creamy sandalwood, dry cedar, smoky vetiver, earthy patchouli: woods are the soul of most perfumes. And, whatever the old clichés say, they're not just for men. Let's decode them.
What is the woody family?
Woody notes are one of the six original olfactory families defined by the French Society of Perfumers (SFP), alongside floral, citrus, oriental, fougère and chypre.
Did you know that the vast majority of so-called “feminine” perfumes contain woody notes? Brands are (finally) softening their talk, but for a long time we heard that “woods are for men, too powerful for women”. LOL. More on the subject in Stop the clichés in perfumery.
What do woody notes smell like?
It depends on the wood: creamy and milky for sandalwood, dry and pencil-shavings for cedar, smoky and earthy for vetiver, damp and dark for patchouli.
Woody notes go with just about everything: spices to warm up, flowers, citrus (vetiver and bergamot, a famous duo), leathers, fruits… They personalize the structure of a perfume and also act as fixatives for top and heart notes.
Most are base notes, the ones that give depth and soul.
Key raw materials
Natural materials are marked with an asterisk.
Sandalwood-like woods
- Sandalwood essence*: milky, creamy, leather
- Sandalore: sandalwood, ambery, powdery
- Bacdanol: sandalwood, ambery, leather
- Javanol: sandalwood-like, rosy, fruity
- Ebanol: sandalwood-like, hazelnut, coffee
Dry woods
- Virginia cedar essence*: pencil shavings, spicy, resinous
- Atlas cedar essence*: balsamic, fruity, terpenic
- Patchouli essence*: damp, leather, earthy
- Iso E Super: woody, velvety, ambery
- Cedryl acetate: cedar, balsamic, incense
Smoky woods
- Haitian vetiver essence*: smoky, hazelnut, earthy
- Guaiac wood essence*: smoky, spicy, balsamic
- Cypriol essence*: saffron, oud, smoky
Mossy woods
- Oakmoss absolute* (heavily restricted): humus, mushroom, leather
- Treemoss absolute*: cedar, humus, smoky
- Evernyl: oakmoss, dry, dusty
Iconic perfumes
- Vétiver, Guerlain (1959), Jean-Paul Guerlain: vetiver woody
- Bel Ami, Hermès (1986), Jean-Louis Sieuzac: woody chypre
- Féminité du Bois, Shiseido (1992), Pierre Bourdon and Christopher Sheldrake: spicy woody
- Boss Bottled, Hugo Boss (1998), Annick Menardo and Christian Dussoulier: spicy woody
- Déclaration, Cartier (1998), Jean-Claude Ellena: spicy woody
- Terre d'Hermès, Hermès (2006), Jean-Claude Ellena: spicy woody
- Bleu de Chanel, Chanel (2010), Jacques Polge: aromatic woody
This list is not exhaustive: there are many beautiful launches, some iconic, others more commercial.
Féminité du Bois is actually the favorite comforting scent of our perfumer Amélie Bourgeois, and Virginia cedar is the favorite material of Camille Chemardin.
Where to find woods at Versatile?
We don't sort our perfumes by family, but woods are often there, in the base, to anchor our gourmand treats. The sandalwood and incense of Gueule de Bois (aptly named: it means “hangover”, literally “wooden mouth”). The toasted wood of Croissant Café. And the smoky wood and fir of Oh My Chaï. Discover them together in our Les Réconfortants Discovery Box.
FAQ
Are woody perfumes masculine?
No! Most so-called feminine perfumes have a woody base. It's a marketing cliché, not an olfactory reality.
Why is Mysore sandalwood so rare?
Indian sandalwood has been overharvested and its harvest is strictly controlled. Today, Australian sandalwood or synthetic molecules such as Sandalore or Javanol are used instead.
What is Iso E Super?
A velvety woody synthetic molecule, a star of modern perfumery. Some niche perfumes contain very high doses for its “skin” effect.
