Aldehyde notes in perfumery:
Although widely used in perfumery, aldehyde notes are not part of the 6 original families (Floral, Citrus, Woody, Oriental, Fougère, Chypre) according to the SFP (French Society of Perfumers).
Aldehydes are synthetic molecules with very characteristic odors: either we like it or we hate it.
Some will say that these notes are soapy, old-fashioned, a smell (too) close to coriander, bitter.
Aldehydes are recent in the history of perfumery, at the beginning of the 20th century and became fabulously famous in 1921 thanks to the world's best-selling perfume: "N°5" by Chanel.
These aldehyde notes bring freshness, a clean facet, a metallic side and go very well with the floral notes.
Attention, some synthetic notes are called "Aldehyde..." but are not. This is the case of Aldehyde C14, C16, C18 which are fruity synthetic notes.
These are usually top notes. Here are some raw materials :
Aldehyde C9: zesty.green.fruit of water
Aldehyde C10: orange.fat.sour
Aldehyde C11: zesty.soapy.coriander
Aldehyde C12: zesty.mandarin.floral
Mandarin aldehyde: orange.metallic.coriander
Adoxal: marin.zesty.water fruit
Some emblematic perfumes:
"N°5" - Chanel 1921 - Ernest Beaux / Floral Aldehyde
"N°22" - Chanel 1922 - Ernest Beaux / Floral Aldehyde
"Arpège" - Lanvin 1927 - Paul Vacher & André Fraysse / Floral Aldehyde
"Lui" - Guerlain 1929 - Jacques Guerlain / Floral Green
"Madam Rochas" - Rochas 1960 - Guy Robert / Floral Aldehyde
"Carriage" - Hermès 1961 - Guy Robert / Floral Aldehyde
"Calender" - Paco Rabanne 1969 - Michel Hy / Floral Aldehyde
"Left bank" - YSL 1971 / Floral Aldehyde
"First" - Van Cleef & Arpels 1976 - Jean-Claude Ellena / Floral Aldehyde
"Rock Flower" - Caron 1993 / Floral
"Aldehyde 44" - The Lab 2006 - Yann Vasnier / Floral Woody Musk
"White" - Byredo 2009 / Floral Aldehyde
This list is not exhaustive because there are a lot of beautiful launches: some emblematic, some more commercial.
