Immortelle, originally uploaded by Églantine.

Immortal Rose is a new one of a kind perfume that I've just added to the website yesterday afternoon. It's a beautiful and unusual combination between two very bold notes: immortelle absolute and rose geranium absolute.
How this perfume came about is interesting: when I was working on my Immortelle l'Amour back in 2007, I asked for feedback from one of my long time customers, and a fellow perfumista who's known to many of you as FiveoaksBouquet on Perfume of Life forum.
The reason why FiveoaksBouquet was the perfect person to ask opinion about was because she loves immortelle so much, and is a huge fan of Annick Goutal's Sables, which she kindly sent me a sample of, since it is no available in Vancouver. She even sent me a handful of beautiful immortelle potpourri made over 20 years ago by Caswell-Massey.
One of her suggestions was to add rose to my 1st mod, and so I did. Neither of us was too smitted with the result, and 4 mods later, the Immortelle l'Amour that you all learned to known and love is non other than the very first mod that I created...
However, the idea of immortelle and rose note appeals to me, and 3 years later, when I have at my disposal a bold and beautiful geranium absolute, I decided to play with this perfume again. I feel that the rose geranium (both oil and absolute), in addition to some rose absolute creates the desired effect that I was hoping to find originally. Gernaium has the "rosier than rose" quality, and although it's not as fine and complex as rose absolute, it is exactly that quality that makes it so suitable for the dark, dusky and earthy maple tonalities of immortelle absolute.
I have decided to offer this perfume as a one of a kind perfume because I think it takes a very unique personality to pull such a perfume off. It is very sweet, with an overdose of vanilla like my original formula; yet earthy and rosy as well, with fresh notes from the geranium and orange that balance it well. And 3 years in it is also beautifully matured into a very smooth elixir.

, originally uploaded by Rod the Rabid Rodent.

, originally uploaded by Rod the Rabid Rodent.

More often than never, geranium essential oil is used for its crushed leaf effect and fresh herbaceous qualities. As mentioned earlier, the presence of menthone and isomenthone renders geranium leaf oil’s freshness and minty character. Linalol makes it a little similar to lavender, and geranium overall is often considered an herbaceous and leafy raw material. In addition to that, the citrusy elements (i.e.: limonene) make it especially favourable in masculine fragrances.

You’ll find geranium in many masculines for men, though rarely will it appear in the name of the scent (the days of Geranium Water are long gone!) or as a major theme. Geranium can be find in classi fougeres such as Azzaro and Canoe, but also in more modern ones such as Cool Water, and the new emerging classification of fougeres for women, beginning with Sarah Jessica Parker’s quirky Covet (where it’s paired with cocoa, citrus and sharp florals to produce a “fougere on estrogen”) and Deseo for women (it smells more like a fougere than the mossless “Chypre” its supposed to be).

In Fougeres, geranium is mostly used for bouqueting the composition, adding the roundness that florals such as rose and jasmine are usually utilized for in “feminine” scents; because while it does provide a similar effect, it is also far less expensive, as well as has that edge of being herbaceous and leafy, preventing it from being too flowery for a man to wear (even though the distinction of florals being feminine is relatively new even in the Western world).

In l’Herbe Rouge I’ve used geranium for exactly that purpose – it’s a fougere composition, yet I wanted to use something to create harmony among the mossy, earthy base (oakmoss, hay, patchouli, vetiver) and the crisp, sharp lavender and juniper top notes. It seems to work really well alongside the leafy lemongrass as well as the spicy clove heart notes.

In the Bois d’Hiver candle, we replaced the rose with rose geranium (for economic purposes – rose otto would make the candle prohibitively expensive, and even the less expensive rose absolute still comes at an outrageous price). In that context, it does well, even though I don’t know about using it in the perfume formulation. I think the florals make it really rich (Bois d’Hiver has rose otto, jasmine and orange blossom).

For the purpose of researching geranium, I’m now doing an experiment replacing rose geranium in a few of my more “masculine” scents instead of the rose, i.e.: Democracy and Rainforest in particular. I think these two might actually benefit from the crispness of geranium and could do without rose’s overwhelming complexity. In Democracy it seemed to have worked fine so far, with half the amount that I usually use for rose otto. Economic indeed.

These days I’m working on a geranium perfume. My main challenge is to give geranium the centre of the stage. I’ve started with a version that is leafy-green and a littly minty. Rather than pretend the herbaceous and leafy green aspects are not there and try to mask them, I’m attempting to bring them out by using several geranium kinds (Madagascan, Morrocan, Egyptian and Bourbon), paired with peppermint and rosemary to accentuate the minty-herbaceouse qualities, lemon and grapefruit to highlight the citrusy aspects, and vetiver and tobacco base notes to support the woody dry out of geranium oil.

Pink Geranium, originally uploaded by fatminky.

Pink Geranium, originally uploaded by fatminky.

But geranium, and bourbon geranium in particular, have an intensely sweet aspect to them that can smell almost confectionary. In Cabaret, a rosy floriental, the rose geranium plays a role greater than just extending the rose notes. I’ve taken advantage of this and paired Rose Geranium with Turkish rose otto and amber, surprisingly creating the illusion of coconut. To exaggerate this impression, I added some massoia bark, which has the fatty sweetness of roasted coconut. The result is strongly reminiscent of Rahat Loukum, immersed in rosewater and dusted with starch and coconut.

In the ylang ylang soliflore Coralle, Geranium Bourbon is merely in the background to round-off a tropical bouquet supported by the jam-like notes of davana (an herb from the Artemisia family that has notes of overripe berries and hints of Chambord liqueur). Geranium Bourbon is usually my least favourite choice because I find its full-bodied wine-like qualities overbearing at times. But in this context it was the right geranium to choose.

And more recently, for Mother’s Day, I’ve created Geranium Ritual Bath Salts that were meant to smell all feminine, pretty and grounding. I wanted it to conjure images of fresh laundry and babies (how motherly!) so I’ve also used hints of lavender for the fresh linen association, and Roman chamomile that creates a baby-powder accord with the other notes. Subtle amounts of myrrh and jasmine and the peru balsam oil as a fixative prevent it from smelling like yet another relaxing aromatherapy blend. Even though the formulation is for bath salts it will work beautifully as a real grown-up perfume.

The flowery and rosy components of geranium - linalol (which is also present in rosewood, ho wood and lavender) softens up geranium's otherwise bold character and of course when this aspect is accentuated, you will get a softer geranium. Also the rose alcohol (geraniol, citronellal, etc.) which are what gives geranium its rosy characteristics can be played softly, depending on the context, and avoiding the potpourri impression that is so easily to fall into when working with geranium. In Olivia Giacobetti's L'Ether, rose geranium is used so beautifully it has none of the harshness (it is not listed in the notes -Myrrh, Benzoin, Rosewood, Sandalwood, Saffron, Maple wood - but it is very present). The backdrop of myrrh and woods and the sweetness of benzoin make the geranium in L'Ether come across very mysterious, like the endless unfolding petals of a mythical eternally blooming rose.