Luxury perfumery rests on ingredients whose value sometimes exceeds that of gold. Here are the rarest, most expensive and most emblematic raw materials in the history of perfume.
Produced when the Aquilaria tree is wounded or infected by fungi (Fusarium, Aspergillus, Phialophora… several species are cited), agarwood is one of the most expensive raw materials in the world. The best oils reach prices of several tens of thousands of euros per kilogram. Its complex smell — woody, animalic, smoky, slightly sweet — is at the heart of Arab and Asian perfumery.
A substance produced in the intestine of the sperm whale, ambergris is cast up on beaches after years of maturing at sea. Its value runs to tens of thousands of euros per kilogram. Its smell, soft, marine, animalic and earthy, is an exceptional fixative that extends the longevity of other notes. Its use is now almost exclusively reserved for high perfumery.
The Grasse centifolia rose is the symbol of luxury French perfumery. It takes hundreds of kilos of hand-picked flowers to obtain a single kilogram of absolute. Grasse production, very limited, is largely reserved for luxury houses through contracts with local producers.
Grasse jasmine is harvested by hand, before dawn, when the concentration of aromatic molecules is at its maximum. It takes, according to producers, from several hundred kilos to nearly a tonne of flowers to produce one kilogram of jasmine absolute. Several major houses, including Chanel and Dior, secure their supply through exclusive partnerships with Grasse producers.
Natural musk from the musk deer was, before the 19th century, one of the most precious ingredients of world perfumery. Its animalic, warm and complex smell makes it an incomparable fixative. The musk deer is now a species protected by the CITES convention. Its trade is very strictly regulated and perfumery has practically abandoned it in favour of synthetic musks (muscone, habanolide, galaxolide…).
Orris butter is extracted from the iris rhizome after about three years of drying. This slow process produces irone, the molecule responsible for the characteristic powdery, violet smell. It is one of the most expensive materials on the palette; iris absolute reaches exceptional prices. Used in Chanel N°19, Dior Homme, Hermès Hiris, iris is a signature note of classic French perfumery.
