Muguet

        You may not recognise the name immediately unless you are a French speaker Muguet is Lily of  the Valley to us English speakers.

        Why didn't we just say Lily of the Valley then? - this is because most of the Lily family are large flowers with no odour at all, and the remainder do not display a common odour characteristic. We have found that when the term Lily of the Valley is used then streams of questions arise about the other Lilies - fragrance wise, there is no connection.
 

          Lily of the Valley is a Lily in a genus all of its own. It is a small creeping Lily about 12-18' tall with a pair of emerald green lance like leaves extending from the roots. Between this pair of leaves a single spike rises and leans to one side and from which tiny brilliant white dangling bells fall.

        The delicate sweet odour of Muguet has no equal. It is elegant and sophisticated but still lively and fresh, there is none of the heavyness associated with the narcotic florals. I can do no more justice to the fragrance of Muguet than John Lawrence, who wrote almost 300 years ago:

"the conval-lily is esteemed to have, of all others, the sweetest and most agreeable perfume; not offensive nor overbearing, even to those who are made uneasy with the perfumes of other sweet scented flowers"          Now, like many beautiful things in nature the act of trying to capture, cage and analyse, all but destroy it. So too, with the natural aroma components of the Muguet. All attempts to date to produce an acceptable commercial extract have met with failure. There are no Muguet absolutes or essential oils to our knowledge available on the open market. So in re-producing the soul of the Muguet fragrance we must look elsewhere.

        Analysis of the chemical composition of Muguet reveals to us that the main components are the rose alcohols Citronellol, Geraniol, Nerol and their esters, Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol and Linalool, Indol, traces of cis-3-Hexenol and its esters . However, these materials simply give us a rosy odour base from which to work from and do not explain the the sophistication of the odour. Synthetics with no natural equivalents come into play here and it is Hydroxycitronellal that is traditionally the most representative of the Muguet odorants. In compounds we can frequently find up to 40% of Hydroxycitronellal. More recently developed aroma chemicals have added to the palette of the perfumer such as Lilial - Givaudan-Roure, Lyral - IFF, Dupical - Quest, Mayol - Firmenich. It is these materials that usually form the basic structure of the Muguet fragrance. The rose alcohols act as a combination of blenders/modifiers. Muguet flowers display a natural greeness which is frequently replicated using cis-3-Hexenol, cis-3-Hexenyl Benzoate and this greeness can be modified with Phenyl Acetaldehyde and traces of Galbanum notes.

        The fragrance can be blended and smoothed with the use of Linalool and Tepineol, the latter used carefully adds depth and power but overuse gives a lilac/pine character. Hedione, Helional, Cyclamen Aldehyde are useful blending agents for Muguet.

        Fixatives for Muguet include Indol which gives depth without undue sweetness. Traces of Civet Extract (a lot less than 1%) help to give a natural effect. Macro and polycyclic musks are useful. Lyral and Dupical both have excellent tenacity and can be increased to act as fixatives.
 
 

Muguet

.   ............................................. % Remarks - e.g. overdose effect Basics    Hydroxycitronellal 20-40 Synthetic grades easier to use . Lyral 5-30   Long lasting Lilial 5-25  Aldehydic character  Citronellol 5-20 rosy muguet note good body    .

Modifiers    Rose -     Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol 5-25  light rosy soft  Geraniol  1-5   metallic rose .   Green -      cis-3-Hexenol 0.1-1 fresh cut grass green  Phenyl Acetaldehyde  Dimethyl Acetal (PADMA) 0.2-2 leafy green (harsh) .

Blenders    Linalool  10-30  blender fresh floral  Terpineol  1-5  Lilac/Pine add depth Helional  0.1-3   light green sweet radiant Cyclamen Aldehyde  1-10   cool green Hydroxy. like Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol 5-25  soft rosy   .

Fixatives    Indol (Tip use as 10% solution) 0.1-0.5  discolouration Civet Extract/Civet Fleuressence  0.1-0.5 essential in traces (dirty fecal)  .

Novel Effects   Dupical 0.1-2 very strong Muguet note Ethyl Methyl Phenyl Glycidate  traces strawberry for top note Citronellal (the aldehyde of Citronellol) traces adds power but use sparingly Benzyl Acetate 1-5 Increase depth and top note  Phenyl Propyl Alcohol 1-3 Increase depth of greeness Cinnamic Alcohol 1-5 Increase depth - lilac character Nerolidol 1-10 Blender Methyl Octine Carbonate 0.05-0.1 Violet greeness Nerol 1-5 Rose-citrus body - magnolia twist Rose de Mai Absolute 0.1-3 "Natural" effect Coriander Oil 0.1-1 Modifier for Linalool blending cis-3-Hexenyl Benzoate 0.5-2 Blender for green notes .NB. These recommendations are for guidance and hints - do not be afraid to try as many different materials as possible

 
 
 
 
 

Muguet Formulation Example

Hydroxycitronellal   Citronellol   Lyral   Lilial   Phenyl Ethyl Alcohol   Linalool   Terpineol   Cyclamen Aldeyde   cis-3-Hexenol   Helional   Indol   Civet Fleuressence   Phenyl Acetaldehyde Dimethyl Acetal   Rose de Mai Absolute	40.00  10.00  5.00  8.00  18.00  12.00  3.00  1.00  0.30  1.70  0.20  0.10  0.50  0.20
.	100.00