Home › Glossary › Carnation

Carnation in Perfumery | Première Peau

FLOWERS / floral · spicy · clove

Carnation

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · spicy · clove
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Dianthus caryophyllus
Appearance	Olive-green to amber viscous liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Egypt, France, Morocco
Pyramid	Heart

Clove heat in a pressed collar. Carnation's dominant molecule — eugenol — belongs to the spice drawer, not the flower bed. The result is a peppery, powdery floral with a faint dental-cabinet edge that sits alone among classical perfumery flowers.

Scent
Terroir & Origins
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery
See Also

Scent

Spicy before floral. The first impression is eugenol — clove-like, peppery, with a clean medicinal sharpness. Beneath it, a sweet floral body surfaces: powdery, softened by benzyl salicylate, with a faint wintergreen coolness from methyl salicylate. Compared to rose, which is transparent and aldehydic, carnation is opaque and warm. Compared to raw clove bud, carnation is more refined — isoeugenol contributing a fruity, almost creamy dimension that crude eugenol alone cannot produce. The dry-down is formal, structured, faintly waxy. Pressed flowers in an old book, not a summer garden.

Evolution over time

Immediately

After a few hours

After a few days

Terroir & Origins

Indicative 2025 wholesale prices.

The Full Story

Carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus) occupies an unusual position among perfumery flowers. GC-MS analysis of the absolute reveals benzyl benzoate as the dominant component (14–15%), with eugenol at only 3–4%, alongside benzyl salicylate (3–4%), methyl salicylate, pentacosene, and traces of cis-jasmone. The eugenol fraction is small but disproportionately loud: it delivers the warm, peppery bite that defines carnation’s identity. Isoeugenol, present in smaller quantities still, adds a creamier, faintly fruity softness that rounds out the clove attack. Headspace analysis of the living flower tells a different story — some cultivars show eugenol at over 80% of their volatile emissions — but the absolute, filtered through solvent extraction, is a broader, more complex material.

The natural absolute barely exists in commercial terms. World production was estimated at roughly 30 kilograms per year in the early 1960s by Steffen Arctander — a figure that has likely declined since. Egypt remains the primary source, with France and Morocco contributing marginal volumes. The concrete is obtained by petroleum ether extraction of fresh blossoms, yielding 0.2–0.3% of flower weight. The absolute yield from concrete is a further 10–25%. The result is a dark olive-green, viscous paste that must be warmed before handling. Steam distillation is not viable — the flower’s delicate volatiles do not survive hydrodistillation.

In practice, perfumers reconstruct carnation from synthetic components: eugenol for the spicy backbone, isoeugenol for fruity refinement — though IFRA Amendment 51 now restricts isoeugenol to 0.11% in Category 4 (fine fragrance) finished products — benzyl salicylate for powdery diffusion, and cinnamic alcohol for balsamic warmth. Methyl Diantilis (2-ethoxy-4-(methoxymethyl)phenol, CAS 5595-79-9) has become a key modern substitute, delivering isoeugenol-like spicy-powdery character with a cleaner safety profile and no IFRA restriction.

Did You Know?

Did you know?

Eugenol was first extracted from clove oil by Ettling in 1834 but was not named until 1858, when the French chemist Auguste Cahours gave it the name eugenol after Eugenia caryophyllata — the Linnaean classification for the clove tree. Five years earlier, Linnaeus had used the same root word, caryophyllus, for the carnation species, recognising by scent alone what chemistry would later confirm: carnation and clove share the same dominant molecule.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Solvent extraction of fresh Dianthus caryophyllus blossoms yields a dark olive-green concrete, which is further processed with ethanol to produce the absolute. Steam distillation is not viable — the flower's delicate volatiles do not survive hydrodistillation intact. Egypt is effectively the sole commercial source today. France and Morocco have contributed minor quantities historically. Yield is extremely low; Arctander recorded approximately 30 kg of absolute produced worldwide per year in the early 1960s, and current production remains negligible. In commercial perfumery, carnation is almost always a reconstruction built from eugenol, isoeugenol (within IFRA limits), benzyl salicylate, cinnamic alcohol, and methyl diantilis.

↑ See Terroir & Origins for origin-specific methods.

Molecular Formula	C₁₀H₁₂O₂ (Eugenol - the clove molecule that defines carnation)
CAS Number	8021-43-0 (carnation absolute) · 97-53-0 (Eugenol)
Botanical Name	Dianthus caryophyllus
IFRA Status	Restricted. IFRA Amendment 51 (2023): Eugenol — max 2.5% in Category 4 (fine fragrance). Isoeugenol — max 0.11% in Category 4; classified Category 1A skin sensitizer (EU CLP). Methyl eugenol — restricted across all categories due to carcinogenicity (systemic toxicity), with very low permitted concentrations.
Synonyms	OEILLET · CLOVE PINK · GILLYFLOWER · DIANTHUS · GAROFANO
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	Olive-green to amber viscous liquid

In Perfumery

Carnation bridges the floral and spicy registers. Its eugenol content connects directly to clove, cinnamon, and pepper accords; its floral body ties it to rose, jasmine, and other heart materials. In classical oriental and floral-spicy compositions, carnation supplied warmth, architectural structure, and a distinctive peppery edge no other flower could deliver. The canonical accord: eugenol + isoeugenol + benzyl salicylate. This triad creates the spicy-powdery-floral effect that defined mid-twentieth-century French perfumery. IFRA Amendment 51 (2023) now restricts eugenol to 2.5% and isoeugenol to 0.11% in fine fragrance (Category 4), making traditional carnation accords difficult to formulate at their original concentrations. Methyl eugenol — once a minor natural contributor — is restricted under IFRA 51 due to carcinogenicity concerns, with very low permitted concentrations across all categories. Modern reconstructions rely on methyl diantilis (CAS 5595-79-9) — a molecule offering isoeugenol-like powdery spice without IFRA restriction — alongside reduced eugenol, benzyl salicylate, and cinnamic alcohol. The natural absolute, when available, is reserved for luxury formulations where cost is secondary. Carnation's spicy-warm character pairs naturally with saffron and oud orientals. In the Première Peau collection, INSULINE SAFRINE explores this spicy-warm territory where carnation's eugenol backbone finds resonance.