What does Immortelle smell like?

Immortelle is a common name of Helichrysum italicum, a species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae. Its absolute has a hay and honey smell with a smoky tobacco note beneath.

Immortelle in Perfumery

Scent

The absolute is herbaceous, hay-like and honeyed, with a smoky tobacco and musk-like undertone. At 10% in dipropylene glycol it smells warm and sweet, with caramel, hay, fruity, honey, tobacco and tonka notes. A further description calls it brown, hay-like and tobacco-leafy, with green phenolic nuances. A molecular-distilled helichrysum absolute opens with acacia honey and wildflowers like daisies and black-eyed susans. After a few minutes it shows facets of green flowers, summer meadows and steeped oolong tea. It develops into a base of lingering honey, dry woods and freshly mown hay, with subtle tea and fenugreek overtones.

The oil is sweet, warm, herbal, woody and floral, with a coumarin note. The aroma of the essential oil is reminiscent of a sweet and spicy curry, with warm undertones that bear a subtle resemblance to honey. The whole plant has a strong odour of curry.

In PREMIEREPEAU

DISCOVERY SET7 × 2 ml →SIMILI MIRAGEExtrait →EXTRAIT DE PARFUMThe seven extraits →

Terroir & Transformation

The Full Story

Immortelle, Croatian Helichrysum italicum, carries a maple-curry-fenugreek warmth into PREMIEREPEAU's Simili Mirage, woven against sea salt and olibanum resinoid.

Helichrysum italicum is sometimes called the curry plant because of the strong fragrance of its leaves; other common names include Italian strawflower and immortelle. It grows on dry, rocky or sandy ground around the Mediterranean. The stems are woody at the base and can reach 60 centimetres (24 in) or more in height. The clusters of yellow flowers are produced in summer and are used in dried flower arrangements. The plant has a resinous, somewhat bitter aroma reminiscent of sage or wormwood. The plant is a tender perennial. Many blenders call the absolute immortelle and the oil helichrysum. A dark amber, viscous absolute can range from a very thick pourable liquid to a solid at room temperature.

In the Mediterranean Basin the plant grows in various regions, among them Corsica, Italy and Croatia. It can be harvested wild, but is also often cultivated. Its cultivation is widely spread in Corsica, Italy, Hungary, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia. Crop yields vary from 8 to 20 t/ha, depending on plant spacing, irrigation and harvest time. One classification divides Helichrysum italicum into six subspecies spread across the Mediterranean, and a revised classification proposes four.

Plants introduced from France, Bosnia and Corsica and grown side by side in Bulgaria gave oils with neryl acetate (4.04-14.87%) and β-himachalene (9.9-10.99%) as main constituents. The oil profiles of the plants from the three countries differed to some extent. In plants introduced from Bosnia the predominant constituents were α-pinene, δ-cadinene, α-cadinene, β-himachalene and β-caryophyllene. The oils of plants introduced from France and Corsica had similar profiles, with neryl acetate (12.37-14.87%), β-himachalene (9.9-10.99%) and D-limonene (5.23-4.94%). In Corsican oils of subspecies italicum, neryl acetate predominated, rising from 15.8% in plants at the early-shoot stage to 42.5% in full flowering.

An oil from everlasting plants collected near Split in southern Croatia had α-pinene (12.8%), 2-methylcyclohexyl pentanoate (11.1%) and neryl acetate (10.4%) as main compounds. Seven esters were identified in that oil, representing 29.0% of the total oil. After hydrolysis of the ester fraction, the main acids liberated were acetic acid (24.3%) and propanoic acid (17.2%). In oils from stems with leaves of one- and two-year-old plants grown in Slovenia, the main compounds were α-pinene, α-eudesmol and rosifoliol.

One classification of H. italicum recognises 10 chemotypes, including a high neryl acetate chemotype (50.5-83.4%), a high α-pinene chemotype (25.2-53.5%) and an italidiones chemotype. Variation in the oil's composition could be due to numerous factors, such as geographical origin, ecological factors, the part of the plant sampled, the stage of growth and the extraction method.

This note in PREMIEREPEAU. Simili Mirage. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

Did You Know?

Despite its curry-like aroma emitted by the leaves, the plant is not botanically related to curry. Its flowers retain a yellowish colour for several months after picking.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method

The flowering tops are steam-distilled immediately after harvesting to give the essential oil. The harvest takes place when the plant is in full bloom, usually in June. The absolute is solvent extracted. Solvent extraction from the entire herb yields approximately 0.3% of the oil. A pale gold absolute from France is obtained through molecular distillation. Supercritical CO2 extraction can isolate both volatile essential oils and non-volatile phenolic compounds from the plant material. A supercritical CO2 extract is dominated by sesquiterpenes, namely α-selinene, β-selinene and γ-curcumene, and also contains significant waxes.

Formula: Complex natural mixture (key constituents: neryl acetate; α-pinene C₁₀H₁₆)
CAS: 8023-95-8; 90045-56-0
Botanical: Helichrysum italicum
Appearance: pale yellow oily liquid
Odour strength: Medium
Lasting power: 168 hours at 10.00%
Synonyms: Helichrysum, everlasting, curry plant, Italian strawflower

IFRA status

See note

No IFRA Standard for the material itself (51st Amendment)

Physical properties

Flash point: > 200.00 °F. TCC ( > 93.33 °C. )
Specific gravity: 0.90100 to 0.91100 @ 15.00 °C
Refractive index: 1.47300 to 1.47500 @ 20.00 °C

In Perfumery

The perfume industry has taken a strong interest in Helichrysum species because of the specific aroma and composition of their essential oil. The absolute blends well with citrus oils and clove bud and its derivatives. The absolute serves as a middle and base note and as a fixative. Correspondence with PREMIEREPEAU: immortelle's warm, tobacco-adjacent, slightly leathered character connects with the Mediterranean warmth of SIMILI MIRAGE (/products/simili-mirage-leather-salty-maquis-perfume), whose salt-and-maquis identity shares geographic and olfactory territory with the plant itself.

Role in the formula

01modifier

02signature note

03volume builder

Available as

essential oil absolute

Immortelle