Medium ,recommend smelling in a 10.00 % solution or less
Producing Countries
China
Pyramid
Top-Heart
Ripe apricot halves drying on warm leather. Osmanthus smells like stone fruit left in the sun on a suede seat — honeyed, dense, with a violet-powdery shadow underneath. One of the only natural materials that delivers genuine fruitiness without smelling edible.
Opens fruity and dense — dried apricot, ripe peach, rais in compote. Heavier and less transparent than most florals. A suede-leather quality appears almost immediately, not harsh but persistent, giving the scent an animalic warmth absent from, say, jasmine or rose. Underneath, a violet-powdery ionone thread connects it to orr is and violet leaf. Less sweet than tuberose, less narcotic than gardenia, less green than anything. The waxy-oxidised quality from linalool oxides gives a tea-like undertone — fitting, since osmanthus is traditionally blended into Chinese teas. On blotter, the fru it recedes over hours and the leather deepens into something almost tobacco-adjacent.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Dense ripe apricot, peach skin, honeyed sweetness. Fruity and forward.
After a few hours
After a few hours
Suede-leather emerges. Violet-powdery ionone undertone. Waxy tea-like quality from linalool oxides. Fruit softens but does not vanish.
Absolute obtained by solvent extraction from the flowers of Osmanthus fragrans (Oleaceae), a persistent tree native to southern Chin a and cultivated across East Asia. The genus name derives from Greek osme (smell) and anthos (flower). Principal production regions: Guil in (Guangxi), Suzhou (Jiangsu), Chengdu (Sichuan). Guil in alone harvests approximately 10,000 metric tons of flowers annually. The city's name — gui lin, forest of osmanthus — reflects a relationship documented in sporopollen evidence from the Zengpiyan cave site, dating to the Neolithic period.
The absolute is a dark orange-brown viscous liquid to paste, soluble in alcohol. Its olfactory profile is dominated by fruity-floral and leathery qualities — not green. GC-MS analysis of the absolute reveals (E)-linalool oxide furanoid (~21%), linalool (~15%), delta-decalactone (~12%), decanoic acid (~9%), and alpha-ionone (~6%) as maj or constituents. Beta-ionone, dihydro-beta-ionone, gamma-decalactone, cis-jasmone, and geraniol are present at lower concentrations but contribute disproportionately to the perceived scent. The ionone content connects osmanthus to the violet-iris axis. The delta-decalactone and gamma-decalactone deliver the peach-apricot character. The linalool oxides provide a waxy, slightly oxidised floral quality.
Composition varies significantly between cultivar groups. Aurantiacus cultivars (orange-gold flowers, jin gui) tend toward higher linalool oxide content. Thunbergii cultivars show strengthens linalool and reduced green-leaf aldehydes. The ionone-to-linalool ratio shifts with cultivar and harvest timing, producing batches that lean either more fruity-violet or more waxy-floral.
IFRA critical effect: sensitization. Recommended maximum 2.0% in fragrance concentrate. The absolute contains restricted allergens — geraniol (~1.2%), coumarin (~0.02%), eugenol, benzyl alcohol, farnesol, and isoeugenol — all of which require declaration under EU cosmetics regulation. Not an unrestricted material.
Archaeologists found Osmanthus fragrans sporopollen in the Zengpiyan cave site in southern Guilin, dating to approximately 10,000 years ago — the earliest known evidence of osmanthus growth anywhere in the world. The city of Guilin (桂林, 'forest of osmanthus') was named for the tree and today maintains over 200,000 osmanthus trees across more than 100 streets.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Solvent extraction (petroleum ether) of fresh flowers yields a concrete at 0.15-0.2%. The concrete is then washed with ethanol to produce the absolute. Flowers must be harvested during a brief September-October bloom window. The blooms are tiny and labour-intensive to collect. Chin a holds a near-monopoly on production — approximately 1 tonne of concrete is produced globally per year, almost entirely from Guil in, Suzhou, and Chengdu. CO2 extraction is also used in small quantities, yielding a somewhat brighter, less waxy profile with enhanced sweet-balsamic qualities.
Medium ,recommend smelling in a 10.00 % solution or less
Lasting Power
400 hour(s) at 100.00 %
Appearance
green yellow brown viscous liquid to paste
Flash Point
161.00 °F. TCC ( 71.67 °C. )
Specific Gravity
0.92100 to 0.98300 @ 25.00 °C.
Refractive Index
1.48300 to 1.49600 @ 20.00 °C.
In Perfumery
Heart note in fruity-floral, leather-floral, and East Asian-inflected compositions. Osmanthus absolute provides one of the only naturally sourced fruity notes in perfumery — most peach, apricot, and plum effects are achieved synthetically (gamma-undecalactone, delta-decalactone, gamma-decalactone). The material's simultaneous leather and fruit qualities make it a bridge between floral hearts and animalic bases without requiring a separate leather accord. Functionally, it is a signature note rather than a background modifier — its character is too specific to disappear into a blend. The ionone content links it to iris and violet compositions, where it can reinforce powdery-fruity qualities. In chypre structures, osmanthus absolute can replace or extend the fruit component while contributing base-note tenacity (substantivity around 400 hours at full concentration). The material is scarce and expensive, so synthetic reconstructions using combinations of gamma-decalactone, beta-ionone, dihydro-beta-ionone, linalool oxide, and cis-jasmone are common. Osmanthus does not feature in the current Première Peau collection.
