Pink Ipe Tree in Perfumery | Première Peau

Softly floral, green, and faintly woody. Like walking beneath a pink ipe in full bloom in southeastern Brazil -- the petals drift down like confetti, the air is warm and sweet-green, and the massive trunk anchors everything with a quiet, dense woodiness. Atmospheric and gentle.

Pink ipe (Handroanthus impetiginosus, formerly Tabebuia impetiginosa) is a large deciduous tree native to Central and South American tropical forests. Known in Brazil as ipe-roxo or pau d'arco, it is famous for its spectacular flowering: before the leaves appear in spring, the entire canopy erupts in masses of pink-purple trumpet-shaped flowers.

The flowers have a subtle, clean, floral scent that is difficult to characterize -- it is lighter and greener than most tropical flowers, with a faint sweetness and a spring-like freshness. The wood, known as ipe, is extremely dense and durable (used for outdoor decking and construction), with a mild, faintly sweet woody aroma.

Neither the flowers nor the wood are commercially extracted for perfumery. Pink ipe is a fantasy accord, capturing the atmospheric quality of the tree in bloom: pink petals falling on warm ground, a clean floral-green scent, and the warm wood of the trunk.

The note functions in the heart, providing a tropical-spring atmosphere.