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Reseda

Q: Is Reseda natural or synthetic?

. Extraction: Solvent extraction of flowers for absolute (rare, expensive, small-scale production). No widely available essential oil. Major historical production: Grasse, France. Today nearly extinct as a perfumery material..

FLOWERS / floral · green · sweet

Reseda

Category	FLOWERS
Subcategory	floral · green · sweet
Origin
Volatility	Heart Note
Botanical	Reseda odorata
Appearance	yellow brown liquid
Odor Strength	Medium
Producing Countries	Egypt, France, Italy
Pyramid	Heart

Green, sweet-herbaceous, with a surprisingly complex fragrance. Mignonette smells of green stems, honey, and a faint raspberry-violet undertone.

Scent
The Full Story
Fun Fact
Extraction & Chemistry
In Perfumery

Scent

Green, honey-sweet, with a violet-raspberry undercurrent. More complex than it looks — the greenness is specific and fresh, the honey quality is light and herbal, and the violet-ionone note adds unexpected refinement. An old-fashioned garden scent with genuine depth.

Evolution over time

Immediately

Green-herbal, honey-sweet, faint violet-raspberry

After a few hours

Warm honeyed depth, ionone undertone, less green

After a few days

Persistent sweet-green warmth, refined herbaceous trail

The Full Story

Reseda (Reseda odorata), commonly called mignonette, was a popular fragrant plants in 18th and 19th-century European gardens. Napoleon reportedly ordered seeds sent from Egypt to Josephine at Malmaison.

The scent is complex for such a modest-looking plant: green-herbaceous, honey-sweet, with a faint raspberry-violet quality from ionone-type compounds. The overall impressi on is of a clean but unpretentious garden herb — structured without being showy.

Resed a absolute exists but is rare and expensive. The synthetic reconstructi on uses green-herbal elements, honey notes (phenylacetic acid), and violet-leaf/ionone compounds. In perfumery, resed a provides a uniquely green-sweet character that combines herbaceous honesty with floral complexity.

The plant was so popular in Paris that 19th-century apartment balconies were often planted entirely with mignonette — the scent drifting up from window boxes was considered essential to civilized urban living.

This note in Première Peau. Nuit Elastique · Rose Monotone. Sample all seven extraits in the Discovery Set.

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Did You Know?

Did you know?

Mignonette was so beloved in Napoleonic France that Alexandre Dumas used it as a romantic symbol in his novels. The name means 'little darling' in French. By the mid-19th century, Parisian seed merchants sold more mignonette seed than any other flower — the plant was effectively the city's unofficial scent.

Extraction & Chemistry

Extraction method: Solvent extraction of flowers for absolute (rare, expensive, small-scale production). No widely available essential oil. Major historical production: Grasse, France. Today nearly extinct as a perfumery material.

Molecular Formula	Complex mixture (no single formula)
CAS Number	91721-98-1
Botanical Name	Reseda odorata
IFRA Status	No known restrictions
Synonyms	Mignonette
Physical Properties
Odor Strength	Medium
Appearance	yellow brown liquid

In Perfumery

Rare natural/niche note providing green-sweet florality with violet-like undertones. Resed a absolute is produced in small quantities. Functions in green, herbaceous, and vintage-style floral compositions. The ionone quality supports the herbal character. Works with violet leaf, green notes, and light musks.