Creamy, velvety musk with a faint peach-skin fruitiness. Softer than Galaxolide, less metallic than Habanolide, without the powdery dryness of Cashmeran. On skin, it creates a barely-there warmth — the olfactory equivalent of touching suede. No sharp edges, no animalic bite.
Evolution over time
Immediately
Immediately
Clean, slightly fruity musk, peach-skin softness
After a few hours
After a few hours
Warm, creamy veil — barely there but perceptible on skin
After a few days
After a few days
Ghost of clean warmth, detectable only on fabric
The Full Story
Veloutone is a synthetic macrocyclic musk developed to provide a soft, velvety texture in fragrance compositions. Its name derives from the French 'velouté' (velvety), and the material lives up to it: a clean, creamy musk with none of the animalic heaviness of natural musk and less of the laundry-clean sharpness of polycyclic musks.
The molecule belongs to the macrocyclic ketone family, structurally related to muscone but with a lighter, more diffusive profile. It reads as a peach-skin musk — not overtly fruity, but with an undeniable softness that carries ripe stone fruit more than detergent. This positions it between the animalic warmth of natural musks and the transparent cleanness of white musks.
In formulation, veloutone is used to add a cashmere-like softness to compositions. It works particularly well in skin-scent fragrances where the goal is to smell like clean, warm skin rather than a perfume. Its moderate tenacity and low sillage make it ideal for intimate, close-to-skin effects.
The human nose has a specific anosmia rate of roughly 25-30% for macrocyclic musks — meaning about one in four people cannot smell veloutone at normal concentrations. This is why perfumers often layer multiple musk molecules to ensure perceptibility across different noses.
Extraction & Chemistry
Extraction method: Fully synthetic. Produced via macrocyclic ketone synthesis. The exact pathway is proprietary, but it follows standard macrocyclization techniques used for other macrocyclic musks.
Molecular Formula
C₁₃H₂₄O
CAS Number
54440-17-4
Botanical Name
N/A (synthetic molecule)
IFRA Status
No known restrictions
Synonyms
none
Physical Properties
Odor Strength
Medium
Appearance
Colorless to pale yellow clear liquid
Boiling Point
~260 °C @ 760 mmHg
Flash Point
~110 °C
In Perfumery
Veloutone functions as a base-note musk and textural modifier. It provides a velvety foundation that smooths transitions between heart and base notes. Particularly valuable in skin-scent compositions and powdery florals where a clean but warm musk is needed. It works with other macrocyclic musks (Exaltolide, Ethylene Brassylate) and complements iris and violet accords. Used in modern skin fragrances to create an intimate, close-to-body sillage.
