Molecular Riffs

The secret of Escentric Molecules is the way the Molecules tell me how to create the Escentrics. Each Molecule fragrance is a composition of one. But these molecules are special. They don’t have just one note like most molecules, they have three or four notes to them, like a musical phrase. The Escentric fragrances are my improvisations on these molecular riffs.

Everything that is in the fragrance is there because it plays with the molecule itself

The beating heart of Escentric 01 is Iso E Super, a molecule that is like nothing else out there. Everything that is in the fragrance is there because it plays with the molecule. And there is a huge amount of the molecule itself in there too, 65%.

Iso E Super is olfactory chocolate, you want more and more of it

When people smell Molecule 01 they are drawn to it and then – poof! it’s gone. It’s like olfactory chocolate, you want more and more of it. But imagine if you were addicted to chocolate but could only ever have one square at a time. That’s Iso E Super. You can’t keep on smelling it. It vanishes. It comes back. It vanishes again.

That’s where Escentric 01 comes in, it allows the effect of the molecule to extend past where you can smell the molecule itself. It does this by translating the qualities of Iso E Super into other ingredients. One of the special aspects of Iso E is its velvetiness. I extended this aspect with a pair of musk ingredients that coalesce into something incredible when you put them together.

When we smell a strawberry, we think, yeah that smells good. But that’s it. A strawberry doesn’t carry meaning

Iso E Super has a powerful magnetism for many people. They have to get near it, it's so cocooning. In Escentric 01 I translated this aspect through the balsamic ingredients, incense and mastic. Maybe it’s because our connection to balsamic notes goes back to when we first burnt them in our temples thousands of years ago, but we have an almost genetic connection to them. When we smell a strawberry, we think, yeah, that smells good. But that’s it. A strawberry doesn’t carry meaning. But incense has a mystical quality to it, a depth. Just as it added a new dimension to religious experience over generations, so it adds another dimension to a fragrance.

The secret to Escentric 02 is in the precise amount of AMBROXAN™ in the fragrance: 13.5%, the maximum you can put in a formula before it starts crystallizing out of the liquid. AMBROXAN™ is nature-identical. It is the finest of the molecules found in ambergris, a substance produced naturally by sperm-whales and the most mysterious ingredient in perfumery.

It’s like a dildo –soft and well-rounded with a really nice touch

For Escentric 02 I wanted a fragrance that is super-fresh but sexy. This endless freshness is something only AMBROXAN™ can deliver. Added to that is a huge chunk of muscone, a nature-identical ingredient originally isolated from musk. And of course there’s a big slug of Iso E Super.

You know that smell you get when you unwrap a brand-new Apple device? It’s like a dildo – very soft and well-rounded with a really nice touch. That’s the topnote of Escentric 02, plus I added the elderflower freshness of an Austrian lemonade called Almdudler.

We all know the attractions of vanilla, grapefruit, musk, but some ingredients take time for people to understand. Vetiver is one of these. It is a Marmite ingredient, you either love it or reject it. I love it. So of course I wanted a vetiver molecule for Escentric.

Vetiver is a Marmite ingredient, you either love it or reject it. I love it.

The molecule in Molecule 03 is vetiveryl acetate, a hybrid of nature and chemistry. To make it, vetiver oil is acetylized, a process which strips out its smokier, leathery side. The result is a molecule that retains the woody, slightly grassy scent of vetiver, but smoother and more sophisticated.

There are three incredible roots in perfumery: vetiver, ginger and orris. Escentric 03 is an homage to these roots. Vetiver is the root of a tropical grass, orris is the rhizome of the Florentine iris, and ginger we all know. I have always loved the combination of vetiver and ginger. Then I added the third root, orris, to see how that worked. I couldn’t believe how beautiful the three roots smelt together.

A touch of floralozone which smells like a swimming-pool

Hedione is one of my favourite materials, it aerates a fragrance. It flows all the way through Escentric 03, giving space to the other ingredients. The topnote is simple: lime, pink pepper, black pepper and, of course, ginger. Plus it has a touch of floralozone, which smells like a swimming-pool.

Molecule 04, Javanol, is a transparent sandalwood molecule with a grapefruit top note and a touch of creamy rose. As always it was the molecule that dictated the formula for the Escentric 04 fragrance. But I gave it a kick by really maxxing out the grapefruit aspect.

I gave it a kick by maxxing out the grapefruit

It’s got a massive topnote popping with the fizz of hyped-up grapefruit together with blood orange oil. The grapefruit is methyl pamplemousse surrounded by my own combination of grapefruit isolates. Too much grapefruit can be kitsch. You need to accent the bitterness of the rind. The pink pepper in E04 has a greenness that brings out this bitter side, together with a special molecule that has a funky herbal marijuana note.

A special molecule with a herbal marijuana note

Escentric 04 is an extravagant powerhouse with a near-psychedelic freshness. There’s none of that suffocating sticky sweetness of many sandalwood molecules. Javanol, the molecule it is based round, is super-sheer. That freshness is the holy grail for me. I am always looking for clarity, for spaciousness.