Amyris

Amyris: West Indian sandalwood scents woody fragrances Who does not know the famous scent of sandalwood in a perfume? Fabulous yet in need of protection, these essences have had to find legitimate and choice substitutes to give men's fragrances a touch of exotic wood: this is precisely the sweet and delicate olfactory alternative offered by the amyris note in perfumery! Also called West Indian sandalwood, amyris diffuses light, exotic scents reminiscent of a blend of sandalwood and cedar.

West Indian sandalwood, or amyris: a tree of a thousand virtues!

Amyris, a beautiful tree typical of Haiti, is said to belong to the botanical citrus family. And yet its bark or wood has strictly nothing to do with the citrus scent of a lemon tree or an orange tree, quite the contrary!

The scent of amyris is much closer to sandalwood, hence its name West Indian sandalwood, with the added advantage of being perhaps more refined while being just as effective in its sillage as its venerable cousin, so well known to perfumers.

However, before becoming a raw material in perfumery, amyris is above all known to Haitians for its exceptional ability to serve as a natural incense that ignites at the slightest spark directly from a branch, which earns it the nickname candlewood. Its essential oil is also valued for its medicinal as much as its olfactory properties.

Amyris or West Indian sandalwood notes in woody fragrances

Amyris or West Indian sandalwood notes are, quite logically, present in rather recent masculine woody fragrances, generally speaking of course.

Thus, amyris is used as a base note very often paired with strong fragrances such as cypress, oakmoss, oud wood, sandalwood, patchouli... Depending on the notes accompanying it, amyris becomes deep while enhancing chypre, amber, or woody fragrances, or sometimes even all three!

Amyris Homme by Maison Francis Kurkdjian, created in 2012, offers in its essence a tribute to this beautiful, fragrant, and too often overlooked tree that is amyris, through the pairing of this precious essence with floral notes of white musks or even coffee or cocoa. Moreover, the feminine version, a rare thing for this note, likewise offers deep, musky scents that are perhaps slightly more powdery...

Thanks to Lancôme and L'Autre Oud, the amyris note reveals new facets, this time more oriental, to those who wish to set themselves apart from the ever-present oud wood so common in compositions of the moment, offering them a leather-spice-wood cocktail of incomparable depth and exoticism.

Amyris thus appears to be a wood essence that clearly inspires noses and creators to develop new fragrances in order to break away from the usual scented trails of this decade. Often unisex, sometimes even feminine, amyris becomes floral for Amyris Femme or, even more surprisingly, pairs with fruity florals such as Play for Her by Givenchy... It seems that amyris still has some beautiful pairings, as surprising as they are exotic, yet to offer.