Cinnamon leaf

Cinnamon leaf yields a raw material useful in aromatherapy as well as a delicately spicy note in perfumery. Less well known and more refined than cinnamon, cinnamon leaf allows for the creation of original and delicate facets in woody, fougère or aromatic fragrances.

The Ceylon cinnamon tree and its illustrious raw materials

The Ceylon cinnamon tree, now Sri Lanka, has other similar species such as the Chinese cinnamon tree, however the only, true and unique traditional cinnamon tree to produce both cinnamon and cinnamon leaf is indeed the Ceylon one.

The cinnamon tree, which can reach dizzying heights of 15 meters, grows by the sea at high altitudes. This did not prevent it from being one of the most widely used raw materials in the time of the Egyptians and Ancient Greece for the properties of its famous bark, cinnamon.
The cinnamon tree is not just the provider of the sublime cinnamon, sacred and consecrated by various religions. It also produces beautiful leaves which, once transformed into essence or essential oil, are used in the same way as laurel. Beyond their medicinal virtues, Ceylon cinnamon leaves have a spicy fragrance that is both exotic and light, making them excellent raw materials in perfumery.

Cinnamon leaf in perfumery

Although the delicate scent of cinnamon leaf has long been known, perfumers used cinnamon far more than the leaf of its tree in their fragrances. And yet! Cinnamon leaf offers a softer fragrance than cinnamon while retaining its exotic and intoxicating scent. While fragrances based on cinnamon leaf notes are relatively recent, certain years were particularly prolific in the use of these lovely scented leaves.
From 2005 to 2011, masculine fragrances, whether woody, oriental, aromatic or fougère, made extensive use of the cinnamon leaf note in their nearly exclusively masculine juices. In woody fragrances, the cinnamon leaf note is often a heart note. Thus in Force Majeure by Bogart, cinnamon leaf is in the heart with spices and jasmine, in Potion by Dsquared 2 cinnamon leaf pairs with black pepper and rose, not forgetting of course the beautiful Bang Bang by Marc Jacobs where cinnamon leaf stands alone to shape the heart.

As for orientals, the cinnamon leaf note is versatile since it appears according to the accords one wishes to make dominant in the fragrance. Thus in the vanilla oriental Cette Nuit-là by Fragonard, cinnamon leaf appears as a heart note alongside florals and spices, whereas in a woody oriental such as Silver Shadow by Davidoff it is a top note paired with bitter orange.

The cinnamon leaf note is a delicate note, both exotic and spicy, that lends discreet charm and a scent of faraway places to classic masculine fragrances. It appears rarely in feminine fragrances, however one may still note the presence of cinnamon leaf in the lovely orientals Siwa by Memo and Cèdre Précieux by Darphin. Of course, cinnamon leaf can also feel particularly at home in a beautiful feminine floral fragrance, as Moschino demonstrated with I LOVE LOVE. Cinnamon leaf therefore has multiple possibilities...