Chocolate

From its South American origins, chocolate is certainly one of the favorite treats of gourmands around the world! Born from the cacao bean and then its butter, it transforms and combines to create the delicious material that moves us all. Chocolate is also, thanks to Angel, a note present in beautiful gourmand and sweet fragrances, fruity or tangy, and there too it leaves no one indifferent!

The chocolate note and Angel by Thierry Mugler

Chocolate, or rather the cacao bean, has been known since the conquest of South American lands in the 16th century. It is said that Christopher Columbus threw the first cacao beans overboard from his ship because he thought the gift offered by the Native Americans was goat droppings! Ah…

Since Christopher Columbus, we have largely come to know the gustatory richness of these lovely cacao beans, and chocolate remains a treat appreciated by almost everyone. However, until Thierry Mugler, no one had dared to bet that chocolate could be a raw material in perfumery. Angel by Thierry Mugler was released in 1992 and radically changed the classics of the time. It dares and surprises by proposing an oriental… gourmand! The citrus top notes offer a fruity and exotic heart while stretching toward a deep sillage of vanilla, patchouli, but also caramel and chocolate notes! A bold move that would have the merit of opening the enchanted chapter of gourmand and sweet fragrances while attracting a crowd of admirers who proclaimed, and still proclaim, Angel to be a great success of feminine perfumery!

Chocolate and its fragrant, gourmand notes

The chocolate note, revealed by Angel, is now worked in perfumery from various synthetic or natural raw materials. Chocovan and pyrazines seem to be the molecules closest to evoking the both delicate and raw scent of dark chocolate. Patchouli and tonka bean evoke certain facets of chocolate, tonka bean leaning more toward almond-flavored chocolate. Finally, musks are used to evoke the sweetness of white chocolate, particularly habanolide musk.

The chocolate note pairs particularly well with the family of oriental fragrances with gourmand or fruity facets. Thus the venerable Guerlain launched its gourmand fragrance in 2008, Gourmand Coquin, with ultra-powerful top notes of pepper and rum that enchant rose and vanilla before dusting them with cocoa and chocolate notes. Then La Vie Est Belle L'Absolu de Parfum by Lancôme and Bonbon by Viktor & Rolf played with the contrasts and colors of orientals to create fragrances that are both gourmand and fruity.

The chocolate note thus becomes gourmand and sweet to serve as a raw material for sparkling, oriental, floral fragrances, and who knows, perhaps still more combinations will come to highlight this sublime material?