Tagetes

Tagetes: when the marigold's cousin scents our perfumes. Tagetes is a flower native to the desert plains of South America. Now grown in Africa, it is the basis of an essential oil highly sought after in perfumery. For some, the fruity scents of tagetes evoke green apple, for others chamomile. Either way, it pairs well with numerous perfumes, primarily feminine ones, including the fruity florals so fashionable today, as well as powdery or fruity orientals.

Tagetes, the prairie flower that exudes green apple

Tagetes is a pretty flower that grew for centuries on the plains of America, from Canada to Argentina. It was history that transplanted tagetes to South Africa and neighboring countries. Indeed, during the Boer War in 1900 between the British of the New World and the Afrikaners, numerous horses were brought to the lands of southern Africa. By transporting fodder for the animals from America to Africa, tagetes seeds made their first great journey to spread across the lands of Madagascar, South Africa and Rwanda. This is why these countries are currently the largest producers of this precious tagetes.

Moreover, the pretty flower requires little care and thrives in a relatively dry environment. The essential oil that can be obtained relatively easily from its flowers therefore becomes a raw material that is easy to source and rich in different facets for perfumers to exploit.

Tagetes essential oil in oriental and floral perfumes

Tagetes remains a raw material relatively little used in current perfumes, although its multiple facets are easily exploited for their freshness and originality as top notes in lovely floral accords or oriental-florals.

One of the bestsellers of the 1980s, Loulou by Cacharel, used tagetes paired with fruity notes of blackcurrant, plum and anise as top notes to set off floral and sun-kissed heart notes ending on a powdery base. Loulou offers the hazy, fleeting anise-tinged blend of top notes typical of 1980s perfumes, which contrasts with much more sensual notes. Many floral or oriental perfumes of that decade offer this olfactory duality created notably by tagetes, such as Eau Cuivrée by Montana or Elysium by Clarins.

Tagetes, with its fresh fruity facet, would seem particularly suited to a feminine audience, but it is also beginning to appear in masculine fragrances. Particularly at ease in woody fragrances, certain creators have dared to launch tagetes as a heart note. This is the case with King of Cool by Steve Mc Queen or the aromatic, spicy Aura for Men by Jacomo. Could tagetes be the future of this new freshness that men are so fond of?