Madeleine Impériale

The house breaks Madeleine Impériale down into three stages: blood orange at the top; a baked madeleine, patchouli and saffron at the center; vanilla, oud wood and sandalwood at the base.

What the house declares

A burst of blood orange is meant to give way to a warm, gourmand madeleine accord, infused with golden saffron and enriched with velvety patchouli. The trail of oud, vanilla and sandalwood reveals itself over time.

What the label declares

Behind the solvent and water, the ingredient list first names hexyl cinnamal, bitter orange oil, limonene, citronellol, patchouli oil, alpha-isomethyl ionone, a white musk the list calls hexamethylindanopyran, pinene and benzaldehyde.

Further on it cites eugenol, benzyl benzoate, beta-caryophyllene, Iso E Super, linalool, citral, geraniol, isoeugenol, terpineol, carvone, geranyl acetate, amyl cinnamal, cinnamyl alcohol, vanillin and benzyl alcohol.

What remains outside the declared accord

Benzaldehyde, with its bitter almond smell, and vanillin answer the announced pastry; eugenol and isoeugenol give it a spicy warmth. Saffron, oud and sandalwood have no name of their own on the list: they remain blended into the generic term fragrance.