Immortelle in Perfumery: The Soul of the Corsican Maquis
If it is called immortelle (immortal), it is because its sunny flowers never fade, as its name in English everlasting flower implies. It is an essence that has a strong personality; its name in Greek means sun color.
Origin and Botanical Fact Sheet
It is a yellow flower that grows in the Corsican maquis, in Spain, in France.
Its botanical name: Helichrysum Angustifolium
Family: Asteraceae
Flowering date: June, July
It is a sub-shrub with silvery-grey foliage that is evergreen. It is also called sand immortelle or dune immortelle. Immortelle is also known as St. John’s flowers or St. John’s herbs.
It is a plant that grows in the wild. It can also be cultivated in the Mediterranean basin. Its flowers are yellow, appearing in small umbels, with a very powerful scent, with accents of curry, the well-known Indian spice blend (cf. Spicy Facet).
Characteristics and Processing
It is a very difficult flower to tame which is rarely found as a dominant note in a perfume, on the one hand, because of its strong personality, on the other hand, because of its curry accents evoking food. It is therefore a difficult raw material to dress up.
It is a flower that also recalls sand heated by the sun and therefore brings vacations to mind. Its scent permeates the air of the island of Corsica in summer. It is the scent that symbolizes par excellence the Corsican maquis, wild and racy.
Extraction
Immortelle essence can be obtained by steam distillation of dried flowers. The product resulting from this process is called immortelle essence. Flowers can also be treated by volatile solvents; one obtains immortelle absolute (cf. Volatile solvent extraction). It is a richer, rounder, and more tenacious product.
Olfactory Description: Curry, Honey, and Maquis
The immortelle note reveals itself in heart and base notes. A singular fragrance, it is a powerful ingredient in the perfumer’s palette which expresses, over the hours, the richness of its aromas.
Immortelle possesses a liquorous note, its fragrance oscillating between a honeyed note of hay, fresh thyme (cf. Aromatic Facet), and tobacco. One can perceive accents of walnut and chamomile. Its smell is also spicy. It possesses fruity accents because it is reminiscent of dried fruits, notably prunes (cf. Fruity Facet).
It is a dark brown semi-liquid product, with a very present and powerful smell. It brings a lot of sillage to the perfume.
Use in Perfumery
It is a note that blends well with oriental (cf. Oriental Facet), woody (cf. Woody Facet), chypre (cf. Chypre Facet), and vanilla (cf. Vanilla) notes.
Immortelle is present in the perfume Helicriss from the Musk Collection by Delacourte Paris.
Immortelle is at the center of this composition. It blends in the top notes (cf. Top Notes) with numerous citrus and aromatic notes, as well as with spicy notes in the heart notes (cf. Heart Notes), like cinnamon.
In the base notes (cf. Base Notes), warmer raw materials are orchestrated such as tonka bean, patchouli, and frankincense, and especially in overdose, enveloping and cocooning musky notes based on white musks (cf. Musky Facet).
Therapeutic Properties
It fights lethargy and depression; immortelle is antifungal, antibacterial, and anti-inflammatory. Immortelle promotes healing and overcomes any hematoma.
Perfumes Containing Immortelle
Here is a list of perfumes that contain immortelle:
- Sables by Goutal
- Cuir Beluga by Guerlain
- Eau de Cologne by Guerlain (discontinued)
- Eau du 68 by Guerlain
- Parfum du 68: Passeur Du Temps by Guerlain
- Immortelle Corse by Parfum d’Empire
- Tabac Tabu by Parfum d’Empire
- El Attarine by Serge Lutens
- L by Lolita Lempicka
- Côte d’Amour by L’Artisan Parfumeur
- 60 Mirabilis by L’Artisan Parfumeur
- Oliver Peoples by Byredo
- Oud Immortel by Byredo
- Immortelle Tribal by Givenchy (discontinued)
- Blanche Immortelle by Atelier Cologne
- Fareb by Pierre Guillaume
- Volutes by Diptyque
