We wanted to keep this jasmine because it has a particular smell. What is special about this jasmine is that it has a slight green tea smell and a sweetness -- a molecule that is also found in strawberries.
It doesn't smell like flowers in fact, rather a sensual potion. Like nighttime and strawberry jam.
— Perfumer Christopher Sheldrake on the jasmine grown for Chanel by the Mul family in Grasse. Read more at In Essence, at Ireland's Independent.
Once, I picked some gardenias from my front yard, placed them in a jar, covered them in jojoba oil, and left the jar in a sunny window for a few days. The resultant concoction had a faint whiff of strawberries. I would like to try this again with that ornamental star jasmine that is everywhere.
Interesting!
I should add that the fresh gardenias did not smell like strawberries and the infused oil did not smell like gardenias. It was sweet, a little green, and with strawberry overtones. I mixed it with some unscented lotion and used it as hand moisturizer.
The gardenia I grow in a pot, when it condescends to flower for me, smells fruity and sweet. Not strawberry exactly but not a million miles from it.
I’ll bet anything this was the kind of jasmine used in the original Diorama edt which I wore back around 1963. It always reminded me of strawberries. Last year, I bought a tiny decant of the vintage perfume and also one of the edt, but neither smelled the way I recalled. I dream of that scent and hope someday to find it again. This gives me hope, even though this jasmine is grown for Chanel.
Presumably, way back when, most floral notes of this kind came from Grasse. I don’t even care where Dior gets their jasmine, I just wish they’d find a find a way to de-IFRA their classics.
I these observations by Sheldrake were interesting:
“We are in an era that is very ecology-based and also in an era of a lot of insecurity, so we want something that smells reassuring. The great fragrances are always created in hinge periods, when things are changing, when creativity shakes things up.”