Ylang-Ylang

Creamy, exotic and sweet, with a hint of banana and jasmine.

Ylang-ylang comes from Southeast Asia, from the Philippines and Indonesia. Most perfumery oil today comes from the Comoros, Mayotte and the island of Nosy Be off Madagascar.

The flowers are picked fresh as soon as they have turned from green to yellow, and distilled immediately. During the long distillation the oil is collected in stages: first the finest, most floral grade “Extra”, then grades I, II and III, which smell increasingly warmer and heavier.

Ylang-ylang is sunny opulence: creamy, exotic, sweet, with a hint of banana and jasmine. In our range it sits at the heart of 98 out of 116 fragrances. It makes white flowers fuller and gives vanilla and woods a sensual warmth.

White floral, creamy and exotic.

In the tropics the tree flowers almost all year round. The flowers are picked early in the morning, when the yellow blossoms are most fragrant.

In our fragrances, it often appears alongside Vanilla, jasmine, bergamot, sandalwood, tuberose, heliotrope, clove.

In the 19th century ylang-ylang was an ingredient of the famous Macassar hair oil. Because the oil stained the armchairs, protective cloths were laid over the backrests – in English they are still called “antimacassars” today.

• The name is the Spanish spelling of the Tagalog word “ilang-ilang” – the often-quoted translation “flower of flowers” is disputed.
• The protective cloths on armchairs are called “antimacassars” in English – after a hair oil that often contained ylang-ylang.
• The flowers are green at first and are only picked once they have turned yellow.

The oil is separated into grades by distillation time: extra, 1, 2 and 3.