As the world turns a corner and optimism abounds, it feels like the sun is rising on a new chapter. With that in mind, I have been thinking about bright, pleasant scents, but scents that do not smell like anything that we’re used to. Something new and unexpected.
When I think of bright, pleasant scents, I think about the floral market on LaSalle Ave. It’s one of the oldest in the country and supplies florists all over with flowers. In the morning, the dew coats the plants, while inside freshly cut flowers, wooden planters and other uplifting scents abound. That was the jumping off point for Sunrise on LaSalle.
While the top note of Sunrise on LaSalle is pear, the fragrance begins with a geranium essential oil from South Africa. This is a fruity and piquant essential oil is fortified with fruity, rosey elements that also link it to the pear note: alpha damascone (apple with a touch of mint), rhodinol (lemony rose/geranium) and givescone (spicy fruity rosey). These play a role in supporting the major players in the pear accord (which we will get to in a second), as well as emphasize both the lemony and spicy aspects of geranium that make it pair so well with the pear. Finally, methyl salicylate, a wintergreen/spearmint note, is used in a very small amount to add a crisp freshness to both the pear and the geranium notes.
Next, the pear accord revolves around a material called hexyl acetate, which smells quite a bit like pear. There’s a pear skin-type note called peranat, plus a couple notes to give it a more creamy texture: apritone and nectaryl, meant to make the pear accord more meaty. Finally, leaf alcohol (aka cis-3-hexanol) gives it a richness to anchor the accord, it’s rich green combining with the more biting top notes of the accord to create a juicy pear note.
The jasmine tea note utilizes a jasmine accored that I’ve employed before, while also using a big dose of both hedione and hedione hc to give everything some air to breathe, while clearwood adds an earthiness that one would expect from tea. Finally, the tea leaf texture is emphasized with clarycet, a sage/tea type note, as well as hexyl salicylate, an ethereal green note.
Finally, a Virginian cedar essential oil slots complements the geranium quite a bit, with its spicy top notes and rich, moist undertones, much like a cedar chest. I lighten this up a bit with iso e super, then further round out the base of the fragrance with ethylene brassylate, a great musk for florals and fruit, and galaxolide, to really finish off everything with a big fresh musk note. Finally, an atranol-free oakmoss absolute may not be noticeable, but it brings out so much of the cedar and tea that the fragrance wouldn’t be the same without it.
Sunrise on LaSalle will be released as an eau de toilette, as well as a soap and aftershave from Declaration Grooming, on May 1 at 12pm Eastern. I may have a few samples left from the test batch on the website, but if those run out then I will have more upon release.
Scent Notes by Shawn Maher 