Aldehydes

Origin

Synthetic organic compounds produced in the laboratory, the fatty aldehydes most prized in perfumery carrying carbon chains of around ten to twelve atoms. Their large-scale use began with industrial synthesis in the early twentieth century.

The smell

A cold, effervescent sparkle that smells abstract and almost metallic, like the snap of a freshly struck match or starched fabric pulled hot from the iron. They lend an airy, fizzing lift that seems to make a fragrance shimmer and expand. There is a faintly fatty, waxy, candle-like undertone beneath the brightness.

Key quality

The synthetic sparkle that gave modern perfumery its abstract, otherworldly lift.

Historical use

Ernest Beaux famously overdosed aldehydes in Chanel No. 5 in 1921, creating the first great aldehydic floral and a new vocabulary of modern femininity. Their use signalled a break from the literal flower-and-soliflore tradition and became shorthand for the independence and style of women in the interwar years.