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1 http://www.basenotes.net/features/1718-the-essence-of-animals-how-perfume- got-its-stank-on How Perfume Got Its Stank On – Five Perfumers Look at the Use of Animal Products in Perfumery from Their Personal Perspective by Anya McCoy 12th November, 2013 3 comments Preface: The Stink about Stank vs. Skank. The term ‘skank’ first popped up on perfume blogs in 2005 or so. It was used to describe perfumes with a strong animalic scent, maybe described back in granny’s day as “whorehouse perfume”. Skank and the more appropriate term ‘stank’ were bandied back and forth, and skank seems to have won out. There are some 2 problems with this – unless you recognize that men (who are never called skanks, it’s a derogatory term reserved for women) – also may like, and use, and musk, civet, castoreum, et. al- laden cologne. So for this series we’re using the more non-sexist, egalitarian ‘stank’. So if you like to get your stank on, and if you’re interested in what five perfumers have to write about the subject, read on. A Brief History of the Sexy Stink in Perfumes Animal extracts have been used in perfumery for centuries, and continue to this day. Who was the first brave or just curious perfumer who thought to use the dried, aged chunk of ambergris, wax and fragrant debris from beehives, beaver gland, fossilized Hyraceum urine, civet excretion, musk deer scent gland or goat hair? The answer is unknown, but all perfumers and perfume wearers who chose to use fragrances containing them are enthusiastic about them and love the warm, diffusive or exalting touch they add to a blend. These scents tend to be lumped together as “musk” even though technically the musk deer is the historic cornerstone of the term musk in perfumery, you’ll find some reference to the musk ox, musk rat, the musk shrew, the musk beetle, musk duck, musk turtle, an alligator from Central America, the North American King Snake and from several other animals. The exalting fixatives: These materials act as “odor carriers” and often act also as synergisms by improving, fortifying or transporting the vapors of the other perfume materials in the composition. The exalting fixatives may also lend a highly appreciated “wearability” to a perfume, a combination of diffusive effect and retention of the full fragrance of the perfume, slowly exhaled from the 3 human skin to which it’s been applied. The effect of these fixatives is often obtained through the addition of mere traces with respect to quantity. Typical exalting fixatives are musk and civet. Steffen Arctander Perfume and Flavor Chemicals & Perfume and Flavor Materials of Natural Origin Originally published in 1969 Allured Book Publishing There are not many written records to indicate that animal aromatics were used in ancient perfumery, except perhaps for an aromatic shellfish, ambergris (another marine product), and musk. The major source of information that we have about this is Egyptian hieroglyphics. Most natural perfumers who use animal products for scent, pheromonal seductiveness, or perfume fixation will use only cruelty-free ones. Cruelty- free means that the animal was not harmed or abused when the essence was collected. Musk sacs from the musk deer, and civet paste and absolute from the civet are generally regarded as cruelty products because the deer is hunted and killed, and it is believed the civet is held in captivity and tortured to extract the paste from its anal glands (some sources contradict this). Animal ingredients Ambergris, an expelled mass from the sperm whale, is highly valued in perfumery. Recent studies have confirmed it’s a fecal product, not a vomited substance, which was conjectured for years. Sometimes found as a black, smelly mass (which is a highly inferior grade), ambergris must be aged for years as it floats on the sea, buffeted by the salt water and warmed by the sun, before it becomes a lighter- colored mass with a pleasant aroma that is the ambergris of perfume fame. Because of the need for the substance to 4 age in the sun and salt water, if the mass were removed from a slaughtered whale, it would be (probably) useless for perffumery. There are several grades of ambergris, from the already-mentioned black, throughh many shades and scents, to white/goold/grey, which is generally regarded as the finest. The image above shows a mass of grey//gold ambergris. I worked with an international team to certify that this specimen was authentic. It became known as The North Carolina Beach Ambergris. Perfumers grind ambergris into a fine powder and tincture it in ethanol, or infuse it in oil at a 3% solution for six months or more before it is used. Because it is naturally expelled from the animals, it is considered to be a cruelty-free product. 5 Beeswax absolute is made by solvent extraction of the wax that is collected from bee hives. Natural perfumers tincture the “end caps” and hive debris (collectively known as “bee goo”) in allcohol in order to create terroir extracts that function as beeswax absolutes – to fix and impart an animalic, honeyed scent to perfumes. The scent can vary greatly, according to the source material. The age of the hive, the variety of flowers that are pollinated, and other factors contribute to the creationn of the scent. Beeswax and “bee goo” are regarded as cruelty-free animal products, but vegans object to their use in products because bees die in thee process of making honey. 6 Castoreum comes from an abdominal sac that is harvested from beavers after they are killed for the leather industry, where the sac is reegarded as an industry by-product. It is ground and tinctured or infused, and then aged before it is used, similar to the way in which ambergris is treated. Castoreum is a base/fixative, and is often used in “leather” accords. It is not regarded as cruelty-free because the animal must die before the sac is obtained. Civet paste is an exudate from the anal glands of the civet, a small mammal that people have mistakenly called a cat. Most civet paste is 7 produced in Ethiopia, it is believed the animals are kept in cages and prodded with sticks to cause them to become agitated, which produces more paste. Others say that the civet farmer does not prod the animal, that the animal naturally produces the paste and in the way a house cat or dog may scoot across the floor to empty their anal glands, the civet will rub his rear on the wooden bars of the cage, where is is collected. Civet is prized for its base note properties and its fixative and exalting properties. An absolute is also made from the paste. Photo: Dimitris Nyktaris Goat Hair can be clipped from around the horns of a rutting billy goat, or the hindquarters, each area having a different scent. The former smelling like goat cheese or milk, the latter smelling more like deer musk. The hair is tinctured in alcohol and used in minute quantities to impart an animalic pheromone and fixative base note to perfume. Alternaatively, a cloth soaked in 190 proof alcohol can be used to wipe down the hind quarters of the gooat in order to obtain the scent. Goat-hair tincture is a cruelty-free product. 8 Early writings on the formulation of Indian perfumes include the scent of goat hair. Most essential oils of cistus and absolutes of labdanum contain the goat scent because goats roam the labdanum fields, and the hair and resins mingle. Egyptian Pharohs glued gooat hair “goatees” to their chin, and the scent of the goat musk and labdanum resin perfumed the air around him. It was regarded as a sign of virility. Hyraceum is the fossilized feces and urine of a small African mammal, the cape hyrax, or dassie. The material is often sold under the name of hyrax. The fossilized material is made into an absolute by French companies, but it may be possible to obtain the raw materials and tincture it on your own. Hyraceum is used for base and fixative animalic notes. It is a cruelty-free product. However, hyraceum is now becominng an endangered product, and lower quality material is finding its way onto the market. 9 Musk is the most prized and most controversial of all animal products that are used in perfumery. Obtained from the tiny musk deer of the Himalayas and a few other isolated Asian areas, the harvest of the sac has historically required the killing of the deer, which is now on the endangered species list because it has been hunted to near-extinction. Besides perfumery, the other major demand for musk is in Chinese medicine. The goovernment sells confiscated musk in a tighhtly-controlled licensing progrram. There are now musk deer that are kept in captivity and the musk sacs are surgically removed by tiny, endoscopic incisions. The deer is nott killed, and can quickly recover. However, musk is still regaarded as a cruelty product. 10 Seashells, such as those used to produce the essential oil known as choya nakh are submitted to a “destructive distillation” (distillation at high heat) in order to extract the scent of toasted seashells. The result is an oil with an extremely smoky scent that is a strong base note. Because the shells may contain some of the dead mollusks, choya nakh is not a vegan product. However, it is considered to be cruelty-free. 11 Animal extracts in food Animal extracts have been used in food for hundreds of years, and many consumers are not aware of this.

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