IMPRESSION: Passion Fruit, Rhubarb, Mulberry, Nasturtium, Honeysuckle, Blaeberry, Camellia, Oysterplant.

FADE: Meadowsweet, Gorse, Ambrette, Sesame, Amyris, Tonka Bean Absolute.

 

Part of the Progressive Botany Vol. I collection, Phloem Eau de Parfum brings sucrose-sweetness tempered with greasy spices, shoreline salt and nutty driftwood. An intoxicating luxury Scottish fragrance that exudes confidence with strong, vaporous projection and psychedelic development.

Setting the Scene: Taking A Plunge Into Syrupy Seawater

Divers beware...

Phloem's sugar-saline waters are to be traversed only by those unafraid of the sweeter things in life. Don your candy-coated wetsuit and swim amongst technicolour gummy fishes and salt-crustaceans.

As hot, spiced steam rises from fissures in the sea bed, you delve deeper into darker waters in search of treasure.

There! Glistening in the velvety depths, a pearl waiting to be plucked from its oyster home and cradled gently toward sun-dappled shallows.

 

Raw Material: Heliotropine

This humble material is absolutely crucial and irreplaceable to the perfumer. There is, however, an issue with Heliotropine: it is classed by the EU and GB as a Category 1 Drug Precursor (the most sensitive) and as such requires a license. The license process is difficult, lengthy and expensive, involving several background checks and a serious level of clearance. It's no surprise that Heliotropine remains one of the most important materials in the making of many Jorum Studio fragrances.

 

With any material, purity is key – but this is especially true in the case of Heliotropine. When used sparingly, it should possesses a rich floral character, and when used at higher concentrations a more prominent powdery, dark fruit (or cherry-pit) character with a slightly herbaceous spicy facet emerges.

 

The spice facet is important: it must be fresh, herbaceous and zingy, not nutmeg/saffron-like. Although its uses are endless, we particularly love using the material in flora themes, to assist musk profiles, to augment spicier sensations and in wood-type structures. 

 

We use only a small percentage of Heliotropine in Phloem as the formula demands its rich floral facet to help widen the Camellia sensation and support several less stable (but more impactful) floral notes. This small flourish also works as a great bridge between the three themes playing out in Phloem: floral, spices, woods.

 

As such, Heliotropine and its importance within Phloem could be easily overlooked – but without it, the perfume falls flat and feels disconnected. It could be likened to confectioners sugar: sometimes its presence is felt, sometimes it is overlooked – but ultimately it has the power to transform.