Orange Flower Absolute (Egypt)

Adam Michael has this to say “We are introducing this Egyptian Orange Flower Absolute as a limited-edition aromatic. This not because of its scarcity, as we source it via a big corporation that has a partnership in place with Egyptian growers, and therefore can guarantee a fairly stable supply. The reason is, instead, that despite its more budget-friendly price point, its aroma profile is not on par with the Tunisian or Moroccan offerings, nor it manages to capture the hypnotic charm or the luxurious and beautiful smell of a blossoming orange tree in a lukewarm breezy evening in late spring.

This Egyptian Orange Flower Absolute delivers a rawer, darker, dirtier sensation on the senses, the bad-girl so to speak of orange blossoms, no conformity, all out perverse and lust-fuelled throughout. As such this is not a classic, turn-to orange blossom absolute, but it can be useful for those looking for a “dirtier” white flower note, or, due to its more competitive price, it can be also useful in budget-friendly projects along with being a very interesting study material.

In fact, it is when you put different orange blossom absolute materials on a strip that you can really appreciate how dirtier and rawer this material smells compared to the rest.

More in detail, applying this absolute both to the strip or to the skin, neat or diluted, to my nose there is always a detectable off note of sorts, a harshness that smells like a raging orange-floral bonfire, lots of muted but present trace charred type qualities. As this absolute settles you can detect the characteristic orange floral tonalities, yet for me, they feel somewhat shackled and imprisoned, weighed down by a heavy green leaves profile, and at the same time lacking the depth, the rich orange-infused fruitiness and the finesse of the more expensive offerings.

Once you arrive at the heart of this absolute, the profile is the same for the rest of its life span, all floral, green orientated and somewhat reminiscent to smelling the opening of orange flower water absolute. On the strip I get two days of noticeable detection and this material swiped on my skin lasts for just over 4 hours.”

Botanical Name: Citrus aurantium var. amara

Origin: Egypt