Not drawn yet: a drawing of what it smells like.

Benzyl salicylate

Ingredients · Florals · dry-down

Benzyl salicylate

Say itBEN-zil suh-LIS-uh-layt

Very faint, soft balsamic-floral with a sunny, slightly carnation-like sweetness.

What it is
A molecule made in a lab.
Where it comes from
also occurs naturally in ylang-ylang oil
When you smell it
Dry-down: hours later.
What perfumers do with it
Soft floralizer and fixative used in large doses; blends patchouli, eugenol and florals into the 'Mellis' accord.
Worth knowing
Many people cannot smell it at all, yet still notice what it does to a fragrance's texture.
Known in
Coco (Chanel, 1984); Poison (Dior, 1985)
Rules
Limited. IFRA limits since 49th Amendment (2020); EU-labelled allergen
Also called
Benzyl 2-hydroxybenzoate

On the label of 91 of the 232 perfumes read so far