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

beta-Damascone

Ingredients · Florals · heart note

beta-Damascone

Say itBAY-tuh-DAM-uh-skohn

Plummy blackcurrant, rose and dried fruit with honey-tobacco warmth.

What it is
A molecule made in a lab, first made by Firmenich in 1967.
Where it comes from
found in rose oil, made synthetically
When you smell it
Heart: the first hours.
What perfumers do with it
Adds dried-fruit, plum and rose richness; key to 1980s 'jammy' fruity-floral roses.
Worth knowing
It was the first rose ketone ever smelled, made as a stepping stone toward damascenone.
Known in
Poison (Dior, 1985); Ce Soir ou Jamais (Annick Goutal, 1999)
Rules
Limited. IFRA 'rose ketones' limit; EU caps at 0.02% and labels
Also called
Rose ketone-2; (E)-1-(2,6,6-trimethyl-1-cyclohexen-1-yl)-2-buten-1-one

On the label of 45 of the 232 perfumes read so far

SauvageDior · printed “Rose ketones”Good GirlCarolina Herrera · printed “Rose ketones”Bleu de ChanelChanel · printed “Rose ketones”Coco MademoiselleChanel · printed “Rose ketones”Tobacco VanilleTom Ford · printed “Rose ketones”LaytonParfums de Marly · printed “Rose ketones”

Sources