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

Butyric acid

Ingredients · Sweet · heart note

Butyric acid

Say itbyoo-TEER-ik acid

Rancid butter and cheese, sour and sweaty; creamy only at traces.

What it is
A molecule made in a lab.
Where it comes from
in butter, parmesan and fermenting foods
When you smell it
Heart: the first hours.
What perfumers do with it
Traces add milky-cheesy realism and animalic skin warmth; overdoses smell of vomit.
Worth knowing
Its name comes from the Latin butyrum, butter; it is also a main smell of vomit.
Also called
Butanoic acid

Not on the label of any of the 232 perfumes read so far.