Camphor

Say itKAM-fur

Penetrating, cooling medicinal; mothball-like, dry and woody-herbal.

What it is: A molecule made from a natural raw material.
When you smell it: Top notes: the first minutes.
What perfumers do with it: Traces add camphoraceous lift in lavender, rosemary and herbal accords; mostly functional use.
Worth knowing: Camphor was essential to celluloid, the first commercial plastic, used for early film and billiard balls.
Also called: Bornan-2-one; synthetic (racemic) camphor

On the label of 31 of the 232 perfumes read so far