Ingredients · Animal notes · dry-down

Civetone

Say itSIV-ih-tohn

Warm, sweet musky-animalic; soft and sensual, far less fecal than civet itself.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab.

Where it comes from

key odorant of civet, now made from palm-oil acids

When you smell it

Dry-down: hours later.

What perfumers do with it

Clean replacement for natural civet; adds musky animal warmth to florals and orientals.

Worth knowing

Ruzicka's 1926 proof of its 17-atom ring overturned the belief that such large rings could not exist.

Also called

(Z)-Cycloheptadec-9-en-1-one