Ingredients · Musks · dry-down

Helvetolide

Say ithel-VET-uh-lyde

Radiant fruity musk with a heady pear note and an ambrette-like base.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab, first made by Firmenich in 1990.

Where it comes from

no large ring

When you smell it

Dry-down: hours later.

What perfumers do with it

Adds lift and pear-tinged radiance from top to drydown; boosts diffusion of other musks.

Worth knowing

The first commercial musk without a large ring, it showed musk odor needs neither macrocycles nor aromatic rings.

Also called

2-[1-(3,3-Dimethylcyclohexyl)ethoxy]-2-methylpropyl propanoate