I’ve written about spikenard (Nardostachys jatamansi) before, because it’s one of my
staple natural materials. I usually use it in combination with many other
elements as part of the base, in such small quantities that I would not expect
it to stand out, but recently I decided to make a perfume in which spikenard
was the dominant note in a very earthy base meant to represent certain types of
orchids that are saprophytic, living on dead vegetation like the coral-root on the right, or the imaginary scent of orchids that have
flowers that do not open fully like Zootrophion, shown in the illustration below left.
I was surprised to find that I was foiled at every turn by
the tendency of spikenard to run off and disappear amongst everything else, almost as if
it were wearing olfactory camouflage. I tried red spikenard, green spikenard,
and even the new spikenard CO2 extract that I recently got. I mixed them all, I
used whopping amounts of spikenard, but no matter what I did, the spikenard
disappeared into the woodwork.
One of my paranoid thoughts was that I’d been huffing so
much spikenard that I’d completely adapted and couldn’t smell it any more.
However, if I put straight spikenard oil on my skin I can smell it just fine,
exactly as it’s supposed to smell, like the earthiest patchouli ever. I can
only conclude that the spikenard merges completely with whatever it encounters
and takes on a new olfactory form. I suppose one has to deal with this property
and use it as a modifier, not a prominent note, or else stick to materials that
the poor, impressionable spikenard can resist, whatever they are.
In one variation I combined spikenard with vanilla, cacao,
cabreuva, henna absolute, and some musk and woody notes. The spikenard
disappeared. In another variation, I combined it with vetiver, synthetic oud,
vanilla, and some musk and woody notes. The spikenard disappeared. Maybe it’s a
good thing that spikenard has this property, because it can function as an
earth-toned palette on which to paint with other, brighter fragrances. The
learning never stops!
[Coralroot and Zootrophion orchid images from Wikimedia]
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