Mignonette absolute

Green spicy flower, watercress, a hint of violet. Herbal and damp bark facets. A softly sweet base.

Mignonette absolute has no dedicated standard in the 51st Amendment of the IFRA Standards and is not named in the EU fragrance allergen list.

The material is almost no longer produced; products labelled reseda are often reconstructions. The nature of each lot should be confirmed with the supplier.

Store dark, sealed and cool.

Reseda odorata, known in English as mignonette, is a small herb of North African origin. Its tiny greenish yellow flowers are unremarkable in shape but strongly scented. It was grown in European gardens as a fragrant plant from the 18th century.

Around Grasse, reseda was once grown for extraction, by enfleurage and later by solvent. Yield was very low. Production almost ended in the 20th century, and current commercial sources are hard to verify.

The Resedaceae belong to the mustard order and contain glucosinolates. This explains the watercress and green spicy facets of the scent. Published composition data for the flower absolute are scarce, so this page lists no specific constituents.

In perfumery, reseda belongs with green florals, close to violet leaf and green spicy notes. The mignonette scent was once reconstructed in trade bases. Today it is a rare name on ingredient lists.

The French name mignonette means little darling, a reference to the small flowers. The plant blooms from early summer into autumn and is grown far more as a garden flower than as a fragrance crop.

This page records reseda absolute as a historical Grasse material.