Violet flower absolute

Sweet violet, powder, a hint of raspberry. The soft woody tone of ionones. Much lighter and airier than violet leaf absolute.

Violet flower absolute has no dedicated standard in the 51st Amendment of the IFRA Standards. Ionones have no dedicated IFRA standard in that index.

Viola odorata is not named in the EU fragrance allergen list.

The material has almost disappeared from the market. Most products labelled violet flower are reconstructions. The nature of each lot should be confirmed with the supplier. Store dark, sealed and cool.

Viola odorata is a small herb with purple flowers that open in late winter and early spring. In France, violets were grown commercially around Toulouse, Hyères and the Grasse area from the 19th century.

Violet flowers give a very low extraction yield. The flower absolute was once made by enfleurage and by solvent extraction, but at great cost. Today the genuine product is almost gone; the violet material common on the market is the leaf absolute, which has a very different green, cucumber-like odour.

The scent of violet flowers is tied to the ionones. In 1893 Ferdinand Tiemann and Paul Krüger reported the synthesis of ionone from citral and acetone. From then on, violet in perfumery was almost always built with α-ionone, β-ionone and methyl ionone rather than real flowers.

Ionones show a documented sensory effect: after a few sniffs the smell temporarily vanishes, then returns. This contributes to the airy, on and off character of violet.

In perfumery, the violet flower note belongs with powdery florals, alongside iris, rose and mimosa. This page records the flower absolute as a historical material. Violet leaf absolute has its own page.