Ylang-ylang absolute

Dense yellow flower, ripe banana, cream, sweet spice, slightly oily. Rounder and heavier than Extra oil; less sharp at the top, a warm, slightly balsamic base.

Ylang ylang extracts are under an IFRA restriction standard (2020) covering oils and other extracts including absolutes, because of skin sensitisation. Maximum levels are set per product category.

Cananga odorata is named among natural-extract allergens in EU Regulation 2023/1545. In the EU, linalool, geraniol, citronellol, citral, limonene, benzyl benzoate and benzyl salicylate must be labelled as allergens above 0.001 percent in leave-on or 0.01 percent in rinse-off products.

Store dark, sealed and cool.

Ylang-ylang is a tropical tree native to Southeast Asia, grown for its flowers in the Comoros, Mayotte and Nosy Be in Madagascar. Flowers open green and turn yellow as they mature; only yellow flowers are picked.

Ylang-ylang oil is usually fractionally distilled into Extra, I, II and III by distillation time. The absolute is another route: fresh flowers are solvent-extracted, keeping heavy components that steam distillation misses.

An absolute is made in two steps. The raw material is extracted with a non-polar solvent such as hexane to give a waxy concrete. The concrete is then washed with ethanol, chilled to precipitate waxes, filtered and freed of alcohol. What remains is the absolute.

The absolute's balance of benzyl esters and phenol ethers is closer to the fresh flower. It smells denser and creamier, with less of the sharp top of Extra. Yield and price depend on the flowering season and local extraction capacity.

In perfumery ylang-ylang absolute builds a yellow floral heart, rounds jasmine and tuberose, and links flowers to vanilla in orientals. Dosage must follow the IFRA standard on ylang ylang extracts.

Flower harvest and distillation in the Comoros are tied to firewood from forests. Development programmes have supported more efficient stills to reduce wood use. Absolutes are made only where solvent-extraction equipment exists, a much smaller number of sites than stills.