Benzyl acetate

Benzyl acetate is a cornerstone in many floral bases; perhaps most famously in jasmine, but it's also commonly used in ylang-ylang, gardenia, lilac and hyacinth. On it's own it smells sweet, fruity and solvent/glue-like (better quality ones like ours smell more sweet and fruity, whereas poorer quality examples smell more solvent-like and industrial). Beyond its must-have status for creating floral bases, benzyl acetate can be used as an effective blender and sweetener in small amounts in the top-mid region of your perfume compositions (although it usually imparts this effect via its indirect use in a floral base). Also used by Jean Claude Ellena in his accords for sketching the smell of Apples.