Autumn leaves are a fantasy note: The leaves themselves do not yield a perfumery material and no single material faithfully recreates the note, so it is composed creatively rather than reproduced. In nature the smell is dry, earthy and slightly grassy; somewhere between damp soil and decaying foliage. The image of a patchwork-carpet of colourful leaves on an autumn day is reminiscent of cooling off after the heat of summer, harvest apples and cosy evenings in as the nights draw in - different associations of autumn can be used to dictate the direction of this accord. Gourmand compositions naturally bridge into this theme. We will present a selection of materials, each offering something for this note, to be drawn on to taste.
The most direct way to pen in an autumn leaves note in, in our experience, is Boronal - a distinctive material that can feel like autumn leaves almost on its own; its dark and dry ionone character hits the right note (in our experience; it's hard to articulate why) and the toffee facet reinforces the autumnal warmth. Patchouli Oil Coeur dries down into primarily patchoulol, its main constituent, which smells of earthy dried leaves and gives you an option in the base note region. Theaspirane, familiar from tea and tobacco accords (other types of dried leaf), contributes a musty, decaying spirane facet that adds realism. Piconia adds an earthy, mulchy quality, softer and less overtly soil-like than Geosmin (the molecule responsible for the smell of wet earth and petrichor), though geosmin in trace is a viable route to that damp-ground facet too. Damascone Beta has an earthy facet alongside its core fruity apple tone; both autumn-adjacent and worth exploring. It's deceptively powerful and fairly restricted and so usually used in traces. Overall, when building this accord, we recommend pairing something earthy and mulchy alongside one or more aspects of autumn you're looking to evoke; that could be toffee or apples like we've suggested or something else entirely of your choosing.
