Ingredients · Herbs & lavender · top note

Camphor

Say itKAM-fur

Penetrating, cooling medicinal; mothball-like, dry and woody-herbal.

What it is

A molecule made from a natural raw material.

When you smell it

Top notes: when you spray it.

What perfumers do with it

Traces add camphoraceous lift in lavender, rosemary and herbal accords; mostly functional use.

Worth knowing

Camphor was essential to celluloid, the first commercial plastic, used for early film and billiard balls.

Also called

Bornan-2-one; synthetic (racemic) camphor

On the label of 90 of the 1080 perfumes read so far

SauvageDior · printed “Camphor”ShalimarGuerlain · printed “Camphor”Eau SauvageDior · printed “Camphor”Bleu de ChanelChanel · printed “Camphor”Tobacco VanilleTom Ford · printed “Camphor”LaytonParfums de Marly · printed “Camphor”

See all 90

Named by the house, not on the label, in 1

Carnal FlowerFrédéric Malle · “camphor”