Perfumery Material: Immortelle/Helichrysum/Everlasting Flower

The scent of Corsican maquis*, the wild herbs, the countryside scattered with dried flowers which almost caramelise under the hot Mediterranean sun.... Rich scents of dry straw, dusty amber, coffee, burnt licorice, syrupy and powdery, and spices (reminiscent of celery, fenugreek and curry) rise from those humble , tiny blossoms; mingling mightly in the air, just by taking a stroll amidst the stony country-roads. Traversing the wild nature on Cythera island, I catch a hint of ham too under the caramelic notes! This is immortelle or everlasting flower, the sunny yellow joy of the Mediterranean.

Golden sun, that's what helicrysum ( its alternative name) means in Greek; the French similarly call it "petit soleil".
A gift of the gods bestowed upon men, and both golden and sunny its inclusion in perfumes is indeed, as we will see.
Greeks also call it αμαραντος (never withering, literally "immortelle"), because of its legendary stamina to environmental hardship; the term sempre viva in Italian amounts to the same thing.

"Flower of stone and of my dreams,tender part of my soul, eternal beauty of my yearning,

cool fragrance in the wind of the desert.[...]

In this holy land of dreams, where we both sprang,

I confess my love's passion, sempre viva, my Cytherean daughter,

oh sweet extension of my soul, oh dry flower of the land of my love." 

[by Yiorgos Kasimatis-Drymoniatis, "Blood & Eros of the Small Homeland"; translation from the Greek my own]

Helichrysum angustifolium (meaning long and narrow leaved) or Helichrysum italicum (because it grows abundantly in Italy and especially Corsica, but is rare elsewhere on the globe) is steam distilled to produce a yellow-reddish essential oil which is prized in perfumery thanks to its unique odour profile and properties, rich in terpenes, ketones as well as neryl acetate and monoterpenic alcohols (notably linalool and nerol).
More than a ton of helichrysum/immortelle blossoms is required to produce just under a kilo of essential oil, rendering the oil an expensive one.
Helichysum Italicum is harvested in June as the level of Neryl acetate, the main beneficial component (immortelle has anti-inflammatory, anti-microbial and anti-oxidant properties and a corticoid-like action), is at its peak then; but a second harvest also takes place in October and November. In the region of Sartene, in the Ortolo valley, among the menhirs, the dolmens and other megalithic ruins, there are bio-sustainable fields where immortelle is cultivated, but the wild blossoms scatter the hills from the Ortolo up the mountains of Balagna and down the sea shores "licking" the Balkans. What's essential is the sun. Even as far back as classical writer Theophrastus, "the most excellent and most fragrant of all materials come from the sunny regions"

The odour of immortelle absolute is difficult to describe, somewhat similar to sweet fenugreek and curcuma, spices used in Indian curry**, with a maple-like facet. Quite logical if you think that the essence contains alpha, beta and gamma curcumene. Like burnt sugar and dry straw combined is a suitable effort at conveying immortelle's nuanced profile, but the more the oil warms up on the skin, the more it reveals human-like, supple nuances of honeyed notes, waxy, intimate... It pairs well in chypres and oriental fragrances, where it pairs with labdanum, clove, citruses, chamomille, lavender and rose essences.

In medicine and aromatherapy immortelle has a significant position  as it possesses properties that aid the liver, the digestive track, blood circulation, skin ailments and the general well-being. It's not even clear whether there are not many more beneficial properties to the yellow flower, research is continuing. Its skin healing properties have been the reasons immortelle is prized for long though and why L'Occitane en Provence devotes a whole anti-ageing skincare line to this humble little plant.

*Maquis also contains rosemary and cistus labdanum
**Sometimes called "curry plant" it has nothing whatsoever to do with the mixture of spices used in Indian cooking, nor with the curry tree (Murraya koenigii); it's only reminiscent in scent. The curry plant recurs among gardeners as a cat deterrent similar to the "scaredy-cat" plant, Plectranthus caninus (also known as Coleus canina).

List of fragrances featuring Immortelle/Helichrysum perceptibly:

[highlighted links point to fragrance reviews]

Annick Goutal Eau de Monsieur
Annick Goutal Sables
Ayala Moriel Immortelle L'Amour
Balmain Ambre Gris
Comptoir Sud Pacifique Aqua Motu

Dior Eau Noire
Eau d'Italie Jardin du Poete
Frapin 1270
Guerlain Cologne du 68
Guerlain Cuir Beluga
Histoires de Parfums Tubereuse 3 Animale
L'Artisan Parfumeur Cote d'Amour
L'Artisan Parfumeur Havana Vanille/Vanille Absolument
L'Atelier Boheme Immortelle
L'Erbolario Dolcelisir
L'Occitane Immortelle de Corse
L'Occitane Cade for men
Lolita Lempicka L de Lolita Lempicka
Mona di Orio Oiro
Nez a Nez Immortelle Marilyn
Nobile 1943 Ambra Nobile
Parfums de Nicolai Vanille Intense
Robert Piguet Visa re-issue (2007)
Serge Lutens Chypre Rouge
Serge Lutens Chene

Serge Lutens Jeux de Peau 
Serge Lutens El Attarine

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Pyrazines; maple & caramel notes

Annick Goutal Sables: fragrance review

Sables flies under the radar amidst the masculine selection chez Annick Goutal, despite the fact that Harrison Ford is supposedly an ardent fan. I guess he's considered "old man" by now and not as hip for a celebrity endorsement. But Sables shouldn't suffer from malrecognition; this is an especially brilliant composition and a unique one at the time of its launch, in 1985. The burnt sugar aspect of helichrysum ~known also as immortelle or everlasting flower~ with its shades of curry, maple syrup and fenugreek aromata make this fragrance one of the most distinctive not only in the Goutal canon, but in general. The onle fragrance more daringly infused with this spicy-caramelic note is Eau Noire in the private line of Dior colognes, composed by Francis Kurkdjian (A scent for which designer Karl Lagerfeld is crazy about!). Asmar by So Oud (launched in 2010) is closer to Sables, although not exactly the same.

Immortelle is an aquired taste for sure. Not everyone feels comfortable smelling like Indian food and helichrysum italicum is called "the curry plant" by some. Still, the initially spicy fenugreek nuances (somewhat mentholated and bitter inky, like in good old Fernet-Branca digestif) in Goutal's Sables are mollified towards the caramelised smoky spectrum; a whiff of pyrazines and malt, for those who appreciate Jeux de Peau by Serge Lutens for instance. The curry note is joined by its conspirator in crime: cumin, with its perceived sweaty aspect, and by a little pepper. Yet one cannot exactly categorise Sables as "dirty", "skanky" or spicy, but rather as smoky sweet and cozy in either winter or summer. In my own personal experience, Sables is a child of the sun and the warmth, and performs best in minute amounts put on the belly or behind the knees in the heat.
Contrary to the standard perception of Goutal scents being ethereal and fleeting, this one is particularly projecting, leaving a memorable trail and lasts very long, so beware of overdosing. It's definitely not intended to be used solely a masculine, although the saltier quota of male skin brings out the herbal and more ambery facets to the fore (much like in Ambre Sultan), while it's sweeter on women. The longer the fragrance stays on warm skin, the more it manifests those burnt sugar notes allied with milky, woody facets of sandalwood without ever becoming cloying. On the whole, Sables's kinship is more with a Lutensian oriental oeuvre, or a more powerful version of Cuir Béluga by Guerlain, than with the Indian dish intensity of Dior's Eau Noire where immortelle contrasts with the medicinal-caramelic ends of spectrum of natural lavender essence projecting a more rustic, rugged edge. 

Sables saw the light of day after a journey in Corsica, imbued with the warm and spicy scent of wild immortelle. This fragrance is dedicated to men and women whose originality and subtlety make them just as they are–-that is, authentic. Annick Goutal created it especially for her husband, Alain, who played the violoncello, as a memento from a trip to the so-called Island of Beauty, where the scent of immortelle-sprinkled sand dunes had captured her mind.

To me Sables will always stand as the olfactory equivalent of a particular beach in Lesbos Island in Greece. It is a volcanic place, all hot springs and absolutely no fish in the water, a deserted sugar-like fine sandy beach near a fossiled forest. The warmth of the sun schorches the tree trunks laying in the background. A moment of eternity has just been mine and I can see the history of the earth in a long gaze...

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Annick Goutal news & reviews, Immortelle: perfumery material, Pyrazines; maple & caramel notes, interview with perfumer Isabelle Doyen

helichrysum flowers pic via stopthatcat