Labdanum

Labdanum is what amber smelled like before there was a word for it. It is the sticky resin that the rock rose sweats onto its own leaves in the heat of a Spanish summer, and it smells of honey, leather, warm skin and sun. It is in more of my chapters than any other single material.

What labdanum is

Labdanum comes from Cistus ladanifer, the gum rock rose, a low shrub with sticky leaves and white flowers marked with crimson at the base of each petal. In summer the plant covers itself in a fragrant resin to protect against the heat, and that resin is gathered by boiling the branches or, in the old way, by combing it from the leaves. Our formula books use it in three forms: the steam distilled oil of the leaves and stems, the absolute, and the resinoid, each giving a different facet of the same warm, ambery material. Together with benzoin and vanilla it is the natural foundation of every amber accord.

Where our labdanum comes from

Ours comes from Spain, where Cistus ladanifer covers whole hillsides of the south and west and where the labdanum harvest is a summer tradition of the dry interior. The plant thrives on poor, stony, sun scorched ground, and the hotter and drier the summer, the more resin it produces and the richer the resin is. Spanish labdanum is the reference for this material, warm, honeyed and slightly smoky, with a leathery depth that the cistus of milder climates never develops. It smells of the hills in August, and that is exactly what I wanted.

How labdanum smells

Woody, honey, amber, leathery and a little smoky. It opens warm and sweet like dark honey, then reveals leather, dry wood and a resinous smoke, and it lasts on the skin for a day and more.

Labdanum in our chapters

• IHayalThe Crown · in the base

  In Hayal it is the amber of the crown, the warm base beneath the frankincense and guaiacwood.

• IIParadis de BleuThe Leaves · in the base

  In Paradis de Bleu it is the warmth beneath the moss and leather, the sun in the forest floor.

• IVRosée BlancheThe Climbing Rose · in the base

  In Rosée Blanche it lies beneath the rose with vanilla and vetiver, the warm skin the dew evaporates from.

• VChérie OudThe Trunk · in the base

  In Chérie Oud it deepens the vanilla and benzoin of the trunk with a leathery, honeyed amber.

• VIImpériale OudThe First Root · in the base

  In Impériale Oud it sits beside styrax beneath the oud, the honey against the leather.

• VIISultanat OudThe Deep Roots · in the base

  In Sultanat Oud it is the amber beneath the deep roots, the warmth that holds oud and sandalwood together.

A note from the atelier

Labdanum is my signature warmth. If you have ever wondered what the chapters of L'Arbre de Vie have in common beneath their differences, it is the honey of the Spanish hills.

Questions about labdanum