Wormwood

Wormwood is the herb of absinthe, the green bitter that Europe loved and feared. Its oil is not for drinking, but on the skin it does something remarkable: it makes sweetness feel serious. A trace of wormwood turns a warm composition from comfortable to compelling.

What wormwood is

Wormwood oil is steam distilled from the flowering herb of Artemisia absinthium, a silver leaved perennial of the same family as davana and tarragon. The oil contains thujone, the molecule that gave absinthe its reputation, along with a complex green, herbal body that reads as bitter, slightly sweet and faintly like roasted coffee. It is used in the smallest amounts, where its bitterness sharpens everything around it.

Where our wormwood comes from

Ours comes from the United States, where wormwood grows readily in the cooler northern states and is cultivated for distillation. The plant thrives in dry, well drained ground and full sun, and the American oil is known for a clean, green profile with the coffee like sweetness that distinguishes good wormwood from merely bitter wormwood. Our formula books record the country, and so that is what I print.

How wormwood smells

Sweet herbal, green, coffee and davana like. It is bitter at first, then unexpectedly sweet, with a green freshness and a warm, roasted, almost chocolate undertone that emerges as it dries.

Wormwood in our chapters

• VIISultanat OudThe Deep Roots · in the heart

  In Sultanat Oud it sits in the heart beside clary sage and cumin, the bitter green thread that keeps the deep roots from becoming heavy.

• VIIIRoyale OudThe Taproot · in the heart

  In Royale Oud it sits between the fruity davana of the opening and the osmanthus of the heart, the bitterness that gives the sweetness its shape.

A note from the atelier

I think of wormwood as the shadow that makes light visible. In both of my root chapters it is barely there, and it is the reason the warmth beneath it never feels soft.

Questions about wormwood