ISO E Super
Recently I posted a review of Terre D'Hermes that was fairly unfavorable and /u/valhrona pointed out to me that this may have been the result of a key ingredient, ISO E Super. I went out into the interwebs and did a little reading, and coupled that with some additional sampling of some other fragrances known to make heavy use of the molecule (e.g., Lalique Encre Noire, Tom Ford Noir and Sahara Noir), and I think for sure this must be the culprit behind the horrendous pharmaceutical smell I get from TD'H.
I came here and did a couple of /r/fragrance searches to see if there was any talk about the molecule and couldn't find much. All the frag message boards were basically stuffed with scent-heads extolling the infinite virtues of ISO E Super, but occasionally it would pop up that a good portion of people had quite the polar response to it.
I suppose this post is just to pick the collective brain of /r/fragrance to see if any of you had any additional insight into the quite varied experience with ISO E Super and if there was any additional reading about it you might suggest (and god forbid perhaps a list of scents I could refer to in order to know what to stay away from!).
Iso E Super is a strange aromachemical. When someone is wearing a 10% dilution 10 feet away, I smell it faintly. When I'm sniffing 40 ml of 100% IES I smell it just as faintly. I remember reading somewhere that IES is a chemical that the human nose doesn't smell very well, sort of like the smell version of a sound that is just on the edge of our hearing range.
I'd also like to share a revelation that I had when I first started making my own perfumes:
It's really hard to figure out what a note actually smells like when you're only smelling it in professional fragrances
Vetiver is an excellent example. Many people, even people who proclaim to love vetiver scents will describe vetiver as smelling entirely different from the way that vetivers actually smell. Smell some actual vetiver essential oil and be prepared to be very confused if your only exposure to vetiver has been Creed Original Vetiver, Guerlain Vetiver, Encre Noir and L'Occitane Vetyver (Chanel Sycomore is pretty good, though it still isn't that close to pure vetiver EO)
When you only smell an essential oil or an aromachemical in professional perfumes, what you think is that note could actually be that note...or it could be another notes that's just commonly added along with the ingredient you thought you were smelling because it compliments it.
For example, I've heard people who have never smelled vetiver essential oil describe vetiver as being fresh and green and citrusey because all the colognes they had smelled with vetiver also had lots of citrus and green notes.
So, the moral of this comment is:
tl;dr: If you think that you're sensitive to an ingredient, don't find a bunch of finished fragrances that have it and try figuring out what they have in common. Just get a sample of the actual ingredient. You might find out that the ingredient that you thought was responsible for the smell that bothers you is innocent.
You can get 4ml of Iso E Super for $3 from the Perfumers Apprentice.
This is spectacular advice, thank you very much for the detailed response.
Did they reformulate TDH since last year. I cannot stand it anymore for some reason
I don't always dislike the use of ISO E Super; I think in, for example, Feminite du Bois and Kyoto it is just fine as an enhancement to the overall woodsiness. I just don't find it works for me as well in TdH, and Molecule 01 on my skin is a scrubber.
I think some people are more sensitive to it than others. And since I've learned to pick it out, I notice it more frequently on other people, and I think it can definitely be overbearing.
And if one does enjoy Molecule 01, then get some ISO E Super from a perfumer's supplier; it will cost many times less, even if it comes in a less fancy bottle.
Meh, it's a pretty innocuous compound, and used liberally in tons of scents. Escentric Molecules 01 is (in terms of fragrance oil) pretty much just Iso-E Super. Jean-Claude Ellena uses the stuff by the gallon, and some of it comes out brilliantly. It doesn't have a strong scent on it's own (maybe like a light cedar scent), and can be employed quite cleverly in conjunction with other aromachemicals to enhance or slightly change the original composition.
Rather than listen to my opinion on the matter, you should know that Iso-E Super is readily available and many DIY perfumers use it regularly. Perhaps get a small amount of your own- it can be used by itself, or mixed into a blend. Some people claim this compound causes them physical distress in the form of headaches or nausea. I'm sure some people legitimately do have a reaction to it, but it's funny to see that some of these people seem fine using fragrances containing Iso-E Super when they weren't aware it was there. Buy some and check it out for yourself!
I've used samples of Molecule 01 and even bought the homemade version (that smells the same) and I love it. Light cedar and dusty gravel, maybe a tiny hint of sweetness in the dry down but mostly dry dust and light wood. Big fan; even had a pregnant friend hypersensitive to smells comment on how much she liked it. I must be in the positive camp because I get no plastic from this.
I'm not terribly unfamiliar with its scent profile, and in fact I came upon it because I was searching for those scents by those very profile markers. What is disappointing to me is how frequently it is used and how much I am able to smell it. Everywhere I go it's described as "almost odorless at first" but I swear to you it hits me like a freight train every time I come across it.
Maybe I'm just getting it in the wrong doses though, do you have any suggestions of fragrances that use this in small doses?
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