Cedar is my favourite fragrance note at the moment. It’s a scent that’s really common as a base in perfumes, with some interesting properties:
- Cedar oils in perfumery come from the wood and leaves of cedar trees, but also related juniper and cypress species.
- Depending on the source of the oil, cedar oil can contain different scent compounds. Common chemicals in cedarwood oil include cedrol, ∀-cedrene, himachalene, d-alpha-atlantone and thujopsene.
- Cedrol has been found to have a relaxant effect… and it also attracts pregnant mosquitoes.
- Cedar can neutralise the scent of poop (from the chemical skatole). This odor-neutralising pairing is called a Zwaardemaker pair, named after the Dutch scientist who came up with the concept.
Cedar fragrance reviews
I’ve been working my way through Commodity’s sample sets, and encountered Book. It’s part of their Black collection, which is tailored more towards men. Book has eucalyptus and bergamot framing the cedar, and it smells a lot like a wooden bookshelf. The problem I’ve found with the entire Commodity range is that while the scents are unusual and interesting, they don’t tend to last very long on your skin. Book has decent lasting power – around 8 hours on me.