Allyl Amyl Glycolate

[rogalal]

According to The Perfumer's Apprentice, Allyl Amyl Glycolate, when combined with ambrox and dihydromyrcenol, is part of what makes an aquatic fougere. It supposedly smells like galbanum with pineapple on top, but that feels like an attempt to describe a smell that's mostly abstract with known descriptors that may be a little simplified.

To me, this largely smells like ozone, that smell of overheating computers or melting plastic. It's a little bit fruity at first, which I guess accounts for the "pineapple" in the description, but it smells to me more like the abstract fruity sweetness of melting plastic than any actual fruit. The hot plastic smell is matched with a dank smell that's quite hard to describe. It's sort of green and piney, but very artificial - it doesn't smell like something you'd find in a forest, but more like a slightly worrying smell you could encounter in a factory. The "dankness" reminds me of the drydown of geranium leaf, where it's sort of like licorice, but also like drab, dark, dirty leaves.

Honestly, it's really hard to imagine how this unappealing hot/dank plastic stew smell fits into perfumery. If it's familiar from anything, I'd say Creed. It's a part of their signature aquatic skeleton that many of their scents are based on. The ozone smell is familiar from Erolfa, and I can also see how both the ozone and the murky greens both contribute to Green Irish Tweed. In theory, I can imagine that this amplifies and contributes to what I think of as a violet leaf note - this could account for both the silvery sheen and the mossy undertones. I can also imagine that this would pair interestingly with patchouli or geranium, as well as adding that "flowers-in-a-refrigerator" effect that you encounter occasionally in niche florals.

[Aseewald]

Actually the combination you mention is the base for Creed Aventus! I used something similar in a couple of compositions.

[Bill Roberts]

rogalal, your post gives me a thought:

I seem to smell allyl amyl glycolate much as you do. In other words, I don't like it and while in low proportions it can be harmless to my taste, I haven't actually found it helping me at least according to my preferences. Maybe I just don't have the right formula to use it to good advantage.

But your post has me thinking of trying a light touch of Paul's Pineapple Base in place of AAG. (I have other ways to contribute to green, piney, galbanum, and violet leaf aspects, and don't feel I need the hot plastic, ozone, factory, or dank.) Interesting to try anyway.