Ylang-Ylang Perfume – creamy, exotic and intense floral

Ylang-ylang in perfumery: one flower, four grades

Cananga odorata, and the art of cutting a distillation into four

Ylang-ylang is the flower of a tropical tree in the custard-apple family, Cananga odorata, whose long yellow petals hang down in a star. It is grown mainly in the Comoros — Anjouan and Moheli — and in Madagascar, particularly on Nosy Be. Picking is done at dawn, by hand, and the flowers reach the still within hours: they spoil quickly. What follows is where the real singularity of this material lies. Rather than collecting a single essential oil, the distiller cuts the distillation into successive fractions drawn off over the course of several hours. The first, called extra, is the finest and the most floral; then come the first, the second and the third, increasingly heavy, woodier, more soapy. The third often ends up in soap and detergent. There is also a so-called complete ylang, an entire unfractioned distillation, cheaper and less defined. When a perfumer writes “ylang-ylang”, they have first chosen which of these grades to use, and the difference is audible.

What does ylang-ylang smell like?

Of a creamy, sunlit white floral, very rich, with two facets that surprise people the first time: ripe banana and a medicinal, almost rubbery edge. Add honey, a spice close to clove, and a faintly fruity base. Compared with its neighbours it is less animalic and less indolic than jasmine, rounder and fattier than neroli, less green and less fleshy than tuberose. It is worth saying plainly: this is a powerful material that turns cloying as soon as it is overdosed, and the banana facet puts some people off. It is also a heart note, settling in after ten minutes or so and lasting several hours before the base takes over.

Ylang-ylang perfumes at Le Soleil d'Or

Tubereuse Imperiale by BDK Parfums, signed by Cecile Matton, uses it at the heart of a white-flower bouquet, where it supplies the fat and the warmth. Bora Bora by Giardini di Toscana, composed by Silvia Martinelli, draws out the sunlit reading, the flower set against coconut and vanilla. Quelques Fleurs L'Original by Houbigant, created by Robert Bienaime, melts it into a grand early-20th-century bouquet. At Xerjoff, Opera sets it over a base of leather and rose, a far darker direction. And Histoire d'un Reve, composed by Hubert Maes for the house, backs it with iris and sandalwood.

Ylang-ylang accords and fragrance families

Ylang-ylang is a pillar of floral perfumes, and of white-flower bouquets in particular, where it acts as the binder between jasmine, tuberose and orange blossom: it fills the gaps and gives body. That is why it has been part of Chanel N°5 since 1921, alongside the aldehydes and iris. With vanilla, benzoin and labdanum it tips towards oriental perfumes; with coconut it composes those seaside accords that summer brings back every year. Set over a sandalwood or a patchouli it gives creamy woody perfumes, and it finally serves as the floral heart of many chypre perfumes.

Who is it for, and when?

The note has long been filed on the feminine side, out of habit rather than nature: over a leathery or woody base it is worn without reservation by anyone, and niche perfumery has used it both ways for twenty years. Its warmth and its fatness point it towards the evening and towards warm seasons, where the sunlit readings come fully into their own; in winter, the ambery and woody versions work better than the coconut ones. Two things to know before buying. Ylang projects a great deal, especially on warm skin: one spray more and you go from pleasant to overpowering, which makes it a poor choice for offices and enclosed spaces. And it is a sensitising material, whose concentration is capped by European regulation on account of the isoeugenol and benzyl benzoate it naturally contains.

How to choose your ylang-ylang perfume

Start by settling which of the two directions the same word covers you are after: the sunlit, milky ylang turned towards coconut and monoi, or the bouquet ylang, an opulent white floral, more dressed up. These are two different perfumes, not two shades of one. Try it on skin and let twenty minutes pass: on spraying, the banana facet dominates and gives a misleading impression. The bespoke discovery box brings together five 2 mL samples composed by hand, each to be worn for a full day. To get your bearings, compare Bora Bora, sunlit and gourmand, with Tubereuse Imperiale, white floral and woody: the gap shows clearly what the flower can do.

Ylang-ylang at Le Soleil d'Or, a Lille perfumery since 1953

Founded in 1953 by Jeanne Muyllaert on the Grand'Place in Lille, Le Soleil d'Or is an independent perfumery passed down from one generation to the next. Hubert Maes (third generation) turned it into a reference for niche perfumery; today his daughters Victorine and Apolline Maes (fourth generation) uphold the same standards at 22 rue de la Clef, Lille (59800). Our team will let you smell the ylang-ylang perfumes in the catalogue, with expert advice and guided trials, and can point you in the right direction using our guide to fragrance families.

Delivery & free in-store collection in Lille

Within mainland France, Colissimo delivery is free from 49 € to a pickup point and from 79 € to your door. Within Europe, it is free from 90 € to a pickup point and from 120 € to your door; we also ship worldwide. Live in Lille or nearby? Free in-store collection at 22 rue de la Clef is the fastest and most economical option. Full terms on our shipping page.