What does Oakmoss smell like?
Oakmoss smells like a forest after rain: wet bark, earth and fern, with shades of ink, leather and a faint marine saltiness. There is also something soft, almost sweet and powdery, that makes it enveloping. On skin it unfolds slowly into a dark green, very tenacious base that binds citrus and florals into a harmony both fresh and deep. This is the smell of the classic chypre.
Origin and production
Oakmoss (Evernia prunastri) is a lichen harvested mainly in the Balkans, Morocco and France. It is solvent-extracted into a concrete and then an absolute. It became the foundation of the chypre accord with Coty Chypre in 1917. Because it contains the allergens atranol and chloroatranol, it is strictly restricted: perfumers now use low-atranol grades and synthetic substitutes such as Evernyl.
How perfumers use it
Oakmoss sits in the base, structuring and extending a composition while lending it a shadowy, velvety depth. With bergamot and labdanum it forms the chypre accord; with lavender and coumarin, the fougère. Guerlain Mitsouko, in 1919, made it a foundation of its peachy fruity chypre; Dior Miss Dior pairs it with galbanum and patchouli; Dior Eau Sauvage uses it to anchor a crisp citrus freshness.
How to wear it
Oakmoss suits autumn and spring and appeals to lovers of classic, elegant and somewhat sophisticated fragrances.
