Darker cells mean a higher score for this topic on that metric.
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Quick answers
What is Floral?
A mixed-flower family: bouquet or soliflore, from garden rose to a whole florist stall.
EDP vs EDT — what changes?
Concentration is oil in alcohol, not a quality score. EDT (about 5–15%) shows more top; EDP (about 15–20%) shows more heart and base. Houses vary; this is not a lab assay.
How should I wear Floral?
One or two sprays on skin or cloth — sternum or hair, not a cloud in a lift. Let it turn an hour before you add more.
Which season fits?
Spring to autumn, daylight. Extraits can smother in midsummer heat.
Does skin chemistry change it?
Yes. Warm, moist skin amplifies sweet and spice; dry or cool skin can turn the same juice woody, soapy or short. Test on your skin, not only a blotter.
What about IFRA and oakmoss?
IFRA sets industry limits on some naturals and synthetics. A reformulation is usually a legal edit, not a betrayal. This atlas is not a safety sheet.
Craft for Floral is solvent, steam, headspace and dose — not a mood.
The six steps below are a studio loop; they are not a safety sheet.
Methods
- Solvent absolute — Hexane then ethanol wash for rose and jasmine concretes.
- Steam distillation — Rose otto and some floral waters, not most white flowers.
- Headspace — Living-flower capture for peony, muguet, lilac.
- Accord building — 3–5 materials stand in for a bloom that will not yield.
- Sheer dilution — 1990s style: less base, more hedione and musks.
Steps
- Map the bouquet
Choose one spine flower and two supports.
Joy is rose–jasmine, not “everything”.
- Lift the top
Citrus or a hint of aldehyde, not a fruit salad.
Keep the opening under four notes.
- Set the heart
Dose absolutes in parts-per-thousand, then smell on skin.
Absolutes collapse in the blotter heat.
- Pin the base
Sandal, musk, a dry wood — one sweetener only.
Vanilla easily eats the petals.
- Age the juice
Macerate, chill-filter, then recut.
Florals throw sediment if rushed.
- Wear-test days
Check hour 4; bouquets often hollow out.
Add a trace of ionone or musk, not more rose.
Limits
- IFRA florals — Oakmoss-adjacent and some floral sensitizers cap extraits.
- Cost spikes — Grasse jasmine and May rose make true Joy-level loads rare.
- Stem collapse — Green-floral tops die in an hour without a designed heart.
A good Floral formula knows its IFRA ceiling before it knows its ad.
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