Altea Profumo (Marsh Mallow Perfume)
Parfum · 2022
L'Erbolario
Favourite
Common Marshmallow
Note Profile
About
The Althaea officinalis plant, which is nearly odourless: faint green leaf over a starchy, earthy dried root.
Scent Profile
Common Marshmallow is a very faint smell overall, not a strong note. A faint green leaf quality sits over a starchy, earthy dried root underneath. There is a dry, powdery, starchy dustiness to it, with the barest trace of dried herb and mineral dryness low in the background, closer to wet cardboard than to any sweetness.
ScentWheel
Breadthbroad
EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting
Family
Green & Aromatic
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Seen in
Tap a perfume to see where Common Marshmallow sits in it. The rest of the picture goes grey
Origin
Common marshmallow is Althaea officinalis, a mallow of European wet ground. It is the plant that gave the confection its name, because its root mucilage was the original thickener. It is not the source of the confection's smell and never has been. The traded organ is the dried root. Premiere Peau reports the profile is dominated by scentless alkanes such as tetradecane, hexadecane and dodecane, and states plainly that 'the actual plant smells of almost nothing'. There is no commercial Althaea absolute or essential oil. The term is attested in 6 Parfumo entries across 5 brands.
Usage in Perfumery
A texture and idea note rather than an odour note. Brands name it for the soft, mucilaginous, herbal-tea association it carries, and the smell in the bottle has to come from the materials placed around it. Treat any strong sweet reading of this term as the confection accord instead, which is the published `marshmallow` note.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Common Marshmallow
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Common Marshmallow appears prominently.