Drawing Ink

Note Profile

Prepared

Drag to turn On Note Island

About

Drawing ink is the black pigment ink used for pen and brush work. It is called Tusche in German and India ink in English. It is fine soot in water, bound with shellac or gelatin. As a perfume note it is a fantasy accord of that ink.

Scent Profile

Drawing Ink smells cool, flat and slightly mineral, like the liquid in the bottle. Soot gives it a dry, smoky density. A soft resin from the shellac binder sits under it, with a sharp chemical edge when fresh. A faint camphor coolness recalls the scented Japanese inkstick.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~4h lasting

Family Elemental, Amber · Musk · Leather

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

WorldSee it in Note Island

ScentArt

What is ScentArt?

Origin

No perfumer distils ink. The note is built in the lab. The reference is the ink itself: lampblack soot in water, with shellac or gelatin as a binder. Bottled waterproof drawing ink smells of ammonia when opened. Japanese inksticks are soot and animal glue, scented with borneol, which smells of camphor.

Usage in Perfumery

Parfumo lists drawing ink in 26 perfumes (2026-10-10) and places it mostly in the top. Six of them come from the Japanese brand Floral 4 Seasons. Its Sandalwood (Byakudan) pairs the note with lemon, sandalwood and hinoki cypress. Zoologist Squid uses it as squid ink, beside sea salt, incense and opoponax.