Old House
Note Profile
About
Old house is a concept note, not a material. It is the smell of a room that has been shut for decades: dry oxidised wood, plaster dust, hardened varnish and a musty undertone. The one perfumery source that describes it is explicit that no single ingredient produces it and that it reads as a place rather than a thing.
Scent Profile
Old House smells of dry, oxidised wood, dusty and warming into something faintly sweet and vanillic as it lingers. Underneath sits a musty, earthy staleness, and a chalky mineral dust from old plaster. A faintly oxidised, aldehydic edge comes from hardened varnish. It reads as a shut room, not any single material.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
ScentArt
Origin
There is no extraction route. Premiere Peau states this plainly and builds the accord from four named groups instead. Aged wood contributes vanillin and guaiacol as lignin breaks down. Plaster gives a chalky mineral dust. Oxidising paint binders, which are linseed oil, give an aldehydic and faintly rancid edge. Textiles and paper give must, which is geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol used at very low dose. All four are stages of slow oxidation, which is why the accord reads as time rather than as any of its parts.
Usage in Perfumery
A storytelling note rather than a blending ingredient, used in atmospheric, memory-themed and narrative compositions. Three Fragrantica placements and none on Parfumo. Two perfumes are titled Old House outright. It works under leather, tobacco and paper notes to place a fragrance in a building, and it needs a dry base or the musty half turns sour.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Old House
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Old House appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.