Steam Accord
Note Profile
About
Steam is odourless, so this note is a proxy for what steam heats rather than for steam itself. What perfumers reach for is hot metal, hot stone and hot clean cloth. It is a dry, metallic effect, not a wet one, which is what separates it from the water accords.
Scent Profile
Mineral leads and it is hot, not cold: pressed metal and heated stone. Clean musk follows as the smell of laundered cloth under an iron. A dry woody base and an amber-resinous warmth come from the woody-amber materials the accord is usually built on. A cooling mentholic lift sits on top, from the eucalyptus of the sauna reading. Behind them a thin aquatic-ozonic edge of humid air, which is the least supported facet here. Small aldehydic, earthy, smoky, green, floral and powdery traces mark the other readings perfumers file under this name.
ScentWheel
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
Origin
An abstract accord with no raw material behind it. No manufacturer publishes a steam base. Perfumers build it case by case from aldehydic musks and woody ambers - Habanolide for the ironing effect, Aldambre for a stronger hot-metal version, Aldehyde C11 over the top - and from sauna materials such as eucalyptus, cedarwood and Givaudan's Birch Leaf Givco. Aldambre's supplier describes it as a steam iron pressing clean linen alongside sun-bleached driftwood and heated granite.
Usage in Perfumery
Used to place a scene rather than to carry a fragrance: a laundry room, a hammam, a sauna. It sits in the heart, under citrus or eucalyptus tops and over musks. Perfumers also use it to warm an aquatic composition without adding sweetness.
Similar Notes
Perfumes featuring Steam Accord
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Steam Accord appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.