What it smells like
Patchouli, vetiver root, geosmin. Geosmin is detectable by the human nose at a few parts per trillion. That is why wet earth is one of the most instantly recognisable smells there is.
Where it stops
Earthy is the soil. Mossy is what grows on the north face of the tree above it. They are neighbours and are constantly confused.
Smells most like
soil tincture - and in the same register, geosmin, beetroot.
Notes that load on it
Notes from our catalogue whose position on this facet is 0.40 or higher, strongest first. A note is not filed under one facet: it carries a value on all 34 at once, and these are the ones where this axis is doing real work.
-
Patchouli
Dry Wood
Vanilla
Amber
Base · ~24h
Botanical
9,468
-
Jatamansi or Spikenard
Animalic
Base · ~24h
Botanical
5
-
Geosmin
Heart · ~8h
Molecule
9
-
Earthy
Mineral
Base · ~24h
Abstract
94
-
Beetroot
Mineral
Heart · ~8h
Botanical
8
-
Lovage
Aromatic
Heart · ~4.5h
Botanical
1
-
Cepes
Mossy
Green
Base · ~12h
Botanical
-
Green Nard
Green
Base · ~20h
Botanical
-
Mandrake
Green
Base · ~21h
Botanical
-
Mitti Attar
Mineral
Creamy Wood
Base · ~24h
Prepared
-
Truffle
Animalic
Base · ~36h
Botanical
62
-
Priprioca
Dry Wood
Base · ~24h
Botanical
10
-
Compost
Base · ~21h
Prepared
1
-
Gandhi Root
Dry Wood
Amber
Base · ~24h
Botanical
-
Roots
Dry Wood
Base · ~24h
Botanical
-
Terranol
Mossy
Dry Wood
Base · ~40h
Molecule
-
Vetiver
Dry Wood
Smoky
Base · ~36h
Botanical
5,356
-
Turmeric
Warm Spice
Fresh Spice
Heart · ~6h
Botanical
65
-
Soil Tincture
Base · ~48h
Mineral
29
-
Mushroom
Green
Heart · ~5h
Botanical
19
Materials that carry it
Real substances, each keyed by its CAS registry number, that an external perfumery vocabulary publishes with a term meaning this facet outright. This is the layer that makes a facet checkable against something outside our own database.
| Material | CAS | Terms | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2-tert-butyl-4-methylcyclohexan-1-ol | CAS 67634-11-1 | earthy, patchouli, vetiver | |
| 1-(3,3-dimethyl-2-bicyclo[2.2.1]heptanyl)ethanol | CAS 66062-78-0 | earthy, patchouli, vetiver | |
| pinacol | CAS 76-09-5 | earthy, patchouli | |
| octyl acetate | CAS 112-14-1 | earthy, mushroom | |
| benzyl tiglate | CAS 37526-88-8 | earthy, mushroom | |
| dibenzyl ether | CAS 103-50-4 | earthy, mushroom | IFRA |
| isolongifolone | CAS 23787-90-8 | earthy, patchouli | |
| patchoulialcohol | CAS 5986-55-0 | earthy, patchouli | |
| difurfuryl sulfide | CAS 13678-67-6 | earthy, mushroom | |
| phenylacetaldehyde dimethyl acetal | CAS 101-48-4 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 3-octanol | CAS 589-98-0 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1-nonen-3-ol | CAS 21964-44-3 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1-octen-3-ol | CAS 3391-86-4 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1-hepten-3-ol | CAS 4938-52-7 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1-octen-3-one | CAS 4312-99-6 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 2-octen-4-one | CAS 4643-27-0 | earthy, mushroom | IFRA |
| 2-tridecanone | CAS 593-08-8 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 2-ethylfenchol | CAS 18368-91-7 | earthy, patchouli | |
| oct-3-en-2-one | CAS 1669-44-9 | earthy, mushroom | IFRA |
| octyl 2-furoate | CAS 39251-88-2 | earthy, mushroom | |
| trans-2-decenal | CAS 3913-81-3 | earthy, mushroom | |
| propyl 2-furoate | CAS 615-10-1 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1,5-nonadien-4-ol | earthy, mushroom | ||
| 1,8-octanedithiol | CAS 1191-62-4 | earthy, mushroom | |
| (r)-(-)-2-hexanol | CAS 26549-24-6 | earthy, mushroom | |
| (s)-(+)-2-hexanol | CAS 52019-78-0 | earthy, mushroom | |
| (3r)-oct-1-en-3-ol | CAS 3687-48-7 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 5-octen-1-ol, (e)- | CAS 64275-73-6 | earthy, mushroom | |
| octa-1,5-dien-3-ol | CAS 83861-74-9 | earthy, mushroom | |
| 1,5-undecadien-4-ol | CAS 64677-46-9 | earthy, mushroom |
Showing 30 of 332. The full set ships with the published standard rather than being paginated here.
Reading the two flags
Declarable means the substance appears in Annex III of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, so it has to be named on the ingredient list once it passes a concentration threshold. IFRA means an IFRA Standard restricts or prohibits its use. Both are facts about the substance, not about any fragrance: a perfume can contain a declarable material below the threshold and never print it, and a restricted material used within its limit is used correctly.
The source also supplies no common name for a large share of materials, so those display as a bare registry number and are ranked last. They are kept because they are real evidence: dropping them would make the vocabulary look better described than it is.
Anchor terms
A facet on its own is just a word we chose. An anchor is what makes it checkable: a term in an external, independently maintained vocabulary of odour descriptions, built for perfumery materials rather than for us. The material list above is drawn from the direct terms only, because a partial term corroborates too weakly to stand as evidence on its own.
Direct
Terms that mean this facet outright
- earthy
- mushroom
- musty, earthy, moldy
- patchouli
- vetiver
Partial
Terms that lean this way but also load elsewhere
- musty
The rest of Woody & Earthy
The other facets in this family. A note can load on any of them at the same time as this one, so they are neighbours rather than alternatives.