Balsamic

On record here, the word is carried by labdanum absolute, frankincense. Each carrier says who uses the word and on what evidence: a source, the trade’s convention or the house’s own reading.

Read the essay · Everyday words to scent concepts: the Scent Translator

The record

Each field carries its evidence: open a chip for the source, the quoted words and the confidence. A field with nothing behind it says so and stays empty.

Term

balsamic

perfumery convention

the trade’s shared vocabulary; no single source

the trade’s shared vocabulary; the word as the records and sources use it

confidence B

Family

balsamic

perfumery convention

Classification of 1. top notes: a) citrus, b) aldehydic, c) fruity, d) green and e) herbaceous/herbal, 2. heart notes: a) floral light, b) floral green, c) floral fresh, d), floral fruity, e) floral heavy and f) floral woody and 3. bottom notes: a) aromatic, b) balsamic, c) moss/leather/animalic, d) musk, e) amber and f) wood.

ISO-2 · Stepanyuk A, Kirschning A · read 2026-09-30

the family name as the published classification the review gives (top, heart and bottom notes) spells it

confidence B

Definition

Warm, resinous and sweet, as of balsams, resins and benzoin.

house interpretation

the house’s own reading, labelled as such

the house’s own definition, written for this vocabulary

confidence C

Carried by

• labdanum absolute (as used: “balsamic”)
  perfumery convention

  the trade’s shared vocabulary; no single source

  the trade’s words; LAB-1 documents its use for "its aromatic and fixative properties, replacing ambergris", not these words

  confidence B

• frankincense (the oleo-gum resin of Boswellia; olibanum) (as used: “balsamic”)
  house interpretation

  the house’s own reading, labelled as such

  the house essay’s words; no descriptor source is filed

  where the site says it: /materials, “Haitian Vetiver”

  confidence C

Related terms

• piney
• amber

In teaching accords

• An amber (the perfumer’s, not the resin)
• The chypre skeleton

Sources

1. ISO-2 · Stepanyuk A, Kirschning A. Synthetic terpenoids in the world of fragrances: Iso E Super® is the showcase. Beilstein J Org Chem. 2019;15:2590–2602. doi.org/10.3762/bjoc.15.252 · read 2026-09-30 · CC BY 4.0

These records are published under CC BY 4.0.

this record as data: /data/descriptor/balsamic.json · version 1 · updated 2026-09-30 · confidence B