Updated date:

Mar 15, 2020

Why Is Jasmine Essential Oil Used in Expensive Perfume?

Author:

Cynthia has a degree in business, economics, and history and works as an administrator. She loves to write and travel.

Jasmine flowers (Jasminum officinale).
Wikimedia Commons

Do you love the heady, seductive scent of jasmine? I’m a big fan of wearing perfume, liberally spraying myself even on days when I’m not going out. As I’ve gotten older, I have come to love the evocative floral fragrance of jasmine.

It is a very sensual perfume, redolent of hot, moonlit nights, romance and seduction, that suits confident, assured women—women who know they are sexy and beautiful. But is it just jasmine’s exotic floral scent that ensures that it is a key ingredient in some of the world’s most expensive perfumes?

About Jasmine

Jasmine is an evergreen climbing shrub that is native to the temperate regions of northern India and China. It can grow to around thirty feet tall and has tiny, white star-like flowers and small, dark green leaves. It was brought to Europe in the 16th century and is now also commercially cultivated in France, Spain, Japan, Morocco and Turkey. The name of this shrub comes from the Persian word ‘yasmin,’ and it is also known as ‘Queen of the Night’ because it only releases its glorious fragrance once the heat of the day is over and the sun has gone down.

The flowers are very delicate and are only picked at night to preserve the fragile scent. An experienced picker can harvest more than 10,000 blossoms in one night, and the flowers are carefully placed in special baskets and processed as soon as possible to keep the valuable fragrance fresh.

Why Is It Such an Expensive Ingredient?

One of the reasons perfumes containing jasmine are so expensive is that around 7.5 million flowers are required to produce only one kilogramme of the essential perfume oil.

Another reason this fragrance commands such a high price is that it is extremely difficult to capture this rich floral note in a perfume. There are several species of the shrub used in perfumery, the most common being Royal Jasmine, also known as Catalonian or Spanish (Jasminum grandiflorum), and Jasmine absolute (Jasminum officinale).

It is these ‘absolute’ essential flower and plant oils that are some of the most expensive ingredients, and every fancy designer perfume contains some of them. In fact, the higher the concentration of essential perfume oils, the larger the price tag on the diamond-studded crystal bottle tends to be.

The First Perfume

Aromatic essential plant oils have been used since mankind’s earliest history to help mask body odours, promote healing, for their relaxing properties and also by priests and shamans to help them journey through the spirit realms. What we now know as perfume was not invented until fairly recently in Europe when essential plant oils began to be blended with alcohol to create a fragrance.

The Arrival of Synthetics

As essential oils have always been costly, this new process brought the price of perfume down, and over time many fragrances began to be produced that contained none of the precious essential plant oil at all. During the 19th century, scientists created synthetic forms of most essential plant oils, and the age of modern, cheap scent was born.

And let’s be brutally honest: Nothing smells worse than really cheap, tacky perfume. This is another reason why designer perfumes containing jasmine absolute oil cost so much—they really do smell good! They help to create a fragrance that is alluring, gorgeous, and classy—one that can be guaranteed to last from the moment you first spray it on until you go home at night trailing drooling men behind you.

Making Essential Oils Affordable

Even though most of the world’s essential oils are produced for use in perfumery, they are usually put through a solvent extraction process of some kind. In fact, most of the modern fragrances that you can buy in the stores today consist of between 80–90% alcohol, which is what makes them affordable for us ordinary folk and enables them to be mass-produced.

Luxury Jasmine Perfumes

So what are some of these famous, luxury perfume brands that command such a high price? How much you pay for a bottle of fragrance also depends on whether you are choosing to buy the concentrated perfume or the more dilute eau de parfum and eau de toilette.

Clive Christian Imperial Majesty—contains Indian jasmine and is still currently the most expensive perfume of all time: 16.9 ounces will set you back a cool $215,000. This opulent fragrance is aged for six months before it is ready for sale and comes bottled in exquisite Baccarat crystal. Another costly fragrance from this perfume house, Clive Christian No 1, also contains jasmine with gorgeous top notes of citrus bergamot, mandarin and lime.
Joy By Jean Patou—created in the depths of the Great Depression of the 1930s, this famous fragrance became an instant best-seller despite its high price-tag. It is universally regarded as one of the world’s greatest floral fragrances and contains a lavish blend of jasmine and roses. It takes around 28 dozen roses and 10,000 jasmine flowers to create just 30 ml of this luxurious, designer perfume, one of the reasons it costs around $450 an ounce!
Chanel No 5—famously worn to bed by Marilyn Monroe, a bottle of this iconic perfume will set you back about $260 for 1 oz. Again, more than 1,000 jasmine blossoms are needed to produce an ounce of this elegant, classy perfume.
Poivre by Caron—famous for its top notes of pepper and carnation, this pricey designer perfume also has a strong floral base containing precious jasmine absolute. Costing around $1,000 per ounce, it was created in 1954, as a more overtly seductive, sexy perfume than the more sedate, lady-like florals that dominated the market in this conservative, austere decade.

Making Your Own Perfume

But if you don’t have the budget to buy your favourite jasmine perfume or are looking for a more natural product that does not contain any alcohol or strong chemicals, then why not consider creating your very own perfume using jasmine absolute essential oil. Not only will you be able to enjoy your favourite scent, but you will also receive the therapeutic benefits of jasmine essential oil.

This is an essential oil that is valued for its soothing, relaxing, antidepressant qualities, helping to ease feeling of anxiety, negativity, despair and rage. On the physical level it is very good for the skin, softening and improving skin tone and helping to eradicate scars and stretch marks. If you find it hard to relax, sleep or want to be a bit more cheerful, then this is the oil for you.

Directions

Making your own jasmine perfume is very simple. All you need to do is buy some of the essential oil and dab a small amount on the pulse points of your wrists, throat and behind your ears.

Blends

To make a more complex fragrance, blend a few drops of jasmine with other aromatherapy oils. It blends particularly well with all of the citrus oils, bergamot, rose and sandalwood.

Enjoying the Fragrance Without the Perfume

If you love the smell but don’t wear perfume, try putting a few drops in a relaxing, hot bath, adding a few drops to a burner or infuser, put some on a ball of cotton wool by a warm radiator or put a few drops into a base oil for a massage.

So now you know why those luxury fragrances that contain jasmine absolute essential oil are so expensive. But as we’ve seen, there are alternatives if you are on a budget but still want to wear this sensual, floral fragrance. Otherwise, start saving up, buy a winning lottery ticket or work out a way to meet a tall, dark, handsome billionaire!

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

CMHypno (author) from Other Side of the Sun on June 30, 2014:

Glad you enjoyed the hub DDE. It must be wonderful to have the scent of jasmine wafting over your garden in the evenings

Devika Primić from Dubrovnik, Croatia on June 30, 2014:

Brilliantly thought of hub. I have jasmine growing in a pot and had no idea about the oil used in perfume. Voted up, useful and interesting.

CMHypno (author) from Other Side of the Sun on May 10, 2014:

Thank you for reading and leaving a comment Cyndi10. Jasmine is a wonderful fragrance and a joy to wear

CMHypno (author) from Other Side of the Sun on May 10, 2014:

Thanks for reading the hub Lady_E anf glad you enjoyed it. There are a few of the essential oils which are far more expensive, but occasionally it's nice to splurge on a little luxury

CMHypno (author) from Other Side of the Sun on May 10, 2014:

I'm glad you enjoyed reading about jasmine Vellur and I hope that mixing your own perfume at home goes well

Cynthia B Turner from Georgia on May 09, 2014:

This is a really thorough article. I love fragrances of most kind. Jasmine is a very bold and very sexy scent. I can never wear it alone as an essential oil, but I do like it mixed with other oils. And Chanel No. 5 is a classic favorite of mine. I love the way the scent lingers so tantalizingly. Thanks for a pleasant morning read.

Elena from London, UK on May 09, 2014:

Very interesting Hub. I love using essential oils. Particularly Lavender, Lemon and Rose. Jasmine is actually linked to abundance and I notice it costs much more, than the other essential oils.

Nithya Venkat from Dubai on May 09, 2014:

I love the smell of Jasmine and Jasmine perfumes smell great. It is a great idea to make Jasmine perfume at home mixing with essential oils. Informative and useful hub. Voted up.

kerlund74 from Sweden on February 16, 2014:

Very interesting hub. I seldom use perfume, but I love the smell of Jasmine flowers in the summer:)

KN on February 16, 2014:

We can, if we buy those perfumes u had listed :D

CMHypno (author) from Other Side of the Sun on February 16, 2014:

Thanks for reading the hub mypaintedocean and glad you enjoyed it. Yes it is sad that it such an expensive fragrance - jasmine is something we should all be able to enjoy

KN on February 15, 2014:

great hub. Jasmine is the national flower of pakistan and one of the primary exports from Asia to the western world. the sad thing is, it has gotten so expensive because of all these perfumes that even getting to smell the flower has become so hard these days :(