Cashmeran
Soft warm wood, clean musk, dry spice and a faint powdery sweetness.
Where it comes from
A man-made fragrance molecule, sold under the trade name Cashmeran.
Worth knowing
Despite its name, it does not come from cashmere wool.
About cashmeran
Cashmeran came out of work on cheaper molecules. John B. Hall, a perfumer and chemist at IFF, was working on low-cost transformations of molecules built on pentamethylindane and tetramethylnaphthalene when it turned up. Sources differ on the year of the discovery. The name was chosen to convey the soft feeling of cashmere.
Suppliers describe the smell in a string of words that do not sit in one family. The IFF-derived description calls it diffusive, spicy and musk-like, with strong floral reinforcement and a powdery, velvet nuance. Perfumer's Apprentice adds aromatic, apple, earthy, woody, red fruit and pine. Perfumery sources place it in materials used in woody, spicy, coniferous and ambery notes.
It is a low-volatility material that works in the heart and the base. Blotter tenacity is given as 48 hours. Dosage stays small: Perfumer's Apprentice suggests anything from traces up to 2%, and another supplier gives around 2% as a typical level in fine fragrance. IFRA restricts it because of dermal sensitization and systemic toxicity. Under EU classification it is reported as a skin irritant, an eye irritant, a skin sensitizer and a hazard to aquatic life (H411), and it is not classified as toxic or as a CMR substance.
Perfumes that list Cashmeran include Black Opium by YSL, Good Girl by Carolina Herrera, Dans Tes Bras by Frederic Malle, Womanity by Mugler and Jaipur Bracelet by Boucheron.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Cashmeran in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Cashmeran most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Cashmeran
Fragrances that list it in their notes, most-rated first.
Houses that use it most
Ranked by how many of their well-known fragrances list Cashmeran.