Sage
Dry, green and peppery, like crushed sage leaves with a camphor-like freshness.
You may know it from sage stuffing
Where it comes from
Usually steam-distilled from the leaves of sage plants.
About sage
Sage in perfumery usually means Salvia officinalis, called common or Dalmatian sage, a plant native to the Mediterranean region. The oil is steam-distilled from partially dried leaves, and yields run at roughly 0.5 to 1.0%. Production is named in Croatia (Dalmatia), Albania, France, Bulgaria and Morocco.
What sets this oil apart is thujone, and the sources do not agree on how much there is. A study of seven Croatian samples found alpha-thujone between about 12.6% and 42.6%, the commercial range in ISO 9909 is quoted as 18 to 43%, and another source puts thujone at about half the oil. Camphor, pinene and cineol come with it. Scentspiracy says the EU Cosmetics Regulation caps combined thujone at 0.1% in finished cosmetics, and that IFRA Amendment 49 sets category-specific limits.
The smell is camphoraceous and herbaceous. Scentspiracy describes a sharp, medicinal top and a warm, spicy heart, with excellent tenacity for an herbaceous material. The Good Scents Company files the oil as thujonic and calls the odour powerful, savoury and herbaceous, a little fruit-spicy, reminiscent of artemisia. Scentspiracy cites sage for fougere and men's fragrances, where it lends tenacity and acts as a fixative, and names citrus, lavender and woods as partners.
Two other materials share the name. One retailer guide describes clary sage (Salvia sclarea) as dominated by linalyl acetate and linalool, softer and closer to lavender, while common sage is thujone-dominant. Spanish sage oil comes from a different species altogether and contains no or only traces of thujone, with camphor and eucalyptol as its major components.
Accords it shows up in
How many of the fragrances listing Sage in our catalogue also carry each accord. We counted this ourselves.
Often paired with
The notes that appear next to Sage most often in our catalogue.
Well-known fragrances with Sage
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 Sage.