The immortelle plant grows wild across Corsica, Sardinia, the Dalmatian coast, the Balkans and southern Italy - thriving precisely where other plants cannot. It flowers from late spring through summer, its tight golden heads releasing a warm, complex scent even in the field - a quality that made it sacred to ancient cultures who believed such extraordinary persistence was the mark of something divine.

In Ovid's Metamorphoses, the myth of Galatea tells how the sea-nymph's tears of grief grew into helichrysum where they fell - explaining the plant's abundance wherever rivers meet the Mediterranean shore. Woven into the laurels of Apollo himself, the everlasting flower was long considered a bridge between the mortal and the immortal.

Yes - helichrysum and immortelle refer to the same plant: Helichrysum italicum. Helichrysum is the botanical genus name, while immortelle is the common French name, derived from immortel meaning everlasting. In perfumery, both names are used interchangeably depending on context and market.

The distinction that does matter is between helichrysum oil (steam-distilled essential oil) and immortelle absolute (solvent-extracted). They smell quite different from one another and behave differently in a fragrance composition - which is why perfumers specify which form they are using.

Helichrysum oil is lighter and fresher, with a prominent hay character, dry spice and a tobacco-forward drydown. Immortelle absolute is richer and more complex - adding caramel, maple, cherry, camomile and a deeper curry-spice facet that is unique to the extracted form. In fine perfumery, the absolute is the more coveted of the two.

Immortelle absolute is one of the most complex raw materials in perfumery. Its character is warm and multi-layered: golden hay, tobacco, caramel, maple syrup, liquorice, a touch of white grapefruit zest and a pronounced spice facet not unlike cinnamon or curry leaf. There is also a fruity, cherry-like quality and a camomile sweetness entirely unique to the absolute.

The overall impression is of golden straw warmed by a Mediterranean sun - sweet, spiced, ancient and entirely unlike anything else in perfumery. In a fragrance, immortelle acts as a chameleon: softening sharp spices, deepening resinous woods, bridging contrasting materials and lending an overall aura of warmth and gold to everything it touches.

It stops you in your tracks the first time you smell it. And it is almost impossible to forget.

Long before immortelle found its way into fine fragrance, helichrysum oil was prized for its remarkable skincare properties. Homer's Odyssey references it directly: as Nausicaa bathes Ulysses in helichrysum oil, his strength, vigour and beauty are restored - a mythological association with renewal that is more than poetic licence.

Helichrysum benefits recognised in modern skincare include the promotion of skin regeneration and collagen synthesis, improvement in skin tone and elasticity, and a measurable reduction in visible signs of ageing. The oil and its hydrosol have been used in skin preparations for centuries - most notably by L'Occitane, whose Corsican immortelle range remains one of the brand's most enduring lines.

The same golden oil that graced the gods of antiquity remains one of the most sought-after natural ingredients in luxury skincare and perfumery today.

Not all immortelle absolute is created equal. Origin, harvest method and extraction technique all play a significant role in the character of the final material - and the Balkans, with their dry limestone hillsides and long sun-drenched summers, produce some of the finest helichrysum in the world.

The Balkan immortelle absolute used in our fragrances is sourced from the IFF LMR collection - a programme built around partnerships with local farming communities in the region, with sustainable harvesting practices and rigorous quality control at every stage. The flowers are solvent-extracted and the resulting absolute purified with alcohol to achieve exceptional clarity and consistency.

This is the ingredient at the heart of two of our most loved fragrances - and the reason their immortelle character is so distinctive.

A fragrance where Balkan immortelle absolute takes centre stage - its caramel warmth and honeyed sweetness woven through a luminous floral heart. Tender, radiant and utterly distinctive.

The same Balkan immortelle absolute bridges the spicy cumin top notes to a heart of warm hay and oud - lending its caramelised sweetness to the composition and bringing an overall aura of gold. A fragrance of commanding strength.