Lactonic Scents

peach;
coconut;
milky;
nutty (various);
osmanthus;
fig;
musk;
jasmine;
tuberose;
solar;
waxy.

I’m smelling very “lactonic” today! This was a question asked on Bluesky which set me thinking. What makes a “lactonic” note or perfume? Initially, perfumes made of the notes of peach and coconut come to mind, gamma decalactone, gamma undecalactone, gamma nonalactone.
Delve into this a little more, lactones are often described as “milky”. To make an osmanthus perfume, or a tuberose, one would use lactones too. Then as I put my perfumes on today, I thought, well, quite a few musks are lactones (e.g. cyclopentadecanolide, and ambrettolide), and fig notes can be made using gamma octalactone, so I would include musk and fig here. Then there are jasmin lactones as well, these smelling of jasmine, waxy and solar (we have come full circle back to coconut!). My scents of the day (#sotd) are So…? Kiss Me body spray which smells of musks, Cecile by To The Fairest, and layered on top I am trying L’Occitane Osmanthus perfume gel. I’m really liking the leathery note in this. It’s present, but not overpowering.