JASMINE GRANDIFLORUM
SUPERINFUSION

In India, where it originated, its heady scent permeates sacred ceremonies as well as daily life, in garlands or braids woven into women’s hair to waft its sensual scent as the day unfolds. For perfumers, who prize its rich, complex facets -- floral, fruity, green, spicy, with a touch of animal magnetism -- jasmine is one of the most precious ingredients of perfumery. But the elegant flower is in fact the offspring of a rustic family, like its cousin the olive tree but also lilac, osmanthus or forsythia: the Oleaceae.

Originated in South Asia, Jasminum grandiflorum was once widely cultivated for perfumery in Grasse, where it is still produced in small quantities. Jasmine plantations spread to Morocco, Spain, Italy, and Egypt before returning to the flower’s native India in the 1970s. Today, it is mostly grown in the southeastern part of India, in the province of Tamil-Nadu, both for domestic use (garlands and sacred ceremonies) and for perfumery.

From May to December, the fields of India are fragrant with blooming jasmine, but the main season for the harvest is from July to September. Since the scent of jasmine is at its fullest at dawn, before the sun can alter its power, the harvest takes place in the early hours of the morning. Each flower is plucked one by one to avoid damaging the delicate petals, by the deft, delicate fingers of women in colorful saris.

As soon as they are collected, the tiny blooms are locally processed by volatile solvent extraction, which yields a waxy substance, the concrete. The material is then macerated in alcohol in order to develop its optimal qualities, for a duration normally determined by the perfumer.
Known for millennia, this process, called infusion, is one of the oldest forms of extraction of odorant materials. Revived and finetuned into a cutting-edge process in the 21st century, super-infusion imparts a fresher and more harmonious floral profile, the truest to the natural scent of jasmine in full blossom.
The exclusive Jasmine grandiflorum Superinfusion crafted for YSL Beauty reveals a modern jasmine, both fruity and petally, with a clean, creamy softness highlighting the flower’s radiance. A natural effect for an elegant and enveloping florality, combining volume and a uniquely powerful trail.