Michelia Alba Botanical Extract — Frequently Asked Questions

Michelia alba, known as white champaca, is a member of the magnolia family and is closely related to the magnolias used in perfumery, but it is a distinct species with its own profile. Its scent is lighter and fresher than most white florals, green and tea-like rather than heavy or indolic, which is why perfumers keep it alongside jasmine and magnolia rather than substituting one for another.

It is a dilute, formulation-ready preparation of the flower's solvent-soluble constituents, carried in glycerine, glycol or a light ester. Those constituents include flavonoids and phenolic compounds associated with antioxidant activity, along with a proportion of the volatiles responsible for the flower's scent. It is not the concentrated absolute used in perfumery, nor the floral wax recovered during absolute production.

During cool-down, into the water phase, typically at 0.1 to 5 percent. Adding it while the batch is hot degrades the aromatic and phenolic constituents that give the extract its value. Where the formulation is anhydrous, compatibility with the oil phase should be checked first, since a glycerine-carried extract will not disperse into an oil base.

Yes. Botanical extracts carry their own microbiological load, and their water, glycerine or glycol content provides substrate for growth. The preservative system must be validated on the finished formulation including the extract, not on the base alone, and a preservative efficacy test is the appropriate means of confirming that.