Celestolide

Description and usage notes:

A particularly bright, fruity style of musk, diffusive and light with a clean feeling it is especially effective in floral blends. It’s a lovely radiant musk that can add brightness as well as fixation to a blend. An isomer of Phantolide (developed by PFW) and one of the first non-Nitro musks to be commercially produced, the material we are offering here is manufactured by IFF.

Arctander notes that it “Does not discolor soaps or other mildly alkaline products.” .  He describes it as having a “Mild, sweet-musky odor with a faint, animal undertone and good tenacity. Relatively stable under normal conditions in perfume creations. May develop a slightly sour note during storage, a note which is appreciated by some perfumers, disliked by others.”  His suggested usage levels are from 0.5% to 3% but he also comments that “certain perfume types may benefit from considerably higher content of Celestolide”

The crystals can be hard to dissolve in ethanol alone but benefit from Benzyl salicylate to help them into solution.  In practice we find if you simply measure out the crystals first and then build the rest of your formula on top with an occasional swirl or stir, the Celestolide will have dissolved into the concentrate by the time it’s finished in most cases and it then gives no trouble when alcohol is added to the finished mixture.