Today, I am wearing Niki de Saint Phalle, which lists marigold as one of its notes. For me, that note outshadows everything else in this fragrance. It really does smell like the flowers called "French marigolds" that I plant each spring in my window box. It's a unique aroma, and I love it!
Apparently the actual variety used in perfume has smaller and less striking-looking flowers than the familiar kind depicted above.
I have not tried this ingredient on its own, but here is some information I found:
Tagette oil varies in colour from yellow to a glowing brick red. The oil is characterised by its unusual sharpness and pungency, and its unique tagetes leaf odour. The top note is sharp/bitter and has an almost unpleasant effect on the nose. This is subsequently replaced by the pleasant, green herbaceous note of tagetes leaves, which is associated with a fruity green apple-like note. The endnote is influenced by presence of tagetone with its unique character. Due to these unique features, there is no ready substitute for true tagette oil.
Tagetes essential oil is extracted from Tagetes minuta (also known as Tagetes glandulifera) of the Compositae family and is also known as marigold, Mexican marigold and tagetette. It is often confused with calendula oil, which is Calendula officinalis, also known as "true marigold".
Tagetes oil has a wild, sweet, fruity almost citrus-like smell and is yellow to reddish-amber in color. It is of medium viscosity that can turn thick and even gel-like if exposed to the air for a long time.
Hi I have targeted from eden botanicals and it is very different : I detect a milk creaminess a long with an almost harsh greenness. It’s different but pleasant.
