Our perfumes containing Hyraceum

Hyrax is indeed a strange animal. A hyrax’s brain is like an elephant’s, while its stomach is like a horse’s. The skeleton, however, is akin to a rhinoceros’. The hind feet are entirely different from these animals, more like a tapir’s.

Hyraceum is formed from the urine of a Hyrax or Dassie. The urine is not as fluid as that of other mammals but is rather passed as a jelly-like substance.

The tincture is obtained by infusing the powdered raw material into pure alcohol for a few weeks. The smell is akin to Castoreum but has a distinct urinary note that can be found only in goat hair tincture among perfumery materials.

Hyraceum smell is not at all disgusting as one may think, but it could be described as “very interesting”, even to unprepared people who are not at all perfumers. Duchaufourd commented it as “Magnifique et fascinant“.

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