I’ve started working with the new Biolandes low-atranol oakmoss and it should be quite nice to use. I’m trying a bit of Evernyl in a new formula to see how the two work together, with both in small quantities. Evernyl, or Veramoss, is the only moss substitute I’ve tried so far that I’ve liked, though it’s not really a replacement by itself. Evernyl has a mossy note but is also a bit sweet and powdery, without the deeper green, woodsy, and slightly smoky aspects that natural moss has. Evernyl is pleasant though, and can be quite useful.
Atranol and chloratranol are two main allergens researchers have found in oakmoss. Some studies on natural oakmoss have documented the level of atranol at 2.3-5% and chloratranol at 1.3 -2.7%, whereas the new low-atranol oakmoss has less than 100 ppm of atranol according to Biolandes. It probably has much less than 100 ppm (on the order of 5 ppm) and they are developing better measuring techniques to document just how low it is. They apparently remove the aldehydes from the moss as a way to remove the atranol. This process changes the scent very slightly, but it retains the true character of real moss and is not noticeably different than standard moss by the time it is diluted down to usage levels. It’s a very nice alternative and I hope it proves to be successful.
I’m trying to keep up with orders and haven’t had time to blend much in the past week, but I’ll get back to it when I can. I made a slight change to the new black labels to shorten the height a tad; they look nicer and now fit both bottle sizes. Yay! Progress… 🙂
There are some oakmoss references at this site for those interested in this topic:
http://www.aromaconnection.org/2008/08/sale-use-of-fra.html
Updated to add that I’ve done another post on oakmoss with respect to the 43rd IFRA amendment for those wanting more information on the restrictions:
Oakmoss and IFRA 43rd Amendment/
