Lilacs have a delicate summery floral scent - the flowers appear briefly in spring, and then are gone. They have a a light, powdery, intriguing scent, which - to be fair - this stick has. There's jasmine, mint, rose, almonds, apple.... It's tantalising, floral, yet also somehow old fashioned and prim. It's like a prim, unmarried, but attractive aunt. Kinda cute and weird, but not at all sexy.
I've looked back, and I think this is my first lilac incense. Lilac doesn't appear to be a popular scent for incense, and while it is sometimes used in perfume, such as Lilac Path by Aerin, Idylle by Guerlain, and En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti, the use is uncommon and the scents are expensive. There are no essential oils made from lilac. Not all flowers or plants convert well to an essential oil - either it takes too much plant to make it economically viable, or the results are too weak or simply off-target. Occasionally pure essentials oils need to be blended with synthetic scents in order to make them truer to themselves for humans to perceive - sandalwood is a well known example of this: most sandalwood perfumes or incenses use at least some synthetic sandalwood such as Sandalore, either instead of or complementary to a sandalwood essential oil. Lilac doesn't convert well to essential oil, so lilac fragrances in perfumes or incenses will use a synthetic molecule, though may be assisted by a "headspace" quantity of real lilac. Because of the difficulty of converting lilacs into essential oil, lilac fragrance is one of the earliest to be synthesised, over 100 years ago.
There are various folklore associations with lilacs - they bring luck and love, and are beloved of fairies, such that in Celtic tradition humans can be transported into fairyland and the spiritual world through the fragrance of lilac. It is a fairy-like fragrance!
I've looked back, and I think this is my first lilac incense. Lilac doesn't appear to be a popular scent for incense, and while it is sometimes used in perfume, such as Lilac Path by Aerin, Idylle by Guerlain, and En Passant by Olivia Giacobetti, the use is uncommon and the scents are expensive. There are no essential oils made from lilac. Not all flowers or plants convert well to an essential oil - either it takes too much plant to make it economically viable, or the results are too weak or simply off-target. Occasionally pure essentials oils need to be blended with synthetic scents in order to make them truer to themselves for humans to perceive - sandalwood is a well known example of this: most sandalwood perfumes or incenses use at least some synthetic sandalwood such as Sandalore, either instead of or complementary to a sandalwood essential oil. Lilac doesn't convert well to essential oil, so lilac fragrances in perfumes or incenses will use a synthetic molecule, though may be assisted by a "headspace" quantity of real lilac. Because of the difficulty of converting lilacs into essential oil, lilac fragrance is one of the earliest to be synthesised, over 100 years ago.
There are various folklore associations with lilacs - they bring luck and love, and are beloved of fairies, such that in Celtic tradition humans can be transported into fairyland and the spiritual world through the fragrance of lilac. It is a fairy-like fragrance!
The scent on the burn does somewhat replicate the scent on the stick, though somewhat deeper, warmer, less delicate and floral. It is generally a pleasant, attractive flowery display with enough woody warmth to prevent it, for me, becoming too cloying. It does have that sense of lilac about it, also some parma violets, and a bit of rose. It's a decent and interesting scent of an uncommon fragrance. Florals are generally not my thing, but I like this.
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