Two jasmines
Grandiflorum, the jasmine of Grasse, is floral, slightly fruity, almost apricot, with a green clarity. It is the jasmine of classical French perfumery.
Sambac, Arabian jasmine, is denser, greener, more animal, with a tea and leather note. It is the jasmine of jasmine tea and of oriental perfumery.
Indole
Both contain indole, a molecule also found in certain animal materials and in decomposition. At high concentration it is frankly unpleasant; at jasmine's dose it gives that impression of flesh and warmth that stops the flower from being merely pretty.
It is what separates a natural jasmine from an over-clean reconstruction: without indole, jasmine becomes polite and dead.
The harvest
The flowers open at night and are spent by sun. Picking happens at dawn, by hand, flower by flower — an experienced picker gathers perhaps a kilo in a morning.
Several hundred kilos of flowers make one kilo of absolute. That explains the price, and why most fragrances advertised "with jasmine" use reconstructions.
Jasmine cannot be distilled: heat destroys its scent. It is extracted by solvent, giving a concrete and then an absolute. "Jasmine essential oil" does not exist in the strict sense.
Wearing it
Jasmine occupies space. It warms on skin and gains presence over hours, where many florals fade. Two sprays are enough.
our guide to niche perfume sets jasmine among the floral families and their temperaments.