Iso E Super

An abstract synthetic cedar-woody material known for its psychoactive "skin-like" quality. Disappears and reappears on skin over time: a presence more than a smell. Restricted to 6.2% in fine fragrance.

A mixture of isomers of 1-(1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8-octahydro-2,3,8,8-tetramethylnaphthalen-2-yl)ethanone. Patented by International Flavors & Fragrances (IFF) in 1973, used early in Halston (1975), and brought to wide public attention by Dior's Fahrenheit (1988). Exhibits an abstract, woody-ambery-cedar character with notable psychoactive properties at higher concentrations, described as narcotic, skin-like, or simply as a presence rather than a smell. Its partial agonism of olfactory receptors creates the "Iso E Super effect," in which the material seems to disappear and then reappear on the skin over time.