Clove Bud

Syzygium aromaticum

Middle (heart) note Spicy Essential oil

Intensely warm, sweet-spicy and slightly fruity, with a medicinal 'dentist's office' note that takes over if you use too much.

Made from: Steam-distilled from the dried flower buds of the clove tree.
Strength: ●●●●● a little goes a long way
Cost: Budget
Moods: Cozy Festive Grounding
Seasons: Autumn, Winter
Rooms: Kitchen, Living room, Entryway

Blend with it

Cautions

Skin sensitizer — keep low in anything touching skin
Can irritate skin or mucous membranes
Caution around pets (especially cats and birds) — don't diffuse in their space
Accelerates trace or seizes in cold-process soap
Discolors soap or wax (usually tan to dark brown)
IFRA-restricted material — use the supplier's certificate limits

Eugenol makes clove a skin sensitizer and mucous-membrane irritant, so keep it low in soap and diffuse sparingly. It is toxic to cats and dogs.

How it behaves

CandlesGreat

Very strong throw in both soy and paraffin. Keep it a small part of a blend, like orange-clove pomander.

Wax meltsGreat

Reed diffuserGood

Room & linen sprayGood

Electric (water) diffuserGood

Just a drop or two in a blend, because it irritates mucous membranes.

Cold-process soapWorkable

Notorious for speeding trace and even seizing. Soap cool, add it last, mix by hand, and expect tan-to-brown discoloration.

Melt-and-pour soapGood

Laundry & cleaningWorkable

Pairs well with

Base · Resinous & amber

Don't have it? Try Cinnamon Leaf.

In these blends

Hearth & Clove

Orange peels drying by the stove, a pinch of clove and a warm spoonful of spice.

Sweet Orange · Atlas Cedarwood · Cinnamon Leaf · Nutmeg · Cardamom · Clove Bud

Top 29% Middle 47% Base 24%

CozyFestiveAutumnWinter

Pumpkin Patch

Hay bales, crisp apples and a pie cooling on the porch rail.

Pumpkin Spice · Apple · Vanilla · Maple · Clove Bud

Top 26% Middle 47% Base 26%

CozyNostalgicAutumn

Christmas Morning

A fresh-cut tree, a bowl of cranberries and oranges, cinnamon in the air.

Fir Needle · Cranberry · Virginian Cedarwood · Sweet Orange · Cinnamon Leaf · Clove Bud

Top 32% Middle 47% Base 21%

FestiveNostalgicWinter

Cranberry Wassail

A simmer pot of cranberries, orange peel and spice on the back burner.

Cranberry · Cinnamon Leaf · Ginger · Brown Sugar · Sweet Orange · Clove Bud

Top 33% Middle 47% Base 20%

FestiveCozyWinterAutumn

A little lore

Cloves are the dried flower buds of an evergreen tree native to Indonesia's Maluku Islands, the original 'Spice Islands'.