Apple perfumes

An accord, not an extract

Nothing useful can be distilled from an apple, so every apple note in perfumery is built. Perfumers combine fruity and green aroma materials, sometimes with a floral or woody touch, until the result reads as the fruit. That is why some pyramids say apple accord, which is simply the exact term. Green apple is tart and crisp, red apple rounder and sweeter, and a creamy apple belongs to the gourmand end of the range.

Bright on top, juicy in the heart

Apple is light and fairly quick to fade, so it appears in the top or the heart and rarely in the base. On top it adds crunch to bergamot and ginger. In the heart it gives rose, violet and other flowers a juicy skin. It also takes spice well: cinnamon and honey make a baked, cosy version, while wood, vetiver and musk underneath stop the fruit from turning sugary.

Apples and their settings

• Byredo Pulp puts red apple in the heart with fig and tiare, under bergamot, blackcurrant and cardamom, over cedarwood, peach flower and praline. Byredo files it as fruity.
• Frederic Malle Promise opens with pink pepper, rosemary oil and an apple accord, moves to Bulgarian rose oil, Turkish rose absolute and clove oil, and ends on ambroxan and labdanum. Frederic Malle calls it woody floral.
• Les Eaux Primordiales Ambre Superfluide lists honey, apple, cinnamon, sesame and bergamot on top, rose, cardamom and fir balsam in the heart, and amber, black vanilla, tobacco and rum below. Les Eaux Primordiales calls it honeyed, spicy amber.
• Xerjoff Erba Gold places green apple in the heart with cloves, cardamom, melon and pear, under Amalfi lemon, Brazilian orange and Calabrian bergamot. Xerjoff files it as Fresh, Fruity.
• Zoologist Cow sets apple beside sage on top, then milk, lily of the valley, heliotrope and violet, and ends on cedarwood, vetiver, benzoin, musks and amber. Zoologist gives it the tagline Bucolic Meadows + Creamy Apple Milk.
• Zoologist Rabbit combines apple with cinnamon and bergamot on top, then carrot and jasmine absolute, and finishes with hay, white almond, vanilla and a biscuit accord. Its tagline is Carrot Cake Garnished with Dry Hay.

Sharp or sweet, bright or cosy

Read the words around the apple. Green apple with citrus and ginger is crisp and fresh. Red apple with fig, peach flower or praline is soft and juicy. Apple with cinnamon, honey or vanilla is warm and baked, and apple with milk or hay is closer to a pastoral dessert. Then check the base: woods and vetiver keep the fruit dry, while amber, vanilla and benzoin make it rounder and longer.