Cedar perfumes

The wood of the pencil

Cedar oil comes from several conifers. Atlas cedar from Morocco and Virginian cedar, which is botanically a juniper, are among the best known in perfumery. All give a dry, clean, straight wood smell, often compared to the shavings of a sharpened pencil, with a faint sweetness and a touch of smoke. Pyramids write cedar, cedarwood, cedar wood, cedarwood atlas or white cedarwood, and some use modern wood molecules beside them.

What cedar does

Cedar is a heart-to-base note. It gives a composition a spine: it dries out sweet notes, tightens soft ones and adds a clean, slightly austere finish. It combines with vetiver and patchouli for earthy depth, with sandalwood for a creamier wood, with citrus and pepper for a crisp, fresh effect, and with leather and incense for a dry, smoky one. Compared with sandalwood it is leaner, and compared with oud it is lighter and cleaner.

Perfumes with cedar

• Frederic Malle En Passant pairs cedar with white musk in the base, under lilac and cucumber. Frederic Malle files it as floral.
• Stéphane Humbert Lucas Black Gemstone opens with an infusion of three cedars and Sicilian lemon, moves to myrrh tar and ends on incense, teak and tonka. See Stéphane Humbert Lucas.
• Ex Nihilo Iris Porcelana rests on sandalwood, musks and cedarwood, under violet leaves, iris and rose. Ex Nihilo files it as floral and powdery.
• Xerjoff Alexandria II places cedarwood in the heart with lily of the valley and Bulgarian rose, between apple, cinnamon, lavender and rosewood and a base of amber, Laotian oud, musk, sandalwood and vanilla. Xerjoff lists woody and oriental.
• Reinvented Epiphany closes with cedarwood among benzoin, birch, licorice, patchouli, incense and sweet musk, under a heart of rose, cananga, orris roots, cardamom and black pepper. See Reinvented.
• Tiziana Terenzi Delox ends on cedar wood with amber, white musk and acacia honey, after white hyacinth, royal iris and coffee and a heart of Turkish rose, vanilla and sweet myrrh. Tiziana Terenzi calls it oriental.
• Maison Crivelli Cuir Infrarouge has no pyramid: Maison Crivelli lists cedarwood atlas among bergamot oil, cinnamon, raspberry accord, orris, osmanthus, leather accord, oud accord and patchouli, and files it as woody fruity.

Choosing a cedar perfume

Look at where the cedar sits and what it is next to. With white musk or iris it is clean and quiet. With vetiver and pepper it is dry and austere. With amber, vanilla or oud it becomes the dry frame for a warm, dense scent. If you like a dry, tidy wood and find sandalwood too creamy, cedar is the note to start with, and a short pyramid lets it stand out.