The Fruity Facet: Complete Guide to Fruit Notes in Perfumery

Facets in the Architecture of a Perfume

To understand what a facet is, it is important to know how a perfume is composed.

First, one must know that perfumes are classified by olfactory families, according to the classification imposed by the French Perfume Committee (CFP). Here are the 6 existing olfactory families:

• The Hesperidic family (see Hesperidic Family)
• The Floral family (see Floral Family)
• The Amber or Oriental family (see Amber or Oriental Family)
• The Chypre family (see Chypre Family)
• The Woody family (see Woody Family)
• The Fougère family (see Fougère Family)

Each fragrance has an architecture of 5 to 10 olfactory components, which create “the accord,” like in music. The main accord will define the main theme of the perfume (which is sort of its “soul”). Each main theme (like the woody, floral, and hesperidic theme) can be dressed with one or more facets by the perfumer-creator, to make the architecture of the fragrance more complex.

Definition of the Fruity Facet

The fruity facet can be associated with all the olfactory families named above. Fruity notes are very popular and prized in current perfumery. Indeed, they connote childhood (they are said to be “regressive”) and recall the sweets and pastries of yesteryear, which has the effect of creating an adherence to the scent almost immediately.

Fruity notes can, on one hand, be orchestrated in a fragrance in a fresh and subtle way. In this case, they will be worked in a non-sweet way, to accompany, for example, citrus fruits or fresh flowers in the perfume. On the other hand, fruity notes can be treated by highlighting a gourmand signature in an obvious way.

The fruity facet can be sometimes playful, sometimes refined, and is found mainly in the heart notes. However, juicy and watery fruits will act from the top (see Top Notes, Heart Notes). There is therefore no precise rule concerning them.

Furthermore, one should not confuse fruity notes with hesperidic notes, which are created with citrus fruits (see Hesperidic Facet).

The Fruity Facet in the Perfumer’s Organ

It should be known that there are few natural fruity notes, but recently we have seen beautiful natural fruity notes emerge. Synthetic fruity products are still used and sometimes combined with natural fruity notes, which allows the perfumer to increase creation possibilities.

In general, nearly 1,000 raw materials (both natural and synthetic) are placed on the perfumer’s organ (furniture allowing the professional to store and classify their bottles of essential oils). However, there are a total of nearly 1,000 natural materials and 3,000 synthetic raw materials available (the perfumer therefore makes their own selection).

Recently, it has become possible to find natural fruity notes, often expensive, such as pear, apple, or natural frambinone in the form of isolates (substances obtained after the extraction of molecules by fractional distillation), and which do not necessarily come from the material in question. Concerning men’s perfumes, rather fresh fruity notes like pineapple, watermelon, or melon are recently used.

Let us recall that, without the discovery of these fruity notes, there would not have been the superb perfume Mitsouko which used the aldehyde C14 molecule, with its peach note, for the first time.

The Sub-Families of Fruity Notes

Here are the different existing sub-families of fruity notes:

Red Fruits

Among red fruits are: raspberry (reproduced with frambinone in synthesis and natural isolate), strawberry (or C16), cherry (created with the association of strawberry and almond), wild strawberry (constituted from C16 and orange blossom), blackcurrant and blackcurrant bud (used natural), as well as blueberry and blackberry.

Yellow Fruits

In the sub-family of yellow fruits, there is peach (C14), plum (created with the prunol base, or prunella), apricot (used in composition or with osmanthus, a flower giving an apricot and leathery note).

Exotic Fruits

The exotic fruits used are coconut (C16), a natural coconut note now also exists which can be used in natural form, mango, pineapple (natural allyl isolates allow illustrating pineapple), banana (natural amyl isolates exist to illustrate banana), and passion fruit (which can be used in natural form).

Watery Fruits

The two possible watery fruits in fruity notes are melon and watermelon. Cucumber is not a fruit but can help give this impression of water fruit.

Juicy Fruits

Among juicy fruits, there is pear and apple (which both exist in natural form), lychee (built with notes around rose and the dimethyl sulfide molecule), and kiwi.

Other Fruits

Fig is another fruit used as a fruity note. It is created from an accord composed of green notes, stemone, coconut, cedar, and sandalwood.

Certain other raw materials are not fruits, but can still give fruity facets. This is for example the case of tagetes, davana, osmanthus, with its apricot note, resin, and fir balsam.

Perfumers’ Tips for Your Desserts

To enhance your desserts, take a few strawberries and pour drops of orange blossom on them. The taste will be immediately changed to adopt a scent of wild strawberry.

Here are some other molecules that can bring a fruity note:

• Allyl Amyl Glycolate, Allyl Caproate: pineapple
• Ethyl Acetate: banana note
• Verdox, Ethyl Acetoacetate: apple
• Alpha Damascone: apple
• Berry Base red fruits, mango (present in Angel by Mugler)
• Citroasis and Cassis Base: blackcurrant
• Veloutone: fruity musk

Perfumes with a Fruity Facet

The list of perfumes with a fruity facet is very long. Here are some references:

• J’Adore Dior: pear
• Chance Chanel: quince
• Petite Chérie Goutal: pear
• Angel Mugler: exotic fruits
• Trésor Lancôme: peach
• La Petite Robe Noire Guerlain: cherry
• Passiflora Guerlain: passion fruit
• Jeanne Lanvin: raspberry
• Insolence Guerlain: wild strawberry
• Nahéma Guerlain: peach
• Mitsouko Guerlain: peach
• Daisy Marc Jacobs: apple
• Lolita Lempicka: raspberry
• Black XS Paco Rabanne: currant
• Because It’s You Armani: raspberry
• Euphoria Calvin Klein: peach and passion fruit
• Femme Rochas: plum
• Yvresse Saint Laurent: plum
• Live Irresistible Givenchy: pineapple and passion fruit
• Lost Cherry Tom Ford: cherry
• Philosykos Diptyque: fig
• L’Ombre dans l’Eau Diptyque: blackcurrant
• Premier Figuier L’Artisan Parfumeur: fig
• Mure et Musc L’Artisan Parfumeur: blackberry
• Yes I Am Pink First Cacharel: raspberry
• Bana Banana L’Artisan Parfumeur: banana
• Osmanthus The Different Company: osmanthus
• Osmanthe Yunnan Hermès: osmanthus
• Osmanthus Interdite Parfum d’Empire: osmanthus
• Nina Nina Ricci: peach
• Mandarino Di Amalfi Tom Ford: fig
• Un Jardin Après La Mousson Hermès: watermelon
• Un Jardin en Méditerranée Hermès: fig
• Rosa Verde Aqua Allegoria Guerlain: cucumber