Hello APJ, Welcome to our small scale collaboration project. Old Herbaceous (OH) of Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities and I will be doing a monthly post on different perfume notes. We are not perfumers but aficionados of fragrance. So lots of our information will come with links for further reading or text references. We are learning as you are learning, or refreshing.

Tropical Fruits: Notes on Notes

YAY! We both picked Tropical Fruits for us today. It was Old Herbaceous’ turn and we whittled it down together. Working with OH is really easy and fun.

What are Tropical Fruits?

This is an easy one. Tropical fruits are fruits grown in hot and humid regions within the Tropic of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn across the equator, covering most of the tropical and subtropical areas of Asia, Africa, Central America, South America, the Caribbean and Oceania. There are nearly 200 varieties. Most are sweet but not all and not even 1/5th of them make it fresh to Australia’s major supermarkets shelves.

How do Tropical Fruits smell? 

So much range. Bananas to mangoes, durian to papaya, avocado to star fruit and so many more. Berries, quince, grapes, gooseberry, pineapples, coconut, watermelon, açai, persimmon, honeydew and the list goes on… Each has its own scent profile. Some run along similar lines but many are complete loners. Macadamia nuts are the fruits produced by the macadamia. The term is broad and deep.

How are Tropical Fruits used in perfumery? 

Tropical Fruits are used to invoke the dream of the scent of the tropics. Or at least the scent of both the breakfast buffet fruit platters and fancy cocktails along with memories of salt water swimming and suntan lotion. They are part of the trope helping to recreate sweaty nights and balmy days full of fun, sun and adventure. Many even interpret the tropical monsoon. Some are used to represent colonialism and the fetishism of the exotic, essentially a fragranced version of Paul Gauguin’s French Polynesian paintings and sculptures. Sweet, sticky, cool, hot, solar, jungle, refreshing, tart, mouth watering, over ripe, mossy, green, sharp, sugared. So many adjectives and I’ve only scratched the surface.

In which perfumes will you find Tropical Fruits?

Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Lys Soleia

Jackpot! My favourite Guerlain Aqua Allegoria perfume even has the overarching group Tropical Fruits as a listed note. Using only Google translate Lys Soleia is an artistic corruption of Sun Lily, so a perfect fit.

Phaedon Pluie de Soleil

Plume de Soleil is a tropical fruit extravaganza. Pineapple, strawberry and citrus but it also smells like it’s got grapefruit, mango, melon and maybe even pomegranate doing diva turns and unmentioned.
Truth? This is WAY TOO fruity for me. While I fully appreciate the artistry and think it more interesting and playful that Byredo Pulp, it’s just not how I want to smell very often. Maybe 5 times since I bought it years ago.

Please go check out Serenity Now Scents and Sensibilities and see what OH has to add to the Notes on Notes about Tropical Fruits.

What are your favourite fragrances with any of the Tropical Fruits listed as notes?
Just so you know I’ll be flying on August 7, please give me a bit of time to respond to your comments. I love to read and respond to ALL of them so keep ’em coming.
Portia xx