Green notes in perfumery
Coralie Frébourg
Freshly cut grass, a leaf crushed between your fingers, tomato stem, morning dew: green notes are nature with a crunch. Love them or hate them. At Versatile, we love them.
What is a green note?
The green note is very distinctive: it brings a vegetal, natural, crunchy and sometimes dewy facet to a perfume. Some adore it, others find the “leaf” effect too sharp, too green.
Widely used in the golden age of classic perfumery, green notes are nonetheless not one of the six original olfactory families defined by the French Society of Perfumers (SFP): floral, citrus, woody, oriental, fougère and chypre.
A bit of history
In 1947, Germaine Cellier created Vent Vert for Balmain, with an unheard-of dose of galbanum. The perfume was a bombshell and launched the fashion for green florals, which peaked in the 1970s with Chanel N°19. Today, green notes are making a strong comeback, more natural and more gourmand (hello, matcha).
What do green notes smell like?
They energize the top of a perfume and give it a crisp, dewy, living feel: cut grass, morning dew, the local florist's shop. In short, all green.
They are usually top and heart notes.
Key raw materials
Natural materials are marked with an asterisk.
Grassy green
- Cis-3-hexenol: cut grass, leaf, green
- Triplal: green, leafy, zesty
- Stemone: fig, mint, anise-like
Fruity green
- Mastic absolute*: resinous, woody, balsamic
- Styrallyl acetate: rhubarb, metallic, hazelnut
- Allyl amyl glycolate: pineapple, oily, green
- Blackcurrant bud absolute*: sulfurous, resinous, “cat pee”
- Oxane: green, sulfurous, blackcurrant
- Undecavertol: violet, fruity, floral
Watery green
- Violet leaf absolute*: cucumber, seaweed, leather
- Methyl octine carbonate: mushroom, watery, violet
- Nonadienal: cucumber, mimosa, aldehydic
Pure green
- Galbanum essence*: peppery, carrot, turpentine
- Narcissus absolute*: floral, hay, honey
Iconic perfumes
- Vol de Nuit, Guerlain (1933), Jacques Guerlain: green woody
- Vent Vert, Balmain (1947), Germaine Cellier: green floral
- Miss Dior (original), Dior (1947), Jean Carles and Paul Vacher: floral chypre
- N°19, Chanel (1970), Henri Robert: green floral
- Aliage, Estée Lauder (1972), Francis Camail and Bernard Chant: green floral chypre
- Pleasures, Estée Lauder (1995), Alberto Morillas and Annie Buzantian: green floral
- Untitled, Maison Margiela (2010), Daniela Andrier: green woody floral
- Bel Respiro, Chanel (2016), Jacques Polge: green floral
This list is not exhaustive: there are many beautiful launches, some iconic, others more commercial.
Where to find green notes at Versatile?
No “green” family at our place, but there's green everywhere. The fizzy basil of Dimanche Flemme, crafted by perfumer Camille Chemardin. The milky matcha of It's a Match-a. The green dill of Accrodisiaque. And the crunchy pear of Bonne Poire.
FAQ
Why do some green notes smell of “cat pee”?
That's the sulfurous facet of blackcurrant bud. On its own it's disconcerting; well dosed, it gives an irresistible fruity, living side.
What is galbanum?
A resin from a plant native to Iran, with an intense green, peppery and bitter smell. It's the signature of the great green florals.
Are green notes natural?
Both! Galbanum, violet leaf and blackcurrant bud are natural. Cut grass, however, is recreated with molecules such as cis-3-hexenol.
