Food in perfumery: how do you smell like caramel or coffee?
ADELE FADILI
We're not going to say it again (okay, we are): at Versatile, we're huuuuge food fans. So naturally, we've put as many food accords as possible into our perfumes. But how do you make a perfume smell of caramel, coffee or pistachio? Let us explain.
Why are smell and taste linked?
Much of what we call taste actually goes through the nose. That's why food tastes bland when you have a cold. And it's also why a gourmand perfume makes us hungry: you don't just smell a perfume, you get the munchies.
Three ways to put food into a perfume
1. Synthetics
Many food smells can't be extracted naturally (sorry, we still don't know how to make pesto pasta essence). Thanks to synthetics, we've found molecules with truly gourmand facets:
- Ethyl maltol: caramel, cotton candy, with a strawberry facet. It's what made Mugler's Angel (1992) so famous.
- Aldehydes C14 and C18: the peach and coconut you find in perfumes and shower gels.
- Isobutavan: white chocolate, praline.
- Vanillin: vanilla, of course.
More about synthetics in No more fragwashing and in our guide to fruity notes.
2. Natural extracts
Some gourmand materials exist in natural form: coffee, cocoa, vanilla and tonka bean absolutes, citrus and spice essences. You'll find them in our guides to ambery notes and spicy notes.
3. Accords
This is where the magic happens: the perfumer blends several materials to recreate a complex smell, a bit like a recipe. A croissant is butter, toastiness, milkiness and sweetness. A cola is citrus, spices, vanilla and fizz.
Food is in Versatile's DNA
The idea was born while watching Top Chef: taste and smell are closely linked. Since then, every Versatile perfume has been built like a recipe, around a moment in life:
- Croissant Café, breakfast: coffee, cappuccino, tonka, buttery, toasty.
- God Bless Cola, movie night: cola, popcorn, caramel, vanilla.
- Rital Date, the date: pesto, lemon, limoncello, pistachio.
- It's a Match-a, brunch: matcha, milky, blueberry, pancake.
- Oh My Chaï, the spicy break: chai, cinnamon, cardamom.
- Cerise sur le Gâteau: cherry, chocolate, Baileys.
Even our body care is in on it, like L'Huile Vinaigrette and Le Beurre Doux. To taste (well, smell) everything, head to our Discovery Boxes.
FAQ
Are gourmand perfumes too sweet?
Not necessarily! A good gourmand plays on contrasts: freshness, bitterness, saltiness, woodiness. Rital Date, for example, blends pesto and limoncello.
Are gourmand notes edible?
No, you don't drink your perfume, even if it smells of coffee! The molecules used are meant for your skin, not your plate.
