- Latin name
- Cocos nucifera
- Family
- Palm family (Arecaceae)
- Origin
- the scent is created in the laboratory
- Parts used
- almost no perfumery material is obtained from the nut
- Raw materials
- lactone accords
- Extraction
- synthesis
- Olfactory group
- gourmand, fruity (tropical)
- Position in the pyramid
- heart and base
- Synthetic substitutes
- gamma-nonalactone (“aldehyde C-18”), massoia lactone
Coconut is the nut of the coconut palm, but in perfumery its scent is almost always created with molecules. The familiar coconut smell comes from lactones — relatives of the molecules that smell of peach and cream.
How it smells: creamy, sweet and tropical: coconut milk, desiccated coconut, a faintly nutty and “sunny” shade of tanned skin. Coconut makes a fragrance beachy, warm and relaxed.
The main coconut molecule is historically called “aldehyde C-18”, although, like the peach “C-14”, it is actually a lactone. This old mix-up in names survives in perfumery to this day.
What it pairs with: with tuberose and ylang-ylang — tropical white-floral compositions, with vanilla — sweet beach fragrances, with sandalwood — creamy wood, with pineapple and rum — a piña colada, with musk — “tanned skin”.
Good to know: the association of coconut with summer comes largely from sun-tan products: many of them have smelled of coconut since the mid-twentieth century.
