- Latin name
- Litchi chinensis
- Family
- Soapberry family (Sapindaceae)
- Origin
- the scent is created in the laboratory
- Parts used
- no material is obtained from the fruit
- Raw materials
- fruity-floral accords
- Extraction
- synthesis
- Olfactory group
- fruity
- Position in the pyramid
- top note and heart
- Synthetic substitutes
- rose oxide, fruity esters, damascones
Lychee is a tropical fruit from southern China: under its rough pink-red skin hides translucent juicy flesh with a large dark stone. No material is obtained from the fruit, so the scent of lychee is recreated as an accord.
How it smells: juicy, sweet and rosy: cool flesh, a light floral shade of rose, a faintly winey and grape-like tartness. Lychee sounds tender, fresh and very “pink”.
Lychee and rose are old friends in perfumery: the fruit's smell really does contain molecules that smell of rose, and Damask rose oil has lychee touches. That is why perfumers so often place them side by side.
What it pairs with: with rose and peony — fresh pink floral fragrances, with raspberry and berries — juicy fruity compositions, with musk — clean, tender fragrances, with vanilla — light gourmand notes, with lotus — transparent Asian freshness.
Good to know: in China lychee was considered a fruit of emperors: legend has it that fresh lychees were carried by mounted couriers a thousand kilometres for the emperor's favourite consort.
