Lychee in perfumery: fruity and gourmet smells

Perfume raw materials

Lychee in perfumery - A unique exotic fruit!

Lychee is a tasty exotic fruit. Its slightly bizarre shape, its attractive color and its salivating taste attract all those who love delicacies. Lychee in perfumery is just as appreciated as for tasting. Its sweet and tropical scents serve as notes for many gourmet perfumes. Discover the particularities of lychee flavors.

Lychee, a delicious tropical fruit

The lychee is a small edible and very cute fruit! Originally from China, the pronunciation of its names differs depending on the region. You can find it under the name of litchi, litchi, or even litchi sinensis.

The tree from which lychee originates bears the same name as its fruit, and belongs to the Sapindaceae family. When ripe, this fruit exhibits a lovely red color. Its edible part is white in color and its core has a rather brown hue.

The lychee is consumed in the four corners of the globe and owes its fame to its somewhat unique shape and its rarity: there is only one species of the lychee genus and its worldwide production is shared between around 20 countries.

The health benefits of lychee

Before talking about the use of lychee in perfumery, we will briefly cite its health benefits .

Lychee is a fruit that contains a good dose of potassium and vitamin C. It has antioxidant power, and its tropical nature makes it a very water-rich fruit. In addition, lychee remains a good source of dietary fiber. What more to be seduced by this delicious food?

The lychee fragrance, fruity and gourmet smells.

Lychee in perfumery, a fruit with characteristic odors

Apart from its food consumption, lychee is very popular in perfumery. This exotic fruit stands out beautifully from others with its unique fragrance. And even mixed with the other ingredients, its presence remains remarkable in all the flavors it animates!

The extraction and use of lychee in perfumery

As with the cherry , there is no way to obtain an essential oil that can be used in perfumery from the fruit of the lychee. Conventional extraction methods do not work for this food.

Thus, lychee odors are chemically reproduced from a mixture of materials (geraniol, linalool, etc.). This makes it possible to resume the characteristic scent of lychee at a certain level. The natural lychee fragrance obviously remains more authentic and richer due to its freshness and original components.

Lychee fragrances, fruity and sweet olfactory notes

When you smell a lychee perfume for the first time, you will be surprised at the olfactory beauty of its notes! A fresh, exotic and tropical start, very quickly overtaken by a sweeter and fruitier facet. A whirlwind of delicacies will welcome you with pleasure, but rest assured, you will never feel too much!

What is even more amazing in perfumes with lychee smells is that by focusing on their smells, you will find a certain slightly acidulous facet. This is probably what allows it to deliver a captivating freshness while keeping a gourmet character.

Like most other fruits, lychee is often used as a top note in perfumes. Its beloved scents are not tenacious and serve to embellish the departure of the most beautiful fragrances.

Lychee in perfumes, a rather masculine or feminine note?

Due to its fruity nature, lychee is often used in women’s perfumes, in harmony with the other famous ingredients of women’s perfumery such as rose , jasmine or vanilla . In addition, its artificial reproduction is also based on a rather feminine component present in a natural state in rose flowers, which is cis-rose oxide.

A photo of three lychee fruits on a white background. The lychee stone appears on the right, on one of the three fruits cut in half.

However, we always like to remind that wearing the scents we enjoy should take precedence over the gender label assigned to it. It would simply mean that even men can wear lychee-based fragrances, regardless of whether it is attributed feminine characteristics, if they are happy with the scents they choose.

That’s why you can find perfumes that smell like lychee, but are meant to be worn by both men and women. Your olfactory satisfaction is the most important!

Lychee odors in perfumery and their association with olfactory families

As we have seen, lychee leans more towards the world of feminine than masculine fragrances. Thus, we often find it in classic feminine accords in the company of a floral bouquet, a mixture of fruits and citrus fruits, or even in the opening of oriental perfumes for a little pinch of freshness.

Moreover, it is not always easy to easily recognize lychee smells in a perfume. These vary according to the intensity of the other ingredients that accompany it and the desire of the “nose” to make the lychee a very remarkable or rather discreet note.

When to wear a lychee perfume?

Perfumes containing lychee are generally divided into two categories:

  • Fragrances followed by floral notes (Rose, geranium, etc.) which are rather fresh and invigorating.
  • Perfumes followed by sweet and gourmet notes (Vanilla, musk…) and which are rather tenacious and powerful.

In the first case, the fragrance would be best appreciated in spring and summer for its vital and energizing facets. In the second case, the perfume is best worn in autumn and winter for extra enveloping softness.

Orient Express, a tasty lychee flavor!

To honour this small exotic fruit, we decided to include its delightful notes in one of our favorite perfumes: Orient Express . This one is a unique inspiration that tells you an exciting story around the most exquisite fruits!

Orient Express - An exceptional lychee fragrance

The aromas of lychee and cherries welcome you with a whirlwind of gourmet freshness , reminding you of your first tastings of ice cream by the sea. Then the woody notes of cedar mix with vanilla to form the base of this fragrance.

Orient Express, a perfume, a journey, a pleasure…

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