Green is back in fashion, though it has always represented boundless freshness and inspiration from nature: from dark sylvan themes to crunchy and bright hues full of herbs. And whether it’s the central aspect of a composition or an intriguing injection, green fragrances always have something impactful to say. It offers freshness and purity that is neither floral or citric, and even the darkest greens have a discernible point of light, even when underneath a blanket of shadows.
Green notes are textural ingredients, ranging from the lightest and most scintillating herbs that shine like glass in the sunlight, to resin, pine, and moss notes with tremendous impact, not achievable in any other way. And as popular tastes endlessly seek new sensations, it's no surprise that the green category has been rediscovered. In this article, we explore the many greens of perfumery.
Visions of Nature: Realistic Greens
Zoologist have many greens in their range. Animals tied to their habitats, Zoologist's creatures move through paddy fields, grassy pastures, and rainforests.
Dragonfly is an aqueous green, a dream of jade-coloured tones filled with aromatic effects and sunlight filtered through the rain. Its heart is unmistakably but not overpoweringly floral, with rich jasmine sambac in the centre, touched with zesty grapefruit and fiery ginger, rustling reeds and grains, and a flavoursome bouquet of rose, iris, and mimosa. The green of dragonfly buttresses all of its sides, the snappiness of basil, geranium, and angelic mimic the gossamer wings of this fascinating creature. It zips through folds of patchouli, vetiver, and moss - all green inflected, furthered with the potent touch of ultra green violet leaf, which crosses ozone and cucumber notes alike.
Move squarely into grassy fields with Cow, which mixes splotches of blue sky, milky white clouds, and vernal green grass and wildflowers in its composition. Cow is a perfected bucolic fantasy, leaning on the pronounced greens of a sharp yet comforting green apple note, and the rising tone of lily of the valley. All of this rests amongst blooming flowers in the grass, dotted with tender flowers, as well as powdery ones, and restorative ones. The background of cow is textured like cream and velvet - a lactonic flight of milk, white musk and almond – it softens the impact of the greens in this scent.
Zoologist's range of greens demonstrate the sheer stylistic diversity of the note, which operates alongside and within the most beloved and established categories. Elephant marches through a discernible woody body and core, made up primarily of sandalwood with a dark and dry shading. It is the scent of a rainforest full of life, canopies of lush and damp foliage, a thicket of trees. Sandalwood is drenched in leafy green air, concentrated with herbal and floral intensity, including mint, coconut, and violet leaf, shading into black tea, dark chocolate, and incense.
Deep in the Forest: Mossy Greens
Mossy Green fragrances offer a bitter and shady edge typical of many eternally beloved fragrances. They are the perfect staple in the perfumed wardrobe, and are especially wonderful dressed up. The notes responsible for this effect include oakmoss, artemisia (wormwood), and patchouli - lending length and substance, and a depth that fills the space of a composition with rich scent. To deepen the woody aspect, conifer and pine notes form an essential part of this style.
Patchouli from Nicolai Perfumeur Createur is an exemplary take on this style; genre-defining and excellent. A bold green surprise - it immediately appeals to those who adore strong fragrances but also elegant ones. Bold lashes consisting of herbs, geranium, lavender, oakmoss - the patchouli note can sustain everything added to it, transforming each and every addition when in contact with the note, gaining in immensity: a far-reaching, far-projecting, earthy bubble of scent. An intoxicating scent that nods to the classics but is entirely itself.
Mousse Illuminee (Rogue Perfumery) is pure pastiche, leaning deep into the retro world of mosses and bitter herbs. Its inspirations are clear: the original Polo by Ralph Lauren, Faberge’s Brut, while its associations are endless. The oakmoss impression is strong and true, forming a scented bubble enriched with bay leaf, artemisia, and frankincense, with a balsamic grounding. It’s all a bit lumberjack, very stylish, and timeless cool.
Etruscan Water by Francesca Bianchi sits in the middle - it gives off all the signs of a traditional perfume, but behaves like a modern one. Not all moss perfumes are the same, and here Francesca Bianchi loads the scent with aromatics, with an ambergris tint that lends a saline coating. Petitgrain gives the scent remarkable lift and freshness, faintly reminiscent of a bittersweet vermouth.
Fresh and Vibrant Greens
Fresh greens are tonics for the soul; scented pick-me-ups. They’re refreshing, bright, and perfect for the daytime. Make note of herbal notes such as basil, mint, and wormwood, the unmistakable citrusy green of zesty lime, and the deep earthy supporting note of patchouli.
You or Someone Like You (Etat Libre d’Orange) is like warm diffusive light on freshly cut grass, combining this distinctive aroma of green with the energetic freshness of glorious mint, electrified with ginger. This is extended with grapefruit, rose, anise, and cassis - altogether a bursting medley of clean green purity.
In Corsica Furiosa (Parfum d’Empire), Marc-Antoine Corticchiato refuses to see nature as restful: green could be red - the new colour of liveliness and passionate rage. This is the energy of a wild and furious nature; elemental forces converge in this fragrance - trees shake in the wind, the sea crashes into cliffs, the mountain maquis is tumbled in this earthen fury - weeds, shrubs, and flowers grow in the jagged cracks that offer some reprieve. This is a bold and impetuous green, including a rush of mint, pepper, mastic, and tomato leaf.
Viride (Orto Parisi) is Latin for ‘green’, and true to the maximalist style of the house, Viride is pushed to its limits, where the characteristically herbal, zingy, and woody-inflected green bounty of rosemary, thyme, sage, mint, and aniseed are made strong, and fortified with a heavy dose of ambery musky woods, notably including patchouli. Fresh and long-lasting, Viride is a cooling and radiant woody clean with a serious side. Viride reminds us that even underneath calm purity is sublime violence and rupture. A statement fragrance.
The award-winning Nuit de Bakélite (Naomi Goodsir) is an obsessively green tuberose - sap, stem, petal - all made larger-than-life, intensified with the bracingly intense green of galbanum, bitter artemisia, and peppery herbal angelica - a retro whirl. This is fractured with the deep notes of leather, immortelle and styrax: drenching the composition in the heat of raw sunlight.
Spoil yourself with choice: explore the myriad of verdant hues with the NOAH Green Fragrance Sample Pack.