The citrus-y aroma of lemon makes for the perfect zesty addition to many a composition, as do its mood-uplifting qualities.
Lemons and flowers are a perfect marriage, in perfumery. Think of the way that lemon can ‘cut through’ rich flavours in cooking, and you get an idea of why the two work so well together. So while you may be familiar with lemon in colognes and summer splashes, lemon’s actually present in many, many fragrances.
Its history’s a bit blurry – were lemons first grown in Southern India, or Burma, or China…? But we do know that the Arabs brought this evergreen tree to Europe in around the 8th Century; lemon later made its way to America through seeds carried on Christopher Columbus’s ship, in 1493. The scented oil’s obtained by cold-pressing the peel – and unlike so many other plant ingredients, the aroma that you get from that process is almost exactly the natural scent of the ripe fruit’s peel.
Lemons grow all over the world and are a hugely popular fruit: where would cooking be without lemon’s zest and juice…? Ditto fragrance: it delivers energy, brightness, cheer and refreshment – like sparkling, sweet sunshine, bottled.
Smell lemon in:
Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien
Chanel Chance
Clarins Eau Dynamisante
Guerlain Shalimar
Maison Francis Kurkdjian Acqua Universalis
Mary Greenwell Lemon
Miller Harris Citron Citron
