8 Perfumes That Smell Like Honeysuckle

Honeysuckle is the smell of a summer hedge at dusk: sweet, honeyed and green, with a little citrus in it. It’s also one of the hardest flowers to put in a bottle. These eight range from the plain flower to honeysuckle as part of a fruity or powdery bouquet. Start with Demeter Honeysuckle for the flower, Fresh Honeysuckle for a fuller perfume, and Aerin Mediterranean Honeysuckle if you like citrus.

Why Is Honeysuckle So Hard to Bottle?

Because honeysuckle gives almost no oil. The flowers are small and the yield is too low for distillation or extraction to be worth doing, so honeysuckle is one of perfume’s “mute” flowers, alongside lilac and lily of the valley. Every honeysuckle perfume is a reconstruction.

Perfumers rebuild it from what the living flower releases. Japanese honeysuckle’s scent is mostly linalool, the soft, floral-woody molecule also found in lavender and bergamot, with jasmine-like molecules (cis-jasmone, jasmine lactone) and green, leafy notes. It also smells strongest at night, to attract moths, which is why a hedge of it is so heady after dark. A perfumer’s honeysuckle usually means linalool, a touch of jasmine, something green, and honey or nectar for sweetness. More on mute flowers in how to make perfume from flowers.

Perfume	The honeysuckle	What’s with it
Demeter Honeysuckle	The flower	Nothing much
Fresh Honeysuckle	Lush and nectary	Blackcurrant, peach, jasmine, magnolia, plum
Aerin Mediterranean Honeysuckle	Citrus	Grapefruit, bergamot, gardenia, lily of the valley
Caswell-Massey NYBG Honeysuckle	Orange-blossom	Mandarin, neroli, orange flower, moss
Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Davana	Green and aromatic	Rose, davana, moss
Marc Jacobs Honey	Honeyed	Pear, peach, orange blossom, honey, vanilla
Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy	Fruity and sweet	Berries, gardenia, caramel, vanilla
Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs	Powdery 1970s	Hyacinth, lily, orange blossom, incense

8 Honeysuckle Perfumes

Demeter Honeysuckle

Demeter describes its Honeysuckle through a warm June day and the flower drifting along a country road. It’s honeysuckle alone, which makes it the best test of whether a reconstruction matches your memory. One buyer loves the resemblance but finds it fleeting, which is normal for a single-note cologne. It layers well under a vanilla or musk.

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Fresh Honeysuckle

Fresh’s Honeysuckle builds the flower into a full perfume: ylang-ylang, blackcurrant and peach on top, jasmine sambac, honeysuckle and magnolia in the heart, and cyclamen, plum and musk at the base. Peach and plum supply the nectar, jasmine the floral depth, and blackcurrant a green, slightly tart bite. It’s the lushest honeysuckle here.

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Aerin Mediterranean Honeysuckle

In Aerin’s interview, the composition puts honeysuckle with grapefruit, bergamot and mandarin, plus lily of the valley and gardenia. The citrus makes it the freshest pick: honeysuckle in a lemon grove. One wearer expected more honeysuckle and got mostly citrus, so this is for people who want both. It’s also on our gardenia list.

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Caswell-Massey NYBG Honeysuckle

Caswell-Massey, one of America’s oldest perfumers, made this with the New York Botanical Garden. It lists mandarin and neroli, then honeysuckle and orange flower, over velvet moss and musk. Orange flower and honeysuckle share a heady, nectar-sweet quality, so this reads as a bright citrus-floral cologne. It’s traditional in the best way.

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Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Davana

Jo Malone puts honeysuckle with rose, davana and moss. Davana is an Indian herb with a fruity, boozy, almost apricot-brandy smell, and with moss it gives the flower an aromatic, slightly green depth. This is honeysuckle for people who don’t want sweet. The davana is prominent, so if you want honeysuckle to lead, start elsewhere.

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Marc Jacobs Honey

Marc Jacobs’ Honey (2013) puts green pear, mandarin and fruit punch over orange blossom, peach nectar and honeysuckle, with honey, vanilla and woods at the base. The name is the clue: the honeysuckle here leans into its nectar, and real honey notes make it sweet and golden. It’s the warmest honeysuckle on the list.

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Juicy Couture Viva La Juicy

Viva La Juicy (2008) opens with wild berries and mandarin, puts gardenia, jasmine and honeysuckle in the heart, and finishes on caramel, sandalwood and vanilla. Caramel and berries make it a fruity gourmand, with honeysuckle as one of several flowers. It’s the sweetest, most playful pick, and an easy one to find.

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Cacharel Anaïs Anaïs

Anaïs Anaïs (1978) is the powdery classic: hyacinth, blackcurrant and lily of the valley on top, orange blossom, honeysuckle, jasmine, lily and rose in the heart, and sandalwood, incense, musk, moss and amber at the base. It’s a whole spring bouquet with honeysuckle tucked in, and the incense and moss give it a soft, old-fashioned powder.

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Which Honeysuckle Should You Pick?

• Just the flower: Demeter.
• Lush and nectary: Fresh Honeysuckle.
• Citrus: Aerin Mediterranean Honeysuckle, or Caswell-Massey for something traditional.
• Green, not sweet: Jo Malone Honeysuckle & Davana.
• Honeyed and warm: Marc Jacobs Honey.
• Fruity gourmand: Viva La Juicy.
• Powdery classic: Anaïs Anaïs.

For other green, sweet florals, try lilac perfumes. Lily of the valley perfumes are the other mute flower, and jasmine perfumes share honeysuckle’s night-time headiness.