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8 Unique Perfumes That Smell Like Lemon
Lemon is the easiest citrus to recognise and one of the hardest to keep on skin. These eight go from plain lemon to lemon on a cliff by the sea. Start with C.O. Bigelow Lemon for lemon itself, Tom Ford Costa Azzurra for lemon with driftwood, and Tulip Lemon Sugar for lemon tart.
What Makes Lemon Smell Like Lemon?
One molecule more than any other: citral, a pair of closely related aldehydes that are sharp, bright and unmistakably lemony. Lemon oil is mostly limonene, which smells of very little, with a few per cent of citral doing the real work. Citral is also why lemon verbena, lemongrass and litsea smell of lemon, and perfumers often borrow it from those plants because lemon oil itself is fragile and fades fast.
Lemon fades because its molecules are small and volatile, so a lemon perfume is mostly about what’s underneath when the first burst goes: musk, tea, wood or sugar. Some makers use Primofiore lemons, the early harvest picked while still green, for a sharper, more bitter peel.
| Perfume | The lemon | What’s with it |
|---|---|---|
| C.O. Bigelow Lemon | Lemon and lemon leaf | White musk |
| Tom Ford Costa Azzurra | Lemon | Cypress, driftwood, salty amber |
| Versace Dylan Turquoise | Primofiore lemon, mandarin | Guava, blackcurrant, Clearwood |
| Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia | Primofiore lemon | Jasmine, cedar, labdanum |
| Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue | Lemon, citron | Green apple, bamboo, cedar |
| Acqua di Parma Fico di Amalfi | Lemon, bergamot, grapefruit | Fig nectar, pink pepper, cedar |
| Maison Margiela Under the Lemon Trees | Kalamansi lime | Mate, green tea, cedar |
| Tulip Lemon Sugar | Lemon | Raspberry, caramel, sugar cane |
8 Lemon Perfumes
C.O. Bigelow Lemon
C.O. Bigelow’s Lemon EDP pairs lemon and green lemon leaves with a creamy white musk. It started as the scent of the New York pharmacy’s Lemon Body Cream, and it smells like it: lemon rubbed into clean skin. The musk is what stays. It’s the most direct lemon here.
Tom Ford Costa Azzurra
Costa Azzurra is lemon, cypress oil, oak, a driftwood accord, cistus and salty amber. The lemon sits on top of a beach: driftwood and salt below, cypress for the Italian coast. Cistus adds a dark, resinous, slightly leathery edge. It’s the most interesting lemon on the page, and the least literal.
Versace Dylan Turquoise
Dylan Turquoise opens with mandarin, Primofiore lemon and pink pepper, then blackcurrant bud, jasmine, freesia and guava, over Clearwood and other woods with musk. Guava and blackcurrant make it a fruit punch with a lemon slice, and Clearwood, a clean patchouli-like synthetic, keeps it dry. A bright, loud summer perfume.
Giorgio Armani Acqua di Gioia
Acqua di Gioia lists Primofiore lemon, jasmine, cedar and labdanum. Labdanum is the resin from rock rose, warm and ambery, and it gives the lemon and jasmine a sun-warmed base. It’s lemon on warm stone rather than in a glass of water.
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue
Light Blue (2001) lists citron, lemon, bluebell and green apple, then jasmine, rose and bamboo, over cedar, amber and musk. Citron is lemon’s thick-skinned ancestor, more floral and less sour. With green apple and bamboo, it’s crisp and watery. Intense and Pour Homme are different perfumes.
Acqua di Parma Blu Mediterraneo Fico di Amalfi
Fico di Amalfi opens with lemon, bergamot and grapefruit, then fig nectar, pink pepper and jasmine, over fig wood, cedar and benzoin. Lemon and fig together are a garden on the Amalfi coast: sharp peel, then soft, milky fruit. The EDT is described here; La Riserva is a separate edition. Our fig list has more fig.
Maison Margiela Replica Under the Lemon Trees
Despite the name, Under the Lemon Trees lists a kalamansi lime accord rather than lemon, with petitgrain and cardamom, then coriander, mate and green tea, over cedar, cistus and musk. It’s the shade under the trees, not the fruit. A wearer on Reddit found it more lime than lemon, with tea, spice and a little cedar.
Tulip Lemon Sugar
Lemon Sugar is a roll-on oil of lemon, bergamot, raspberry, caramel, sugar cane, vanilla and musk. It’s lemon as a dessert, a lemon tart with burnt sugar on top, and the oil keeps it close to the skin. The cheapest and sweetest lemon here.
More Citrus
For grapefruit, yuzu and blood orange, see our citrus perfumes. The verbena guide covers the herb that smells more of lemon than lemons do, and the fresh citrus colognes go in a men’s direction.
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