Vegetable perfumes

Vegetable juicing is de rigueur. No wonder perfumers are experimenting with garden-variety notes.

Love beets? Kale? How abut carrots? Sorry, we’re not talking salads or side dishes but rather vegetable-inspired fragrances.

Not that we’ve come across many perfumers looking to bottle the smell of boiled beets or roasted red peppers. It’s all about the quintessential freshly picked veggie: fresh, vine-ripened and sunshine-drenched sweetness. And the fall, when we celebrate the harvest—in all of its multicoloured root- and cruciferous-vegetable glory—is the ideal moment to explore these new under-the-radar ingredients.

You’re more likely to find vegetable perfumes and vegetable notes in the work of small perfume houses, niche brands or independent labels because, let’s face it, eau de tomate just doesn’t have quite the same mass-market appeal as say, roses. But let’s hear it for the brands willing to take a chance on a weird (and potentially wonderful) vegan note.

Tomato: Green and sun-ripened fragrances

We know, we know—tomatoes are technically fruits—but they’ve got the soul of a vegetable and so we’ve included them in this list. Tomato is probably the most recognizable on our vegetable list. And who can argue the appeal of the the smell of those fresh rosy specimens growing on the vine? Vegetal, sweet, juicy and fresh, tomato is the perfect note with which to enter the realm of vegetable-inspired fragrances.

Our suggestion? Try Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, a Jean-Claude Ellena scent that includes mango, iris, peony, cinnamon, musk and incense to complement its tomato top note.
Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, $135 (100 ml), www.nordstom.com

Carrots: How sweet it is

Carrots aren’t just good for your eyes—the sweet but earthy flavour will also win points with your nose. Because we often enjoy carrots in desserts (carrot cake counts as eating vegetables, right?), this vegetable perfume note is familiar.

Get your carrot fix with Byredo Seven Veils, which includes carrot seed in its notes (an even earthier expression of the veggie) as well as pink pepper, orchid, sandalwood, rose and vanilla.
Byredo Seven Veils, $145 (50 ml), www.barneys.com

Bright green pepper

This veggie, as its name might suggest, expresses itself as green. Typically, the note is fresh and cool and a tiny bit spicy. It is paired with coconut and fig in Malin + Goetz, and lemon and lotus at Kenzo: So versatile.

Try Comme des Garcons AmazingGreen. Green pepper notes mingle with ivy, palm leaf, coriander and orris root, with a drydown of vetiver, incense and gunpowder (another weird and wonderful note). Green with a surprising twist.
Comme des Garcons AmazingGreen, $131 (100 ml), www.shoptiques.com

The vegetable garden

Looking to fully integrate veggies into your fragrance regime? Try CB I Hate Perfume In The Summer Kitchen. Don’t let the seasonal name fool you: This perfume is fresh vegetables and clear crisp air with a woody touch all in one.
CB I Hate Perfume In The Summer Kitchen, $100 (100 ml), www.cbihateperfume.com