The citrus is fresh and not greasy, the aroma is high, it won’t overwhelm, and it can be used for any occasions. The citrus tune is more suitable for summer than the aquatic one. However, before you start to pick a citrus fragrance, do you really understand the citrus tone? Because the citrus tune is not only old but also a very large family.
Due to the uniqueness and importance of citrus spices, fruit in the perfume industry is divided into two categories, namely citrus, and fruit fragrance other than citrus.
The smell of citrus is refreshing and pleasant, and it smells sour and has a strong penetrating power. Its appearance can almost cover most of the unpleasant smell, and it has no toxic and no side effects, and it will not cause people to feel “overwhelmed”. Even those who claim to hate perfume will not hate the citrus tone.
The citrus smell has a strong penetrating power, and the disadvantage is that it volatilize too fast and the fragrance cannot last very long. Therefore, most of them only used as top tone in the perfume.
The peels of all kinds of citrus fruits are rich in essential oils, and the essential oils can be directly extracted by cold pressing. Although it is much cheaper than the flowers that need to extract essential oils from the petals, the price of citrus essential oils is still relatively expensive. Not all the citrus perfume are made by natural citrus, so a perfume that uses natural citrus flavors is definitely different in terms of scent quality.
In the formulation of perfumes, citrus essential oils often appear in groups to complement each other, making the overall citrus aroma more enticing. Therefore, it is often difficult to identify which citrus is specific and can only be called “citrus” in a vague way. But in most cases, this citrus is actually bergamot. Because bergamot is not eaten like other citrus, we are not familiar with it.
Citrus smell is a large family that shares similarity and differences. If you are really a citrus lover, it’s a good idea to see which member is your true love. In this article, Sundaypromotion.com helps you to distinguish the difference of citrus scents and we will also recommend some scents that suitable to use on custom car air fresheners.
Orthodox citrus family member
Bergamot
Bergamot is the largest member of the citrus family and is the most commonly used citrus ingredient in perfumes. Natural bergamot is sour, not taste good at all, but its skin is rich in essential oils, exudes fragrance, smells like lemon, very suitable for extracting essential oils, so bergamot is also known as perfume ” lemon”. The scent of bergamot is fresh and beautiful, and it is well mix with other spices, contributing a pleasant top note to a large number of perfumes. It is used so frequently that in 90% of the perfume the citrus ingredient we smell is actually the smell of bergamot.
Acqua di Parma Bergamotto di Calabria
Like a lemon-flavored milkshake, a lemon-flavored smoothie, a lemon-flavored drink in the summer… In short, it is iced, it smells cool, and it is cool on the body, fresh and bright.
Lemon
Actually, lemon itself is a very good fragrance, and its performance in the perfume is also very good, but it is basically in a state of “bad name”. In daily life, there are too many product’s fragrances that mimic the smell of lemons, so that when we talk about lemons, we think of beverage flavors or detergents. However, the synthetic lemon flavor differs greatly from the natural flavor. The citric acid in the natural perfume is refreshing and gives a very clean feeling, it is not like the smell in laundry liquid.
Typical perfume: Annick Goutal Eau d’Hadrien
The aroma of Hadrian’s water is simple and clean, minimalist style, like a fresh and bright large lemon tree, with the combination of cedar wood, it looks dry and crisp, sweet and sour reveals a neutral and cool style, like a fresh washed white shirt.
Lime
Lime smells like lemon, but it is not an unripe lemon, they are two different plants. Compared to lemon, the aroma of lime is lighter and drier. In human perfume it usually mix with lemon.
Typical perfume: Guerlain Limon Verde
Starting with a cup of lime drink with sugar and ice, it is sour and sweet with a fresh coolness, later, figs and various tropical fruits will be brought out, like a party on the beach.
Mandarin Orange
Finally, let’s talk about the most common, familiar, and we eat almost everyday, orange. This common orange name is called “wide skin citrus”.
Compared to the bergamot, the orange in the perfume is not as sour as bergamot, it has some sweetness. Because it is our everyday fruit, it presents a highly recognizable smell and, basically it can be recognized immediately, which is the kind of red orange that we often eat.
Typical perfume: Guerlain Mandarine Basilic
Authentic red orange flavor, fresh and juicy, full of moisture, the other half of the perfume is basil, bringing some fresh and stimulating green aroma to the whole, just matching the freshness of the orange.
Grapefruit
Grapefruit, is a relatively young fruit, but it is widely used in perfumes, far more than the ordinary grapefruit we eat. The essential oil of grapefruit is squeezed from the grapefruit skin by cold pressing. The aroma is full and charming, with some subtle woody and herbal aromas. The grapefruit smell a bit like orange, but it has a bit of bitterness. This bitterness is also unique to grapefruit, giving it a very natural feel and making it instantly distinguishable from other citrus.
Typical perfume: Hermes Un Jardin Sur Le Nil
The top notes of grapefruit are outstanding, like a walking big grapefruit. After that, it will gradually lead to the water lily in the middle, which is light and moist, giving people a feeling of standing on the clear spring by the river.
Orange
Orange is a hybrid of grapefruit and orange, and its taste and aroma are familiar to everyone. Oranges that are grown on a large scale are either sold directly as fruit or used to produce beverages. Only a small amount of orange peel can be pressed to extract the essential oil, so the natural essential oil of the orange is still very expensive. The orange in the perfume has a big feature, sweet, it is almost the sweetest ingredient in citrus, and it has a distinct fruity aroma. If you see someone mentioning an orange in a scent, then the perfume is sweeter in all likelihood.
Typical perfume: Acqua di Parma Arancia di Capri
It highly restores the taste of a fresh, juicy, large orange that is pulled out in front of you. Like the citrus just been cut by half, from the outside to the inside, from the orange peel to the flesh, every drop of natural juice was preserved.
Blood Orange
Blood orange is a kind of variety of orange. Its fruit color is blood red, so it is called blood orange. In addition to the ordinary orange aroma, the blood orange essential oil has some warm resin taste and a fruity aroma like raspberry. Blood orange smells like a mixture of citrus and other fruity aromas, and it works well with many fragrances, such as lavender, rose, sage and frankincense.
Typical perfume: 4711 Blood Orange & Basil
With the green touch of Basil, the blood orange smell very fresh. There is also a touch of soap, like the refreshing feeling after bath. The overall taste is not strong or sweet, the aroma is very simple, but it is very classic.
Bitter Orange
The fruit of the bitter orange tree is sour and bitter to eat, and it is not big, not the same as the orange we eat every day. The cultivation of bitter orange is entirely due to the value of its spice. On a bitter orange tree, its fruits, flowers, and leaves can be used to extract essential oils. Unlike other citrus, the value of bitter orange trees is focused on the flowers and leaves of bitter orange, which can extract the familiar neroli oil.
Typical perfume: Atelier Cologne Trefle Pur
The taste of bitter orange is refreshing and clean, and the unique bitterness gives a very clean feeling. The clover that was subsequently introduced is fresher, and the faint greenness is sour and cool with citrus, naturally and ethereal.
Relatives of citrus fruits
These fragrance are not citrus fruits in nature, they have flowers and leaves, and herbs, but they are classified into the citrus family because they emit a citrus-like aroma that also supports the citrus tune.
Neroli
The neroli oil is extracted from the petals of the bitter orange tree. Based on the distillation method, it retains the green aroma of the petals and has a unique bitter taste. The essential oils has to be extracted from the petals, the price is very expensive. The petal of bitter orange comes with the aroma of bitter orange, so it is classified as a citrus family.
Typical perfume: Thierry Mugler Mugler Cologne
It smells like a clean baby’s body, in which the neroli oil is light smell, with a hint of citrus aroma, and the combination of green leaves is natural. The combination of soapy and body smell is very colorful, with a sense of intimacy in cleanliness.
Petitgrain
The bitter orange leaf essential oil is extracted from the leaves and shoots of the bitter orange tree. In addition to the full green leaf, there are some light woody notes and floral notes. The bitter orange leaf does not have the bitter smell in the neroli oil, so it is highly acceptable and loved by everyone. Since essential oils need to be extracted from the leaves, they are also expensive, and it is one of the most common ingredient in high-end cologne.
Typical perfume: Annick Goutal Le Chevrefeuille
Honeysuckle is very fresh, with a faint coolness, with the taste of fresh bitter orange leaves, just like a alive green garden, smells like a little fairy wearing a wreath.
Lemon Verbena
Lemon verbena is a shrub plant. The magic of this plant is its narrow leaves, rich in essential oils, which can be smelled like a lemon after being crushed, so it is attributed to the citrus family. The name “Lemon Verbena” also came from this.
Typical perfume: Issey Miyake A Scent by Issey Miyake
The bottle was filled with lush green plants, and it smells like falling into the virgin jungle, but due to the lemon verbena, the green color was very fresh and crisp, and it also smelled with fresh lemon and very comfortable.
Mixture of multiple citrus fragrance
Just like we mentioned at the beginning of this article, citrus perfume usually uses multiple citrus ingredients to make the perfume richer and heavier, it can be said that the combination of multiple citrus is the normal form of Citrus perfume. Here are some recommended citrus perfume.
MMM Untitled L`Eau
Diptyque Oyedo
4711 Original Eau de Cologne
Xerjoff XJ 1861 Renaissance
Miller Harris Tangerine Vert
Guerlain Eau de Cologne Imperiale
Acqua di Parma Colonia
Hermes Eau D`Orange Verte
Citrus scent is very popular in custom car air fresheners, but it is pretty expensive, so it is not suitable for promotional giveaways, most of our buyers use it on air freshener for sell.