Take 5 Olive Fragrances
Gourmands have taken a twist into more savoury scents, we’ve noticed – and olive has emerged as a new note in this ever-emerging category. Utilising the fruit itself, the olive tree (wood, leaf, blossom) and even olive oil – olive naysayers will be shocked at how surprisingly wearable these scents can be…
WORDS: SUZY NIGHTINGALE
Olivante® – a revolutionary new ingredient from Eurofragrance
Banish any fears about olive fragrances leaving you smelling like a Greek salad. This new generation of ‘savoury’ gourmand scents is, by turns, comforting and earthy, green and leafy, texturally silky, chicly evocative of a ‘Dirty Martini’, and even leather-esque in its perfumed profiles.
Of course, the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle has long been touted by wellness gurus as being something we should all strive for, with extra virgin olive oil particularly famed for its proven (in thousands of peer-reviewed studies) ability to ‘reduce inflammation, decrease cholesterol, regulate blood sugar, and support brain, gut, and heart health.’ As Vogue recently reported, olive oil is ‘more than just an ephemeral wellness trend’, with its use traced to the Ancient Egyptians who, in 1550BCE, already ‘called upon the nutrient-rich elixir for skin and joint ailments.’
“Now shaking up the perfume world’s understanding of what ‘gourmand’ can mean, a whole new menu of olive-forward fragrances has been emerging. Yes, there’s the sun-drenched swooning, but some also offer a depth and ‘dirtiness’ perhaps longed for as a perfumed protest against the ‘clean girl’ and ‘greenwashing’ marketing ploys of the past few years. ”
Olive’s use in perfumery isn’t a modern invention, either, with the early Arab perfume-makers using the oil as a base in many of their scented creations, and the Egyptians often steeping jasmine blossoms in it to use as gloriously scented body or bath oils. Olive has had many other therapeutic benefits over the centuries: as a supposed aphrodisiac, in healing balms and creams, as sedatives and tonics. Symbolically, olive leaves represent peace, endurance, abundance (as well as glory) – and that’s certainly true of this Mediterranean tree, which is quite a multitasker in perfume-terms. The leaves, bark, fruits and flowers all offer differing and multi-faceted nuances: peppery, fruity, buttery, or subtly herbal.
Yet until recently, olive’s use in contemporary fragrance compositions has been quite limited. But that’s all changing thanks to a major technilogical breakthrough by the Spanish fragrance house Eurofragrance, who in late 2025 introduced a 100% natural proprietary perfumery ingredient called Olivante® – an upcycled olive pulp that Eurofragrance says perfumers are prizing for its less ‘fatty’ scent, adding dimension to a composition, whereby ‘fruity notes become richer, gourmand notes more delightful and delectable, and certain white floral notes more intense.’
Offering a rich, subtly animalic profile with a sophisticated leathery signature, it acts as a powerful enhancer that adds depth, opulence, and an expensive-feeling supple texture to perfume formulas. So, while we can’t yet say olive fragrances are flooding the market, you’re certainly going to see a bumper harvest of them emerging over the next few years.
Previously, perfumers have relied on extractions of olive bark for their formulae, its scent being (as you might expect) dry, warm woody, and evoking sun-soaked olive groves glimpsed on holiday excursions. The leaves and branches, meanwhile, give a fresher, slightly bitter and verdantly herbal aroma, while olive flower is a delicately honeyed white floral note. But while these natural (and sometimes synthetically-enhanced) accords might lean into the wellness aesthetic, we’re also seeing more modern olive olfactions taking a left turn to something altogether more opulently hedonistic.
Now, shaking up the perfume world’s understanding of what ‘gourmand’ can mean, a whole new menu of olive-forward fragrances is emerging. Yes there’s the sun-drenched swooning, but some also offer a depth and ‘dirtiness’, perhaps longed for as a perfumed protest against the ‘clean girl’ and ‘greenwashing’ marketing ploys of the past few years. Indeed, niche brand Olfactory NYC’s Dirty Martini fragrance offers customers the opportunity of customising their scent with an ‘extra shot’ of concentrated fragrance to make it ‘Extra Dirty’.
That drink has risen in popularity over the last few decades – see the Financial Times report, ‘Why the Dirty Martini is London’s New It-girl Drink’ – with its classic salinity and savoury taste lauded as a much-needed ‘sophisticated’ antidote to the saccharine sweetness of more dated 1980s style cocktails. Now we can wear it, too.
So, aromatically appealing and texturally intriguing, a contemporary olive scent can be a chance to daydream in late summer segueing to autumn’s woodier notes, or you might choose to explore the more savoury gourmand aspect – but whichever way your perfumed proclivities tend, we think you’ll be as fascinated as we were to try these varied olfactory expressions of olive…
Maison Noir Quandoley 805
Playing light against shadow, the bracing peppery freshness of olive oil and luminous ylang ylang are dunked in darkest vanilla, draped in freshly buffed black leather, and doused in the ambery, oudh-infused warmth of the base. Flickering from sunlit radiance to velvety va-va-voom and back again, it’s a long-lasting and sensorially thrilling journey our noses kept coming back to all day (and night).
From £40 for 15ml eau de parfum gloriousbeauty.co.uk
Arquiste A Grove by the Sea
Adriatic fig leaves and sea foam lap this extra virgin olive oil accord – a grassy yet texturally buttery-smelling sensation that’s familiar and extraordinary all at once. Herbaceous thyme and rosemary add to the feeling of an idyllic late-summer getaway, hazy sunshine filtering through pine forests, an olive grove silent but for crickets chirruping, distant waves, and the sound of your footsteps on sun-baked red clay tiles.
£195 for 100ml eau de parfum lessenteurs.com
L’Objet DELPHES
Created for L’OBJET by master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, no less, we are transported to Delphi, a meeting of sea, sky and mountains, where Olive Grignon Absolute (never previously used in perfumery) creates a portrait of the entire tree. Quietly majestic, further grounded by sandalwood and oakmoss, pepper-speckled violet leaf brings a leafy flutter to olive wood’s graceful power, and earthier patchouli bids us, ‘b-r-e-a-t-h-e’.
From £135 for 50ml eau de parfum uk.l-objet.com
Sarah Baker Velvet Vendetta
‘Soft as velvet, tough as lead’ this mischievous minx of a scent segues through spiced fruitiness shot through with gun smoke and salty olives, as bourbon-laced laughter and ‘A whip-cracking stampede of deadwoods and resins’ gallops us, bareback, to a sandy sunset. Perfumer Margaux Le Paih-Guérin has created quite the ride, with the juxtaposition of vanilla’s sticky naughtiness and the briny lip-smack of black olives proving quite addictive.
£155 for 50ml extrait de parfum sarahbakerperfumes.com
Raconteur No-Tell Motel
Picture a flickering neon light guiding you to ‘the thrill of checking in where you know you shouldn’t. Where every decision feels questionable. Where every memory feels worth it.’ Oh, my. The tingle of Tasmanian mountain pepper adds an extra frisson to the verdant bite of lasciviously-sucked olives, while the lemon-tinged softness of white cypress grants a pleasingly mellow blur to proceedings. Good times, guaranteed.
£161 for 50ml eau de parfum theraconteur.co
NB Always written by humans, never AI.