What Does Geranium Smell Like? - Basenotes

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What does geranium smell like?

• Thread starter Thread starter Deleted member 29963
• Start date Start date Mar 5, 2010
• Tags Tags buy lists montale niche note recommendations samples smelling

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Deleted member 29963

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I see that geranium is listed as a note in a lot of the scents I wear, especially fougeres, but I can't say that I know what the geranium note smells like by itself. I assume I'm always smelling it blended in with other notes. Do any of you have any recommendations for a fragrance where the geranium note is right up front and prominent, so I can smell for myself? I have a pretty big collection, and I'm wondering if I already have a geranium-heavy frag in my midst. Just one request: please no long lists of niche scents. Realistically, I don't live in a major city, so I am not going to drive over an hour to go to Barneys New York or buy samples from LuckyScent just to smell something from Montale or whatever. Thanks! Last edited by a moderator: Mar 5, 2010 B

B.I.G.

Well-known member

Joined Oct 25, 2009 Messages 464 Reaction score 4 Michael Jordan - 23

Sugandaraja

Moderator

Basenotes Plus Joined Aug 28, 2007 Messages 6,705 Reaction score 1,782 What I'd strongly recommend is finding some geranium essential oil from a local store that sells herbs, health food, or depending on the size of city you're in, a store dedicated to essential oils or aromatherapy. ( My home town, Victoria, has no fragrance stores, but literally half a dozen of these! ) Even drugstores sell geranium essential oil here. This is a case where it's much easier to learn from simply smelling the core ingredient itself than by forming an approximate image from numerous fragrances that use geranium as a part of their composition. That said, of course, No. 88 is just about the most geranium-y thing around. S

Sorcery of Scent

Guest

Have you ever plucked the leaf from a geranium bush and rubbed it between your fingers? The result is a lemony green scent which is very distinctive. Geranium can also smell rose-like, and in other circumstances, a little peppery. It really depends on the variety and source. As such, I cant suggest you any mainstream scent with geranium front and center. Next time you pass a bushel, take a sniff at the leaves (this is where the oils are extracted from - not the flowers). Last edited: Mar 5, 2010 D

Deleted member 29963

Guest

Galamb_Borong said: What I'd strongly recommend is finding some geranium essential oil from a local store that sells herbs, health food, or depending on the size of city you're in, a store dedicated to essential oils or aromatherapy. ( My home town, Victoria, has no fragrance stores, but literally half a dozen of these! ) Even drugstores sell geranium essential oil here. This is a case where it's much easier to learn from simply smelling the core ingredient itself than by forming an approximate image from numerous fragrances that use geranium as a part of their composition. That said, of course, No. 88 is just about the most geranium-y thing around. Click to expand...

Sounds like a good idea, Galamb. There's a small store in the downtown area of my town that sells essential oils (no fragrances, though). I hadn't thought of that. Last edited by a moderator: Mar 5, 2010 D

Deleted member 29963

Guest

Dimitri said: Have you ever plucked the leaf from a geranium bush and rubbed it between your fingers? The result is a lemony green scent which is very distinctive. Geranium can also smell rose-like, and in other circumstances, a little peppery. It really depends on the variety and source. As such, I cant suggest you any mainstream scent with geranium front and center. Next time you pass a bushel, take a sniff at the leaves (this is where the oils are extracted from - not the flowers). Click to expand...

Sounds like something I would like. Would you say that Creed's Original Vetiver (which I have) or Mugler Cologne are geranium heavy? The Creed to me smells extremely green with a lemony bite (great frag BTW). S

Sorcery of Scent

Guest

Mugler Cologne is a no. As for the Creeds... most here know I dont "do Creed". Sorry. Geranium pops up in a LOT of scents, and is in fact the common denominator in many of my faves, though none I can point the finger at and say THAT smells like geranium. J

Jardanel

Well-known member

Joined Jul 3, 2008 Messages 2,268 Reaction score 19 The geranium family is very big - many varieties, many of which are scented. The most well known of the scented varieties are rose and lemon, but there are those that smell like pineapple and even chocolate. The typical, "basic" geranium smell, however, is green and slightly peppery. Geranium tends to give a scent a very balanced herbal vibe - that is, crisp and green but not redolent of the kitchen.

scentsitivity

Well-known member

Joined Jan 17, 2007 Messages 7,311 Reaction score 8 Penhaligon's English Fern has topnotes of geranium and lavender and I think the geranium is pretty discernable.

Sugandaraja

Moderator

Basenotes Plus Joined Aug 28, 2007 Messages 6,705 Reaction score 1,782 I could be wrong, but I believe most essential oil comes from the rose geranium, Pelargonium Graveolens. It's a sharp, green, tangy-rose note that has a soapy quality in the drydown ( put a drop on a tester strip and you'll see what I mean - it's a single note, but it definitely has a development, and the later stages smell almost identical to my nose to No. 88 minus the incense and patchouli ). Apparently geranium "bourbon" - which is to say, that from Reunion - is regarded as best. I've only smelled Bourbon and Chinese, and oddly, have a preference for the Chinese, which I found greener and fresher.

scentsitivity

Well-known member

Joined Jan 17, 2007 Messages 7,311 Reaction score 8 Floris makes a rose geranium bath essence and soap. I think they used to make a rose geranium fragrance, but no longer.

StylinLA

Basenotes Plus

Basenotes Plus Joined Aug 9, 2009 Messages 10,318 Reaction score 9,752 For what it's worth, Foetidus thinks that geranium plays a big part in the smell of DC 1913. #SOTD Film NoirClandestine Laboratories S

Sorcery of Scent

Guest

StylinLA said: For what it's worth, Foetidus thinks that geranium plays a big part in the smell of DC 1913. Click to expand...

That it does, but the oringinal poster asked for mainstream examples. Im stumped actually.

Heartwood

Well-known member

Joined Jan 15, 2007 Messages 2,198 Reaction score 30 I asked this question once myself on the Single Note Exploration board because I was detecting something almost minty in some scents, particularly Laura Mercier L'Heure Magique and a bit in Prada Amber pour Homme. The geranium in Miller Harris Geranium Bourbon (niche, I know, sorry) is more scratchy to me, probably the pepper that people are talking about, but it really recalls the smell of geraniums growing in my yard. Spring has sprung here, so I just pulled a few leaves and find them to be green, earthy (like dirt), and something between peppery and vaguely minty. Some Rose Geranium EO that I have from a shop which is now out of business (so I don't know the actual origin) is distinctly minty and quite bitter (like Angostura bitters, which is basically an herbal liquor), and I suppose a bit rosy, but it's hard for me to tease that out from the dominant minty bitterness. I would compare it to eucalyptus, but more herbal than medicinal. Thanks for starting this thread. I look forward to seeing others' responses! (Also, GB and company, please consider adding your thoughts to the geranium thread on the Note Pad: Single Note Exploration board.) Last edited: Mar 5, 2010 D

Deleted member 29963

Guest

StylinLA said: For what it's worth, Foetidus thinks that geranium plays a big part in the smell of DC 1913. Click to expand...

That sample of DC 1913 you sent me a while back Stylin was extremely green smelling, which is why I loved it. I have to wonder now if that greenness was coming from geranium, rather than moss. I'd thought it was a moss note, since it smells very mossy to me. D

Deleted member 29963

Guest

Funny I didn't even notice that there's a "Single Note" forum here until you mentioned it now oud_girl. Thanks, I'll check it out.

Bigsly

Well-known member

Joined Feb 20, 2008 Messages 16,409 Reaction score 93 Geranium seems to be used in frags because it creates a sense of richness or fullness, without being aromatic (what I call "vertical"). Lavender and geranium go well together, I think, because the former is quite vertical whereas the latter is more horizontal, and so it makes sense to create a fougere with geranium, or else it would just have that creamy aromatic quality of lavender and coumarin/tonka. The way I figured out how to identify notes was by constantly correlating what I was smelling with the note pyramids and reviews (since the pyramids can list a note without that note being strong), and eventually I figured out the major notes in "masculine" frags. It took a few months, though, before it started to make sense. Perhaps my "nose" is more sensitive than most peoples', because I find myself enjoying the less potent frags mostly these days. And that means any frag with strong lavender or geranium is a potential problem. These notes are used because they are so strong and rough, and thus "manly." Last edited: Mar 5, 2010 D

Deleted member 29963

Guest

I just took a look at the other geranium thread, and two people already mentioned two scents I already own: Equipage (been wearing it for years), and Aramis 900 (love it too). I guess I like geranium!

Bigsly

Well-known member

Joined Feb 20, 2008 Messages 16,409 Reaction score 93 Equipage has no more than a moderate amount of geranium, as compared to some others, such as Listen by Herb Alpert or a bunch of traditional fougere type frags. I've found that once there is too much it gets really irritating, so I suggest trying a frag with a lot of geranium to make sure, before buying a bottle of an expensive geranium-dominant frag.

Buzzlepuff

Basenotes Plus

Basenotes Plus Joined Dec 27, 2005 Messages 4,817 Reaction score 218 The geranium I've smelled always smells like roses both the rose flower and green leaves. Geranium is used often as a replacement or extender for rose in many rose scents. Many essential oil fragrances that claim to be rose are actually geranium based. Washington Tremlett Black Tie is a masculine rose scent but is also full of geranium. One of the more pleasant geraniums.

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