Chamomile

The plants known as chamomile can be divided into three types according to their scent: wild chamomile, Roman chamomile, and Moroccan chamomile.

Wild Chamomile

Also called German chamomile or blue chamomile, this is the most familiar type. Its essential oil is deep blue, with a warm, herbal, fruity scent and sweet tobacco undertones. This is why chamomile takes its name from the ancient Greek for “earth apple.”
It is used more often in flavors than in perfume, to impart fruity nuances.

Blue chamomile has a salty quality and a vegetal amber note (in Japanese) rather than a floral scent. This material has facets of hand-toasted rice crackers and the smell of dried soy sauce.

Satori Osawa

Roman Chamomile

Also known as English chamomile or garden chamomile, its essential oil has a scent composition entirely different from German chamomile, with warmth, aromatic sweetness, and fruitiness.
It tastes bitter and is used in chamomile tea and as a flavoring for liqueurs. In perfumery, it appears particularly in classic fragrances.

Gucci’s Mémoire d’une Odeur (2019), created by Alberto Morillas, is a fragrance that uses Roman chamomile.

Moroccan Chamomile

Another chamomile often used in perfumery, this type is native to the Mediterranean. Its essential oil is yellow, with a fresh herbal scent, camphoraceous nuances, and balsamic, animalic undertones.

In perfumery, it is used in aromatic and fougère (in Japanese) fragrances.

What Does It Smell Like in Perfume?

“Chamomile” takes on different characters in perfume depending on the plant species. Roman chamomile essential oil from Anthemis nobilis L. gently blends fruit and herbs in a soft scent reminiscent of licorice and tea. Moroccan chamomile essential oil (Ormenis mixta var. multicaulis L., sold as Wild Morocco) combines powerful herbs with cool, fruity, green, and amber facets. Both are natural materials obtained by distilling flowers: the former adds roundness, while the latter brings vivid greenness.