Ingredient Guide
For me, blackcurrant embodies imperfect beauty. Once added, it gives the perfume’s silhouette personality, lavish ornamentation, and a signature that makes it unforgettable.
Christine Nagel
The “currant” in blackcurrant comes from raisins from the region of Corinth. Known in Japanese as kurosuguri, and as cassis in French, this plant bears dark purple berries harvested in temperate regions. For blackcurrants grown for their buds for use in perfumery, Givaudan states that 80–90% of production comes from Burgundy in France.
The fruit is slightly bitter and is also used in liqueurs. Crème de cassis is particularly famous.
Its scent is green and minty, with fruity impressions of grapefruit and passion fruit, yet it also has unpleasant odors reminiscent of cat urine or human sweat, giving it an animalic side. Absolute made from blackcurrant buds and leaves is particularly known as bourgeons de cassis (blackcurrant buds).
Created by Jean-Paul Guerlain in 1969, Chamade combines the green, fruity character of blackcurrant bud with a hyacinth accord and galbanum. Guerlain describes it as the first perfume to introduce the blackcurrant-bud accent.
In the perfume industry of the 1970s, green notes were fashionable. As in Hermès’s Amazone, blackcurrant was used with galbanum (Japanese) in accords (Japanese).
It was then used at a high concentration in the floral-aldehydic composition of Van Cleef & Arpels’ First, and in a green leather chypre composition in Lancôme’s Magie Noire. Later it took a fruity direction in Yves Saint Laurent’s In Love Again and Guerlain’s Pamplelune.
Eau de cologne (Japanese) can gain greater impact from it. It is used alongside rosemary and basil (Japanese), which have similar evaporation times, as well as grapefruit and vetiver (Japanese), which share aroma components with it. Blackcurrant is a truly remarkable fragrance material: it can stand in for galbanum, or for raspberry and red berries. Today, it is used far more widely than vanilla absolute (Japanese).
Juliette Karagueuzoglou
How does it smell in perfume?
Some natural cassis fragrance materials are made from the buds rather than the fruit. The bud absolute combines juicy dark fruit with the green scent of crushed buds and a distinctive sulfurous sharpness. CO₂ extracts suggest red fruit and flowers, with creamy facets and resinous amber nuances. In perfume, these materials do more than brighten the sweetness of berries: their sharp green accents also give the composition definition. Different extraction methods produce different fullness of scent, even when the materials come from the same buds.
Representative perfumes
The classifications are based primarily on Blackcurrant (Nez Editions, 2021; Japanese), with additions where appropriate. I recommend this book if you would like to explore the subject in more detail.
I hope this helps you discover which kinds of cassis scents you enjoy.
Mainstream perfumes
Chamade (Guerlain, 1969)
Oriental
Dune (Dior, 1991), Sì (Armani, 2013)
Chypre
Magie Noire (Lancôme, 1978), Sublime Balkiss (The Different Company, 2008)
Fruity
Fruity woody
Parco Palladiano XIV: Melagrana (Bottega Veneta, 2018)
Floral
Amazone (Hermès, 1974), First (Van Cleef & Arpels, 1976), Mûre et Musc (L’Artisan Parfumeur, 1978)
Floral green
L’Ombre dans l’Eau (Diptyque, 1983), L’Heure Folle (Cartier, 2009)
Floral fruity
In Love Again (YSL, 1998), Rose Ikebana (Hermès, 2004), Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate (Hermès, 2016), Cassis Rhubarbe (L’Occitane, 2018), Saïga (Le Couvent des Minimes, 2019), La Cautiva (Fueguia 1833, 2010)
Citrus
Eau d’Orange Verte (Hermès, 1979), Pamplelune (Guerlain, 1999), Eau des Jardins (Clarins, 2010)
Aromatic
Lavande Romaine (Perris Monte Carlo, 2020)
Leather
Galop d’Hermès (Hermès, 2016)
How to Choose Blackcurrant (Cassis) Fragrances
Blackcurrant offers green leaves and buds as well as sweet-tart fruit. Amethyst is the choice for a generous berry effect. For greener plant notes, fluo_ral combines Calone with blackcurrant bud.
Comparing Blackcurrant (Cassis) Fragrances
fluo_ral Eau de Parfum (Nomenclature)
Calone’s marine character meets blackcurrant bud, rhubarb and tomato leaf. Green blackcurrant notes lead into a watery, salty scent, with dark shading from Somalian incense.
Amethyst Eau de Parfum (Lalique)
Blackcurrant is joined by blackberry and raspberry, with rose, peony, musk, woods and vanilla. Unlike the green buds and leaves of fluo_ral, the focus is berries and flowers.
Find Your Next Fragrance
To explore more perfumes, open our Fragrance Finder. Choose “Favorite fragrances & notes” on the home screen, then search in the “Favorite notes” field. Select a note you like from the results and press “Next” to continue. You can start with notes even if you do not yet have a favorite perfume.
References
• GUERLAIN, “Les Légendaires — Chamade, Eau de Toilette” (blackcurrant bud and the house’s account of its pioneering use).
• Éléonore de Bonneval et al., Blackcurrant Bud in Perfumery. Nez éditions, 2021. ISBN 9782491567194.
