Ingredient Guide
Tuberose belongs to the Amaryllidaceae family and gives off a powerful scent at night, which is why it is also known as “fragrance beneath the moon” (its Taiwanese name), and “evening-fragrant jade” (its Chinese name). Native to Mexico, it is now cultivated mainly in Egypt, India, China, and Morocco, with a small amount also grown in Grasse. Incidentally, it is completely unrelated to rose and has nothing in common with it.
The flowers are picked every morning as they open, and the soil in the growing area is replaced each year. These white flowers can reach 5–6 cm in length and give off a dizzyingly sweet, exotic scent, like fruity jasmine.
In India, it is called “the perfume of the night” in the local language, and the bridal room is decorated with its flowers for weddings. In complete contrast to lily of the valley’s “innocent” young-girl air, it is a “wicked” flower, with a scent that evokes wealth and voluptuous curves.
It is one of the most expensive fragrance materials, and a replica that is not a natural extract has a sticky-smelling character.
Luxury perfumes built around tuberose evoke a femme fatale, a dangerous woman. The line from hip to bust is fleshy and sensual, like Monica Bellucci in a red dress.
Aurélien Guichard
When you look up descriptions of tuberose, you often find words such as sweet, rich, heavy, or sexy. But for me, the important keyword was the sense that it was “food-like.” Tuberose is a white floral that smells of ham set in consommé aspic.
Satori Osawa
What Does It Smell Like in Perfume?
Natural tuberose absolute is a dense fragrance material obtained by solvent extraction of the flowers. Its rich white-floral sweetness is layered with green leaves, spices, fruit, and a smoothness reminiscent of coconut or milk, creating sensual fullness at the heart of a floral composition. Tuberose Floraline 75 is an artificial reconstruction material with floral, milky, and honeyed nuances. It differs from the natural absolute in both its origin and the way its scent is built, and is used to add white-floral volume or creaminess in a more specifically chosen direction.
Choosing Tuberose Fragrances
For a lighter tuberose, there are fragrances with green or marine notes. If you prefer dense white flowers, those that explore their animalic side are also worth considering.
Milky softness is different from sugary sweetness. Beyond how sweet a fragrance is, deciding whether you prefer green or creamy flowers can bring you closer to a good match.
Fragrances to Explore
Do Son Eau de Toilette (Diptyque)
Tuberose is joined by orange blossom, jasmine and a marine accord to evoke white flowers carried on a sea breeze. The version discussed here is the eau de toilette.
Carnal Flower (Frédéric Malle)
Vegetal, melon-like freshness gives way to the flower’s animalic and spicy facets, followed by a milky white-musk finish. Several sides of tuberose unfold within a single fragrance.
Find Your Next Fragrance
To explore more fragrances through the notes you enjoy, open our Fragrance Finder. Choose “Favorite fragrances & notes”, then search under “Favorite notes”. Select from the suggestions shown and press “Next”. You can start with notes even if you do not have a favorite fragrance.
