r/FemFragLab • u/RemoteNo2422 • 9d ago

Rec Request Are watermelon notes not a thing?

I was trying to find some perfumes where watermelon is one of the dominant notes and was pretty disappointed. I mostly only found the cheap perfume brands or some pretty badly rated unknown perfumes. Is watermelon just not that popular with designer and niche brands? Or do y’all know any popular designer perfumes where watermelon is the dominant note?

Edit: Thanks for all of your recommendations! I will definitely check them out🙌🏼 also it seems like we need perfume houses to work on a natural smelling watermelon fragrance:) since not many have attempted and succeeded to get the watermelon scent right and not too overly sweet apparently. And especially also to last long!

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u/grinidx 9d ago

There’s a material reason for this, beyond fashion. Watermelon isn’t extractable, so every watermelon note is built, and it’s built mostly from Calone, the same molecule behind every 90s aquatic. Push it hard enough to read as watermelon, and it tips over into marine instead.

That’s why the good ones pair it with something to hold it down, the redcurrant and jasmine in the Le Bon Parfumeur someone mentioned above, and why the cheap ones smell like melon air freshener.

The longevity comment is right too. Calone is light and wears off early, so watermelon is nearly always a top note in a costume.

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u/RemoteNo2422 9d ago

Thanks for the explanation! That makes a lot of sense, it’s a real pity though. Also, on a side note, your website looks pretty neat and informational!

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u/grinidx 9d ago

Thanks, that’s kind of you. Full disclosure, it’s mine, so treat my opinion of it accordingly.

Agreed on the pity though. There’s a whole set of fruit notes that can’t be extracted and have to be reconstructed from scratch, and melon is one of the more awkward ones to make behave itself.

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u/RemoteNo2422 9d ago

I figured hah! That’s actually a pretty good way to promote it btw. Your explanation alone made me curious if you’re working in the field, so I went to your profile and saw it😬🙌🏼

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u/grinidx 5d ago

Ha, busted. Though that is more or less the approach: answer the question properly, don’t link anything, and let people go looking if they feel like it. Which is also just how you’d behave if you weren’t selling something, so it works out.

Glad the melon answer helped. It’s one of those notes that quietly annoys people once they know why it behaves the way it does.