Honey in perfumes represents a sparkling, sweet note – fitting for a scent that celebrates the unique bond between bees and their burgeoning blossoms. Honey smells natural, bursting with herbaceous and fruity accents, as well as notes of tobacco and leather. There’s also an earthy quality about it, lending a richness that’s both warm and inviting.
It’s worth noting that the honey notes we detect in most perfumes today lack the overtly fruity and sticky qualities of real honey. The reason for this is that honey by itself doesn’t exist as an essential oil, which means that it can’t really be added directly to perfumes. As a result, most perfumers substitute beeswax for honey to achieve the same sweet, honeyed overtones.
Smooth As Honey
For thousands of years, honey has been used to sweeten just about everything. Sunny and enveloping; mellow and sweet – this fragrant scent has become increasingly popular among modern compositions, largely thanks to its seemingly magical tendency to make any scent seem more natural, smooth, and whole.
Honey is a subtle aromatic element that is rarely used as the centerpiece of fragrances. Instead, its role lies in interlinking and accentuating a perfume’s various ingredients, thus sort of tying the fragrance together. Compositions containing it usually display a natural tenacity, along with a sweet allure that’s always somewhat subdued. And thanks to its earthy undertones – it pairs beautifully with amber, woods, and vanilla. It also goes nicely with flowery perfumes like rose, lavender, jasmine, orange blossom, and ylang-ylang.
Our Favorite Honey Perfumes
From sweet floral scents to earthy and musky varieties, honey perfumes can be subtle or intoxicating, depending on your mood. Here are some of our favorites, starting with Pure Honey, a perfume by Kim Kardashian. Warm and inviting, this nectary concoction has a soothing effect reminiscent of a cup of chamomile tea steeped in fruits and sweetened with honey. Also, be sure to check out Jo Malone London’s Nectarine Blossom & Honey. With each whiff of this perfume, you’re greeted by the smell of honeycombs from fields afar, carried to your nostrils by a sweet summer breeze. This is a delicious, youthful fragrance filled with succulent fruits enveloped in the warmth of acacia honey.
If you’re looking to branch out from your signature scent, or just want to switch things up for the season, honey is a great scent to try. From light and airy to rich and intense, there’s bound to be the perfect nectarous scent for you. Browse our curated collection of the most affordable honey perfumes, modeled after luxury brands like Marc Jacobs, Jo Malone London, Chanel, and more.
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