Carrot

Carrot seeds: When the vegetable garden creates powdery or woody fragrances! From the same family as fennel or parsley, the bright orange carrot we eat as a vegetable is, in the end, relatively recent. Thanks to its seeds, an essential oil of carrot can be extracted, one with significant medicinal properties but also fine olfactory qualities.

As surprising as it may seem, the note of carrot, or rather of carrot seeds, allows for the creation of powdery facets in lovely woody, floral, or even oriental perfumes.

The carrot, that lovely umbellifer with multiple qualities!

The carrot belongs to the umbellifer family, just like parsley and fennel. Although discovered more than 5000 years ago growing wild in Afghanistan, the carrot, which was then brown, white, green, or yellow, was not cultivated in Europe until the 16th century. In fact, the orange carrot we know today is the result of human hands during that same 16th century! It is said that the Dutch created the orange carrot from the other existing varieties to pay tribute to the House of Orange, a French Protestant kingdom.

Today the carrot is of course one of our favorite vegetables. It is grown both for its fresh, slightly sweet taste and for the many properties offered by its seeds when distilled into essential oil. In perfumery, carrot seeds allow for the creation of olfactory structures with powdery and amber facets. The carrot seed sometimes even replaces or reinforces accords of iris, mimosa, or violet within a floral composition.

The use of carrot essential oil in perfumery

The family that currently makes the most use of the note of carrot is the woody olfactory family, which draws on the powdery, iris-like facet of carrot to structure fragrances or open them onto wild, slightly floral territory.

However, purely masculine woody perfumes containing the note of carrot are relatively rare, as creators tend to favor unisex fragrances instead. Thus Aquaman by Rochas and Dior Homme by Christian Dior are the only two current masculine perfumes to feature the note of carrot. For Rochas, carrot appears as a heart note paired with ginger and black pepper, while for Dior, the note of carrot is part of an explosive base-note cocktail blending iris, woody notes of vetiver and cedar, amber notes, and sandalwood, as well as cocoa!

As for unisex fragrances in the woody family featuring the note of carrot, mention should of course be made of Santal de Mysore and Iris Silver Mist by Serge Lutens, Santal Blush by Tom Ford, Volutes by Diptyque, not to forget Fleur de Carotte by L'Artisan Parfumeur. In each of these fine woody compositions, carrot appears—except in the case of Iris Silver Mist—as a top note alongside sandalwood, patchouli, or floral notes.

It should not be forgotten that carrot seeds are above all highly iris-like and pair perfectly with lovely floral perfumes such as Touch of Pink and Lacoste for Women by Lacoste, Hiris by Hermès, or indeed La Pluie by Miller Harris. Moreover, the very powdery facet of carrot can be fully explored in compositions built around iris, such as Si Do by Réminiscence, which exhales carrot fragrances blended as base notes with white musks, iris, and vanilla, or indeed I love les carottes by Honoré des Prés, which likewise blends the note of carrot with iris and vanilla, as well as patchouli and orange.