Gourmand · Accord · Top notes, Heart notes, Base notes
Caramel
Caramel is a gourmand accord that recreates the smell of sugar cooked until it turns brown. It smells sweet, warm and slightly burnt, from light like brown sugar to dense like toffee. In perfume, caramel can appear in any layer but most often sits in the heart and base of gourmand and amber blends.
· Written by the FRAG team
What does caramel smell like in perfume?
Caramel smells like sugar melted in a pan until golden brown. There is a dense sweetness, a slightly bitter, burnt edge and a buttery feel when caramel leans toward toffee. For Indonesians, it also recalls palm sugar, gula merah or gula aren, being cooked down.
On note lists, caramel goes by several names. Toffee is usually more buttery, brown sugar is lighter with a hint of molasses, and maltol is the name of a molecule that smells like caramel. All of them centre on the smell of cooked sugar.
How is the caramel scent made?
Caramel is an accord. Cooked sugar cannot be extracted into a stable fragrant oil, so perfumers build it from molecules. The main ones are maltol and ethyl maltol, which smell of caramel and candy floss. Maltol forms naturally when malt and bread are baked or roasted, and it is also found in larch bark.
Besides maltol, perfumers may add furaneol for a fruity burnt-sugar effect, or sotolon for a darker caramel side. The balance of these materials decides whether caramel reads light like candy or dense like toffee.
Caramel in a perfume
Caramel can sit in the top, heart or base. Placed in the top, caramel smells sweet from the first spray. In the heart and base, it blends with vanilla, tonka bean and resins, making the base warmer and denser.
For a sweet style, caramel is usually paired with vanilla, praline and tonka bean. Coffee and cocoa add bitterness, while benzoin and labdanum take it toward amber. A hint of salt also keeps caramel from feeling flat.
When to wear a caramel perfume
A caramel perfume feels sweet and warm, so it is more comfortable in the late afternoon or evening, in air-conditioned rooms or in the rainy season. In hot, humid weather the sweetness can feel heavy, so one or two sprays is usually enough.
