Berries is an umbrella note for a mixed handful of soft fruits, from raspberry and blackberry to blueberry and blackcurrant. It is an accord created by the perfumer, part of the fruity family, and smells juicy, tart and sweet, usually with a darker, more purple tone than a red fruits accord.

What does Berries smell like?

A berries accord smells like a bowl of mixed summer fruit, with the sharpness of currants, the violet-like softness of raspberry and the deeper, winey sweetness of blackberry and blueberry. Unlike red fruits, which leans on strawberry and cherry for a candied pink effect, a general berry note often includes dark fruit and so feels juicier, tangier and sometimes slightly green or leafy. It is broad by design: the name tells you to expect fruit, not one specific berry.

How perfumers create Berries

Perfumers start with raspberry ketone, the main aroma molecule of raspberries, which is almost always synthetic because the natural version is extremely costly and present only in milligram amounts per kilo of fruit. Ionones add a violet-berry nuance, blackcurrant bud absolute or cassis bases bring tartness and a slightly sulphurous bite, furaneol adds jammy sweetness and fruity esters provide the juice. Damascones can deepen the accord towards blackberry or bramble jam.

• Also known as: Mixed berries, wild berries, forest fruits
• Fragrance family: Fruity
• Type: Accord (created by the perfumer)
• How it's obtained: Blend of berry ketones, ionones, cassis materials and esters
• Key aroma molecules: Raspberry ketone, beta-ionone, furaneol

Berries in perfume history

There is little specific history to the generic berries note. Blackcurrant bud and violet materials gave hints of berry in 20th-century perfumes, but a named berry accord became common only with the fruity-floral boom of the 1990s and 2000s.

Berries in modern perfumery

Berries are a staple of youthful mainstream perfumes, body mists and fruity gourmands. Niche brands often split the umbrella into single named fruits, so the generic term is most common in accessible, crowd-pleasing compositions.

How Berries wears and what it pairs with

Berries sit in the top and heart, and the sweeter components can last several hours. They pair with rose, peony, violet, pink pepper, patchouli, vanilla, musk and cedar.