Blackberry is a dark, juicy berry note with a tart, slightly earthy sweetness, used in fruity, floral and musky perfumes. Brambles give no useful fragrance oil, so blackberry is an accord that perfumers assemble from raspberry-type molecules, violet-like ionones and blackcurrant facets to suggest ripe fruit picked from the hedgerow.

What does Blackberry smell like?

Blackberry smells darker and more winey than raspberry, with a tart, almost sour juice, a jammy depth and a faint green, leafy note recalling bramble stems. Some perfumers stress its sweet, jam-like side, others its crisp, sharp side. Compared with blackcurrant it lacks the sulphurous, catty bite, and compared with blueberry it is juicier and more acidic. Many blackberry accords carry a subtle violet powder, because ionones sit at the heart of berry reconstructions.

How perfumers create Blackberry

The typical blackberry accord uses raspberry ketone for the core berry effect, alpha- and beta-ionone for a violet, woody depth, a touch of blackcurrant base or thiol for tartness and fruity esters for juice. Green notes such as cis-3-hexenol evoke leaves and stems, while bay or cedar may bring a hedgerow dryness.

• Also known as: Bramble, mûre, Rubus fruticosus
• Fragrance family: Fruity
• Type: Accord (created by the perfumer)
• How it's obtained: Built from raspberry ketone, ionones and fruity esters
• Key aroma molecules: Raspberry ketone, alpha-ionone, beta-ionone

Blackberry in perfume history

L'Artisan Parfumeur's Mûre et Musc, created by Jean-François Laporte in 1978, is widely considered the first fragrance to put blackberry at its centre, pairing it with musk in a simple, influential duet. It helped establish the idea of a single fruit as the star of a fine fragrance, decades before that became common.

Blackberry in modern perfumery

Blackberry is now a steady presence, with Jo Malone London's Blackberry & Bay (2012) a well-known example, across fruity musks, fresh unisex colognes and fruity chypres. Perfumers like it because it offers fruitiness that feels more natural and less sugary than candy-like red berries, especially when paired with herbs or woods.

How Blackberry wears and what it pairs with

Blackberry is a top-to-heart note that fades gradually into its base. It pairs well with musk, bay leaf, violet, rose, cedar, patchouli, vetiver and blackcurrant.