Freesia is a fresh, peppery and lightly fruity floral note inspired by the South African freesia flower. It smells clean, bright and airy, with a delicate sweetness, and because the flower is not extracted commercially, the note is created as an accord by the perfumer.

What does Freesia smell like?

Freesia smells crisp and luminous: a light floral sweetness, a peppery, slightly spicy sparkle and a juicy, pear-like or berry-like fruitiness. It is cleaner and less sweet than jasmine, less rosy than peony and less watery than cyclamen, and it gives a fragrance a fresh, uplifting quality. Real freesias vary widely in scent between colours and cultivars; yellow and white types are often the most fragrant.

How perfumers create Freesia

The living flower is rich in linalool, so perfumers build freesia around linalool and related fresh floral molecules, adding ionones for softness, rose alcohols for body, and fruity and green materials for sparkle. The result is usually a transparent, fresh-floral heart.

• Fragrance family: Floral (fresh floral)
• Type: Accord (created by the perfumer)
• Key aroma molecules: Linalool, beta-ionone, citronellol, terpineol

Freesia in perfume history

Freesias are native to southern and eastern Africa, and the genus name honours the 19th-century German physician Friedrich Freese. The flowers became popular with gardeners and florists in Europe in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As a perfume note, freesia belongs to the modern era: it came to the fore in the 1980s and 1990s, when the fresh floral style took over mainstream perfumery.

Freesia in modern perfumery

Freesia is one of the most frequently listed notes in fresh, feminine fragrances and body mists, valued for its clean, cheerful effect. Jo Malone London's English Pear & Freesia (2010) made the pairing of freesia and pear famous, and it remains a benchmark for the style. Because the note is synthetic, it is affordable and stable, which makes it popular in bath and home products too.

How Freesia wears and what it pairs with

Freesia is a top-to-heart note with a bright start and moderate longevity. It pairs with pear, peach, rose, peony, lily of the valley, jasmine, white musk and patchouli.

Safety and regulation

Freesia accords usually contain linalool, an EU-declarable allergen that must appear on labels above set thresholds.