Hazelnut is a warm, toasty gourmand note that smells of roasted hazelnuts, often with buttery and chocolate facets. It is created mainly with filbertone, the key aroma molecule of hazelnuts, and roasted notes such as pyrazines. In perfumery it adds a nutty, comforting richness to gourmand, amber and woody fragrances.

What does Hazelnut smell like?

Hazelnut smells nutty, roasted and slightly buttery, with a soft sweetness and a gentle earthy note. Roasted hazelnut has more toasted and cocoa-like facets, while raw hazelnut is milder and greener. Compared with almond it is less sharp and less cherry-like, and compared with chestnut it is drier and more buttery.

How perfumers create Hazelnut

Hazelnuts come from the hazel shrub (Corylus avellana), and Turkey is by far the largest producer. Hazelnut oil is used in cosmetics but not as a fragrance material, so perfumers build the note as an accord. The key molecule is filbertone, identified in hazelnuts in 1989, which has a strong roasted-hazelnut smell with buttery and chocolate facets. Pyrazines add toastiness, and vanillin and lactones add creaminess.

• Also known as: Filbert, cobnut, noisette
• Fragrance family: Gourmand
• Type: Accord (created by the perfumer)
• Key aroma molecules: Filbertone, pyrazines

Hazelnut in perfume history

Hazelnut has little specific perfume history, but its main molecule, filbertone, is a good example of how flavour chemistry has fed perfumery. It became familiar through the gourmand movement from the 1990s onwards, especially in praline accords.

Hazelnut in modern perfumery

Hazelnut is a common supporting note in gourmands, often combined with caramel, cacao and vanilla to suggest gianduja, praline or Italian pastries. Niche perfumers also use it with woods and spices to add a subtle, roasted warmth.

How Hazelnut wears and what it pairs with

Hazelnut behaves as a heart-to-base note. It pairs with cacao, coffee, caramel, vanilla, iris, tonka and cedar or sandalwood.