Pear is a soft, juicy fruit note that brings a watery, sugary freshness to fruity-floral and gourmand perfumes. Like most fruits it cannot be usefully extracted, so perfumers reconstruct it from esters, above all the so-called pear ester that gives ripe Williams pears their characteristic smell.

What does Pear smell like?

Pear smells sweeter, wetter and more delicate than apple. The first impression is of ripe, grainy flesh and running juice, with a slightly fermented, almost boozy edge in the ripest versions and a faint green note from the skin. Perfumers can push it in different directions: crisp and near-transparent for fresh scents, syrupy and candied for gourmands, or pear-drop sharp when solvent-like acetates dominate. It tends to feel gentler and more rounded than tart fruits such as blackcurrant or rhubarb.

How perfumers create Pear

No pear essential oil is used commercially, so the note is an accord. Its centrepiece is ethyl decadienoate, often called pear ester, first identified in Bartlett (Williams) pears and responsible for their ripe, buttery character. Hexyl acetate and isoamyl acetate add brightness and a hint of boiled sweets, while green materials suggest the skin and a touch of lactone or musk gives creaminess.

• Also known as: Williams pear, Bartlett pear, poire
• Fragrance family: Fruity
• Type: Accord (created by the perfumer)
• How it's obtained: Blended from synthetic esters and green notes
• Key aroma molecules: Ethyl decadienoate (pear ester), hexyl acetate, isoamyl acetate

Pear in perfume history

The pear has a long culinary pedigree, and pear brandy (poire Williams) is an old tradition in Switzerland, Alsace and elsewhere, but as a perfume note it is largely a modern development. It rode the wave of fruity-florals in the 1990s and 2000s, and it became central to a newer style of airy, fruit-and-flower colognes in the 2010s that proved hugely popular.

Pear in modern perfumery

Pear is now a mainstream favourite, used to add a juicy opening to gourmand and fruity-floral blockbusters and paired with praline, iris or patchouli to keep sweet compositions from feeling heavy. In niche perfumery it appears in transparent, watercolour-style blends and in drier boozy accords inspired by pear eau-de-vie.

How Pear wears and what it pairs with

Pear is a top-to-heart note that opens bright and wet, then fades into a gentle sweetness within an hour or two. Classic partners are freesia, blackcurrant, bergamot, iris, praline, patchouli, white musk and vanilla.