Your Next Perfume Might Smell Like a Vegetable

If you’ve been noticing some strange new ingredients creeping into perfume — think ginseng, tomato leaf, beetroot, carrot — you’re not imagining it. Perfume is getting a little… greener.

Vegetal fragrances, broadly speaking, are scents that emphasise green, earthy and garden-inspired notes, from crisp tomato leaf and cucumber to rooty carrot and beetroot. You might say the garden is now as much a source of inspiration as the dessert trolley, with brands turning vegetables, herbs and leafy things into scents you might actually want to wear.

After all, we’ve spent years marinating in vanilla, caramel and every conceivable gourmand, and now there’s an appetite for something earthier, fresher and slightly harder to categorise.

It’s also, notably, a gender-neutral trend. Unlike florals or musks, which still carry a whiff of “his” and “hers,” green and vegetal notes tend to sidestep the binary altogether — there’s something about a note rooted so plainly in nature that it resists being marketed at anyone in particular. It might just be the rare fragrance trend that everyone can wear exactly the same way.

Here, some of the best ones that evoke a garden patch:

Jo Malone London Veggies collection, $135 for 30ml each

One of the biggest names to throw its hat into the ring is Jo Malone London, which released a limited-edition trio of colognes this summer inspired by the humble veggie patch: Velvety Butternut, a woody gourmand built around butternut, ginger, tonka bean and patchouli; Scarlet Beetroot, a fruity blend of beetroot, blackcurrant and patchouli; and Carrot Blossom, a fresh floral pairing subtly sweet carrot with fennel, orange flower and white musk.

And if you’re particularly crazy about it, there’s also a matching Tomato Leaf Hand Wash, Green Tomato Vine Candle and diffuser, so you can take the whole vegetable patch home with you.

Hermes Ginseng Biloba eau de parfum, $525 for 100ml

Trust Hermes to take an ingredient better known for herbal remedies than fine fragrance and make it feel surprisingly chic. Ginseng Biloba, the latest addition to the brand’s top-end Hermessence range, pairs dry, gently bitter ginseng root with ginkgo biloba leaves, resulting in an airy, woody composition with a fresh, green quality. On skin, it gradually softens into a subtly powdery, luminous finish, stripping away any medicinal harshness you might associate with ginseng.

Bottega Veneta Always Now eau de parfum, $410 for 100ml

Part of Bottega Veneta’s new Alta collection, Always Now brings together Italian basil and Madagascan vetiver bourbon essence, with citrus, ginger, spearmint and neroli adding brightness to its green, aromatic profile. The 10-fragrance collection takes its cue from the maison’s Intrecciato philosophy, weaving Italian ingredients with unexpected counterparts from around the world. Here, the humble basil gets a distinctly polished treatment — fresh, herbaceous and far removed from anything you’d toss into a salad.

Available only at Bottega Veneta stores

Chloe Atelier Des Fleurs Vert Soleil eau de parfum, $215 for 30ml; $385 for 150ml

For Vert Soleil, Chloe turned to lentisque, or mastic, an aromatic shrub that grows wild along the dry Mediterranean coast. Created by perfumer Quentin Bisch as part of the Atelier des Fleurs Mediterranean Essences collection, it gives the usually resinous ingredient a greener treatment, drawing out its leafy, juicy side with green mandarin, before softening the composition with warm musk and woods.

Penhaligon’s Bold Blend, $270 for 50ml; $410 for 100ml

Fresh off the 2026 release calendar, Bold Blend opens cool and sharp — peppermint and black pepper up top — before settling into a green, herbal heart of violet leaf and clary sage, and finishing in a smoky, resinous base of palo santo, cypress and cypriol. It trades the British brand’s usual florals for something closer to crushed leaves. This is one to try if you want vegetal without the usual sweetness — it leans savoury and a little smoky, rather than green-and-juicy.

D.S. & Durga Bistro Waters eau de parfum, $305 for 50ml; $435 for 100ml

This is arguably the most literal entry on the whole list — its headline note is green pepper, and it doesn’t hide it. Built on a classic cologne skeleton (linden blossom, mandarin, coriander), Bistro Waters would already be a pleasant, sparkling green concoction. But the green pepper note brings the real twist: sharp, leafy and faintly vinegary, almost smelling like the exact moment a knife cuts through a just-ripe bell pepper on a chopping board.

Maison Margiela Replica From The Garden eau de toilette, $110 for 30ml; $235 for 100ml

Inspired by the memory of picking tomatoes, this Margiela fragrance was tailored made for the vegetal movement. It combines crisp tomato leaf with juicy green mandarin, aromatic geranium and earthy patchouli. It was created by father-and-son perfumers Olivier and Sebastien Cresp, who drew on their own memories of gardening across generations. The result is green and citrusy yes, but with a slightly earthy tang — less tomato salad, more hands-in-the-soil on a sunny afternoon.