Top 10 Ginger Perfumes

This will not dazzle a perfume aficionado. It comes after the departure of Tom Ford from the house and is a far cry from the dense, exotic style of Opium (1977). For a 2006 release, however, this is important as it was able to escape the overly aquatic or ozone-heavy tone that makes so many perfumes from the period seem dated. This is a ginger perfume marketed to men who don’t know that they want to smell ginger, or anything else specifically. The tonka and vetiver combine with the violet leaf note to deliver a smooth, powdery base with a sharp citrus and ginger opening and sweet floral from the basil blossoms.

Notes: Citrus peel, Ginger, Basil blossoms, Violet leaves, Vetiver, Tonka bean

A characteristic Serge Lutens scent by Christopher Sheldrake, this gourmand candied ginger unisex perfume luxuriates in a tea of bergamot, honey, and cacao. The patchouli and pepper keep this from drowning in sweetness, although the dried fruit and honey may turn off those who abhor any sweet note.

Notes: Bergamot, Candied ginger, Honey, Patchouli, Pepper, Dark cocoa

Amouroud was launched in 2016 as a narrative fantasy-driven line with luxury ingredients, including a focus on blending Oud with a broader set of notes than usual. White Hinoki was designed to celebrate the sacred wood Hinoki, which has been used to construct temples and shrines in Japan. Ginger is used for a sharp, bright top note along with blood orange and white pepper. The heart is a powdery, sweet spicy blend of cinnamon, heliotrope, and labdanum. The unique point here is the deep tobacco and whiskey accord complementing the precious wood note in the dry down. This has more longevity, projection, and sillage than most competitors, which may help justify the price if that is a goal.

Top Notes: Ginger, Blood orange, White pepper

Heart Notes: Labdanum, Heliotrope, Cinnamon

Base Notes: Bourbon, Tobacco, Hinoki wood

If Bergamote was a return to citrus-driven cologne style, Apres La Mousson is Jean-Claude Ellena’s embrace of the fresh style that was ascendant in the late 2000’s. The perfume is meant to evoke the smell of a garden in India after a monsoon, with all of the aquatic/fresh notes one would expect from the period. If you don’t like the melon/cucumber note central to these perfumes, this will not suit your tastes. However, if you are a fan of the style, this is one of the best examples of layering the melon/cucumber note with a clean floral, spicy scent with a sense of place. Cardamom is one of our favorite spice notes, and it blends beautifully with the ginger and ginger flower.

Top Notes: Floral notes

Heart Notes: Cardamom, Coriander, Pepper, Ginger, Ginger flower

Base Notes: Vetiver accord, Vegetal notes

5) Roger & Gallet Gingembre

Mainly a skin scent, this fresh fragrant water formulation will not deliver projection, sillage, or longevity. What it does do is seamlessly blend ginger through the opening to with bergamot and neroli down to a delicate and clean white musk and benzoin finish. This smells like what the pillowcase should smell like after a long journey to a welcoming, but out-of-the-way Caribbean resort.

Top Notes: Japanese Ginger, Neroli, Bergamot

Heart Notes: Jamaican Ginger, Ambrette

Base Notes: Benzoin, Musk

This one gets more mixed reviews than the Hermes Twilly, (which many note is after the style of perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena), perhaps because it is not marketed with the same youthful exuberance and was introduced as a unisex fragrance. This is perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena returning to the clear green roots of his career, but with the use of modern aromachemicals. The ginger is not the star of the show here, but creates a crispness and intensity to the bergamot opening that allows the move through orange blossom to rhubarb to remain clean throughout. The dyrdown is powdery/soapy, which some reviewers note comes too soon for the price.

Top Notes: Bergamot, Ginger

Heart Notes: Orange blossom, Green notes

Base Notes: Rhubarb, Musk

Marketed to younger women (including the pink color), some may find the anodyne white floral and synthetic sandalwood off-putting. For those looking for a clean, soapy but not fatty tuberose, a fresh white floral with flair, the ginger adds a zing to the opening and a sophistication to the sillage that belies its candied appearance.

Top Notes: Ginger

Heart Notes: Tuberose

Base notes: Sandalwood

Top notes include almost every citrus possible followed by a spice blend of ginger, nutmeg, clove, and coriander. This is supported by a non-distinct white floral drying down into a gentle vanilla, sandalwood musk. There is nothing extraordinary to this citrus/ginger combo, but many reviewers note that wearing it makes them feel happy and casually seductive while being work appropriate. This makes Ginger Essence a worthy competitor to both Twilly d’Hermes and Bergamote with perhaps a broader audience than either.

Top Notes: Bergamot, Orange, Grapefruit, Lemon, Lime

Heart Notes: Ginger, Nutmeg, Clove, Coriander, Violet Leaves, Jasmine

Base Notes: Vanilla, Amber, Sandalwood

Heretic advertises its use of 100% plant-derived ingredients and organic alcohol. While the distinction between plant-derived isolates and synthetic chemicals is often meaningless from the end-user’s perspective, Heretic does stand out for a more natural style using essential oils instead of a recomposition. Dirty Ginger is ‘dirty’ primarily for its use of cumin and pepper in a fairly large dose. The dry down into palo santo and vetiver with lingering ginger lets this spicy, bright, woody-grass scent clean up towards the end of its medium duration.

Top Notes: Black pepper, Lime, Cumin

Heart Notes: Ginger, Shiso leaf

Base Notes: Palo Santo wood, Vetiver