What does Red Currant smell like?
A string of red currants picked in July smells as much of green stem as of fruit. A red currant accord keeps that mix: a frank sourness that makes your mouth water, a red juice with little sugar and a green facet. It is livelier than raspberry and paler than blackcurrant. No jam effect unless the perfumer piles sugar around it. On skin it sparkles for half an hour, then fades behind the flowers.
Origin and production
The red currant (Ribes rubrum) is a shrub from northern and western Europe, a cousin of blackcurrant. In France, the town of Bar-le-Duc is famous for a red currant jam whose seeds are removed by hand with a goose quill. The fruit gives no usable perfume oil. Perfumers rebuild it from synthetic fruity molecules, leaning on the tartness. Note that blackcurrant bud, a widely used natural material, comes from another Ribes and smells quite different.
How perfumers use it
Red currant wakes up roses and peonies. It also likes pink pepper and pear. Parfums de Marly opens Cassili (2019) on red currant and rose, before plum and vanilla. Lancôme slips it into the top of La Nuit Trésor à la Folie (2018) with pear. Paco Rabanne mixes it with orange and neroli in Lady Million Empire (2019). Carolina Herrera Very Good Girl (2021) pairs it with lychee above a rose.
How to wear it
Red currant is a spring daytime note, good with a light dress or a pale shirt. It fades fast, so spray some on your hair or a scarf to keep it longer.