Skip to content

Citrus familyTop note

Neroli

Neroli is a top note from the citrus family: the sweet floral oil distilled from bitter orange blossom.

01Family
Citrus
02Pyramid
Top
03Best seasons
Spring, Summer
04Type
Note
How it smells

What does neroli smell like?

Neroli: the sweet floral oil distilled from bitter orange blossom.

From our page: Citrus fragrance family
Its family

Bergamot, lemon, neroli and grapefruit: perfumery's brightest family.

Where it sits

Is neroli a top, heart or base note?

Neroli is a top note.

  1. Top15 minutes to 2 hours
  2. HeartHour 1 to hour 5
  3. Base4 to 12+ hours
In our words

Neroli is one of the citrus oils the notes pyramid places at the top, alongside bergamot, lemon, grapefruit and mandarin.

From our page: Top, Middle, Base: How the Notes Pyramid Actually Works

Top notes are the first impression: you smell them in the air before the perfume even touches skin, and they fade within an hour or two.

From our page: Top, Middle, Base: How the Notes Pyramid Actually Works
Pairings

What does neroli pair with?

Citrus top notes are frequently rounded by neroli or petitgrain from the bitter orange tree, and longevity improves when the scent is built on a woody or musky base.

From our page: Citrus fragrance family

Named partners

Also in the citrus family

The citrus family bridges to

From the journal

Read more about neroli

Find the perfumes built around neroli.

Fragnatique reads every perfume down to its notes and scores it against your own taste, with the reason behind each match written out. Start from a note you love and let the app do the narrowing.