Neroli smells fresh, green and delicately floral, like bitter orange blossom with a honeyed heart and a clean, almost soapy lift. It is one of perfumery's most loved citrus-florals.
The oil is steam-distilled from the blossoms of the bitter orange tree (Citrus aurantium), mainly in Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. Orange blossom absolute, solvent-extracted from the same flowers, is richer, more indolic and more sensual. Neroli takes its name from Anna Maria de La Tremoille, Princess of Nerola, who popularised it in seventeenth-century Italy by perfuming her gloves and bathwater with the oil.
Neroli sits between top and heart. Perfumers use it as the soul of classical eaux de cologne (4711, Eau Sauvage, Acqua di Parma), to add fresh floral lift to modern masculine compositions (Tom Ford Neroli Portofino), and to brighten oriental and chypre bases. It pairs naturally with bergamot, petitgrain, rose and musk.
Neroli performs beautifully in spring, summer and warm daytime wear.
