Pineapples were thrust into the public limelight by Japanese comedian Pikotaro with his novelty single ‘Pineapple Pen’ in 2016, In perfume, the fruit was popularised earlier in Creed’s macho superhit Aventus (2010), which took quite an original accord of sharp and sweet, rasping pineapple blended with apple, dry birch and a whole load of other ingredients, creating a whole new modern and athletic trope for masculinity that differs from the classical fougère. Pineapple is definitely in.
Pineapple is my favourite fruit. I am sometimes known as Mr Pineapple at school I am seen eating it so often. I also collect them, buying a silver one recently from a silversmith in the centre of Phnom Penh. Well known as a panacea (a pineapple a day keeps the doctor away, as long it isn’t tinned or canned : I only eat it fresh), the acidic sweetness and tang as the ananas comosus sears through the body, tightening corpuscles and galvanizing the fruit brain – for me this is the best thing to eat in the evening between classes; all of my senses are revitalized : alert.
The problem with pineapple, delectable though it may be, is that it often makes what you eat afterwards taste horrible. Almonds become bitter and twisted; all savoury flavours are distorted. The saliva-changed chemical aftertaste stays: an acridity. This can also happen when pineapple is used in perfumery: although I enjoy it in the weird, green opening of the peculiar, jungle fresh lianas of the indolic floral Fleurs D’Ombre Jasmin Lilas by Jean Charles Brosseau; the plum pineapple lip gloss of Guy Laroche’s rich, discotastic Clandestine; in Rochas’ bizarre hazelnut pineapple Poupée, the note is distasteful and jarring combined with tuberose. Demeter’s Pina Colada is just ludicrous, like drunken amorous teenage vomit after a 15 year old girl’s birthday party, Histoires De Parfum’s 1804 (an unctuously pitch black scent filled with pineapple and patchouli) in the opening impression is suffocating, like being trapped in the hold of a tropical cargo ship in the dark, sweating next to the crates dressed neck to toe in a weighty velvet dress shivering with malaria. L’Artisan’s Ananas Fizz fizzles out too quickly; the same perfume house’s Deliria is a scream but I must be in the right mood for its eerie metallic vanilla (Other Pineapples: well, taking a look I see that Fragrantica has literally about a hundred pineapple-touched fragrances in its database,including Pineapple by D + G; Be Layered Insane Pineapple; Fruttini Pineapple Prosecco; Ganache Parfums’ Pineapple Daiquiri; Victoria’s Secret Pineapple Blast – which sounds like some kind of cathartic colonic irrigation, or else a horrifying trip to the bathroom after too many pineapple cocktails; Demeter Fragrance’s Hotkiss Girly Girl; Carol’s Daughter Mango Mélange, and Nina Ricci Les Monstres de Nina Ricci Luna; even Ricci have clambered aboard the Pineapple Express: Madame Ricci must be spinning in her tomb like a Hawaiian pizza).
One combination I would have never imagined pineapple working is in a balsamic, very replete, cow-dungy oud context. And yet for some reason, of Spirit Of Dubai’s sumptuous Discovery Set, Oud was the one I found myself setting aside for a future possible evening out. Though almost disgracefully filthy at first – I would never put this on in the environment I was going to, lest someone imagine I was suffering from dysentry, but at home an hour or so beforehand, just to be safe: on me, the crisp top accord of pineapple, lime, saffron and pine forms a good counterbalance to what smells like real, decaying essence of Indian agarwood underneath, smoothed with sandalwood, saffron and patchouli, the whole coalescing into a scent that has a certain noble noteworthiness (this also costs around 850 dollars for a full bottle).
Another very dressy and androgynous perfume, also expensive (but well constructed), is Orion by Tiziana Terenzi, always a full-bodied maker of baroquely ornate Italian, liquorous perfumery like the glinting and well regarded Oud Rose Gold, a house that usually does the proper head note to base chord progression of classical perfumery ( I will be reviewing Casanova on a later date), and lasts for hours on the skin. Orion is a very scintillant, peppery chypric wood patchouli with fresh top notes of pineapple, apple, red currant and birch (after Aventus, one presumes: this goes well on a man’s skin, quite intriguing), the gilded fruit opening effective and bracing with a lingering drydown that is quite stylish, with a curious sillage. In the coming winter months I can imagine reaching for this and seeing where the day takes me.
For a more eye-popping pineapple that would also work well as a flesh-baring evening perfume, if it just happens to work well on you personally (this is a very acquired taste that to me smells like ripe slices of pineapple placed next to a dark chocolate brownie in a clear plastic lunchbox), Pas Encore Nommé (‘not yet named), is a very original and attention grabbing scent with strange interior angles like 80’s architectural geometry, dense and vanillic sweet. If you like your pineapple up front, rather than fritillated on the edges, this is probably the pineapple to pick – although all three of today’s selections should not be oversprayed in the presence of true gagging pineapplephobes (I know at least two personally). Otherwise, I just say – VIVE L’ANANAS !
The Black Narcissus 
PS: This post was naughtily written in my orange notebook during the breaks of my all day interviews on Monday : photos taken when I got back home and we re-smelled all of these perfumes with well earned sparkling wine during sunset. I am such a fucking hedonist.
Wow. Another thing we have in common. Pineapple as favourite fruit, but loathing it in fragrance!
With a very few exceptions, to me fruit must remain in my plate, not in my fragrances thank you.
!
I do actually like all these three though I must say ( didn’t that come through ?) I can see you kind of liking the Oud and the Orion actually – in these two the pineapple is minimized.
Fresh pineapple IS truly divine though, isn’t it ? As good as chocolate.
Hmm, hard to find a good perfume pineapple note. The only two I’ve owned are Ananas Fizz and something by SmellBent called Ice Station Pineapple. A ripe fresh pineapple is a wonderful thing – hard to find outside of Hawaii because I’m not good at identifying the perfectly ripe ones.
Me neither : usually here it is sold pre-cut : buying and chopping one up is way too much hassle. Pineapple is one fruit that is really not pleasurable at all to eat if it is underripe.
Oh, I forgot to mention Naomi Goodsir Or du Sérail, which has a sweet syrupy pineapple note. Great for fall/winter.
That sounds nice : I despise the cold more than any words can express but love winter perfume !
‘like being trapped in the hold of a tropical cargo ship in the dark, sweating next to the crates dressed neck to toe in a weighty velvet dress shivering with malaria’ if anyone has ever written a more vivid and entertaining line about perfume I haven’t read it.
I have to admit I WAS entertaining myself as I wrote it – I had to stave off the educational solemnity
Although….’lest someone imagine I was suffering from dysentry’
That line was a bit rude to the makers of the scent ( which I have said I will wear, so ) – but the ‘animalic’ facets in this one initially, to be very euphemistic, are somewhat bowelish
Hahaha I remember “pen-pineapple-apple-pen”! Although it feels like ancient history now, replaced by “baby shark” and what’s next??? Didn’t know there were so many pineapple frags. The only ones I’ve smelled are the opening of Frederic Malle’s Music for a While and Ramon Monegal’s Ole!, which is strong but chemical and doesn’t come out of my clothes after at least 3 washes.
I do like eating pineapple, too, both fresh and cooked.
I love it in Chinese sweet and sour dishes, I must confess. I had forgotten about Music For A While : an odd one. Did anybody buy it?
I would have if they’d offered it in the 7-mL size like some of the other ones. Was it unpopular?
I’m intrigued by these (or your descriptions of them: that’s what always gets me). That Oud, just for the experience! And especially the Orion.
For some reason, you going home to smell them again, with Duncan, that photo of him in the futon with the fan, the idea of decompressing hedonistically with bubbly — so appealingly domestic. Really nice image.
I like Poupee.
But what must be mentioned in any discussion of pineapple is the original Jean Patou Colony. So much to be explored there. I love wearing it. It is perhaps the most contemporary-feeling of all the Patous at this point. I would think you would adore it, the whole idea of it.
Oh yes : another pineapple addition. How pronounced is it in the mix?
Very. I just threw some on (I’ve got the Ma Collection version with the little triangles and the scarf inside). It’s strong stuff overall. The pineapple is quite liqueurish — dense, sweet, boozy — and mixes straight away with that particular green-banana ylang ylang note, so the effect is really tropical. It’s definitely got the ol’ chypre base, contrastingly dry sweetness-wise and texturally creamy. Very woody, too, which I like a lot. Tons of character and it goes on and on. Once you smell it, you could never mistake it for anything else. A one-off.
I LOVE IT.
I have never smelled it.
Leather is now gaining momentum in the mix.
Naturally.
I got it over ten years ago on eBay from a warehouse in Brooklyn, where for some inexplicable reason they had heaps of old bottles, in boxes, totally intact, from everybody: Dior, Patou, Caron, Balenciaga, Lanvin, you name it. It was like a clearing house for every perfume shop that had gone belly-up from the seventies on. I scored big-time, as you can imagine. At that time, they were just trying to unload them, basically, and the prices were stupid, nothing over two digits for big bottles, which was fantastic. Oh, the good ol’ days, eh?
SO exciting. I have never experienced a total haul like that : I would have been hyperventilating
And if we’re talking pineapple we should mention Hacivat Nishane, which smells great on Ric. I thought it might be an Aventus wannabe but it eclipses that one by a galaxy.
Intrigued. Tell me more !
Don’t really know a lot about this Nishane except they’re a couple of guys from Istanbul working with a sizeable stable of extrait releases. You probably know more about them than I do! Hacivat has a good, natural pineapple note. I’d say it has a bit of a grapefruit-y edge rather than a sweet pineapple syrup note, leans to that bright end of the spectrum, with some interesting test-tube/niche woods that aren’t overdone and dark patchouli along with oakmoss. It performs really well and smells more interesting and less commercial/mainstream than the Creed.
I hope to smell it at some point then.
Tinned pineapple should be banned (as it is an atrocity).
I second the recommendation of Havicat Nishane, I bought a bottle for my husband & it is divine! (Also bought a bottle of Nishane’s Zenne for myself – it is like a better version of Amouage Sunshine Woman.)