Another month, another trend! We’ve moved past pistachio and cherry to vegetable notes, powdery notes, pistachio again (surprise!), milky notes, and multiple waves of vanilla (now shifting into “candy”), but I’ve just heard that pineapple is the must-have scent-motif of the moment.

You can track down this piece on your own, if you’d like. It names (and links) all the usual suspects (Kayali, Ellis Brooklyn, Rosie Jane, et al.) and asks us to consider the pineapple, which —“aside from the occasional inexpensive body mist” — “has been tragically underutilized in the world of fragrance — until now.”

Once again, I’d like to point out that a “new!!!” claim isn’t exactly accurate. We can cast an eye and nose back to Patou’s Colony, released in 1938 in a bottle loosely inspired by…a pineapple. It featured a distinctive pineapple topnote over a leathery-rubbery base. (I highly recommend reading Barbara Herman’s thoughts on the original Colony on her old blog, Yesterday’s Perfume.)

People who became obsessed with perfume, especially niche perfumery, in the Aughts may remember L’Artisan Parfumeur’s Ananas Fizz (2004, discontinued), a sunny cocktail of a scent that remains the “reference pineapple” in my mind’s nose. I wish I still owned some.

And what about those tropical-fruit body mists that have been available at drugstores and mall chains like Bath & Body Works for so long? They’re made by the same international flavor-and-fragrance companies as most “fine fragrances,” and their existence and usage basically contradict the idea of pineapple as an untapped inspiration.

Not to mention the pineapple topnote of Aventus, Creed’s mega-success from 2010…well, let’s move on from that one.

Here are five fragrances that incorporate pineapple notes, often with a twist that takes the overall composition in a more surprising or sophisticated direction. (All the same, I won’t judge you for wearing B&BW Pink Pineapple Surprise!)

The sunscreen pineapple: “Vacation” Eau de Toilette from Vacation is having so much nostalgic-ironic fun that I can’t help but smile and join the party. “Vacation” (quotes included; created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux) is designed as the olfactory equivalent of a day by the pool in the 1980s, complete with suntan lotion, a piña colada, damp swimsuits, and inflatable pool-float toys bobbing on synthetically blue water. I’m a big fan of Vacation’s SPF 30 sunblock lotion, which has the same scent.

The postcard pineapple: Shown above with the photo that inspired it, Maya Njie Tropica is “inspired by Maya’s trips to The Gambia as a child…a carefree sense of thrill and liberation.” Its composition includes other fruity notes (citrus, fig, coconut) and a base of ambergris and sandalwood, but to my nose the pineapple remains buoyantly central. It’s the kind of scent that you want to spray on yourself over and over again.

The jazzy pineapple: Looking back, I wrote a somewhat mixed review of this fragrance from Vilhelm Parfumerie in 2021, but I want to include Chicago High here because it “begins with a quick burst of pineapple” followed by “a slowly spinning olfactory carousel of whiskey, honey, and sweet pipe tobacco, one note dominating after another, then swinging around again.”

The pin-up pineapple: Like many a nascent fragrance aficionado at the time, I ignored Rochas Poupée (Anne Flipo, 2004) when it was on perfume counters in NYC because, well, it wasn’t Arpège. But I recently sniffed a bottle of Poupée at a fragrance swap (hosted by Olfactory Art Keller and Perfume Room) and ended up taking it home so I could revel in its mix of neon fruit salad and voluptuous white florals (especially tuberose!). It’s glamorous fun, complete with a faux velvet cap, and that’s enough for me now. (Victoria reviewed it for Bois de Jasmin in 2005).

The all-occasion pineapple: Dawn Spencer Hurwitz describes Lili’uokalani as “a vintage-style mash-up between a floral-ambery perfume and a fruited chypre,” with its pulpy fruit note balanced by greenish bergamot and jasmine, aromatic spices, and a base of sun-warmed wood. Despite being named for a queen, this fragrance leans all-gender and is surprisingly wearable and subtle — no Juicy Fruit vibes here!

How about you? Are you pining for pineapple? Feel free to share any favorites in the comments!

Top image: detail of a watercolor by James Marion Shull, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture Pomological Watercolor Collection.