Ingredients · Spices · top note

Anethole

Say itAN-uh-thohl

Clean, sweet licorice and anise, cooling and candy-like.

What it is

A molecule made in a lab.

Where it comes from

isolated from star anise or made from pine-derived estragole

When you smell it

Top notes: when you spray it.

What perfumers do with it

The pure anise-licorice note for anisic accords, licorice gourmands and dental flavours.

Worth knowing

It is why ouzo and pastis turn cloudy with water: anethole droplets fall out of solution.

Also called

trans-Anethole; anise camphor

On the label of 35 of the 1080 perfumes read so far

Eau SauvageDior · printed “Anethole”Bleu de ChanelChanel · printed “Anethole”Tobacco VanilleTom Ford · printed “Anethole”Blessed BarakaInitio · printed “Anethole”ParagonInitio · printed “Anethole”High FrequencyInitio · printed “Anethole”

See all 35