This autumn, you may notice plum has emerged as one of the most seductive shades of the season – a colour that feels both sumptuous and comforting. Rich with depth, plum has always carried with it a sense of quiet drama, a touch of decadent mystery. In fashion this autumn, it slips between velvet and silk, lipstick and lacquer, embodying a mood that is at once opulent and understated.
Just as colour can carry texture, so too can fragrance. Plum in perfumery is never merely fruity – it’s plush, velvety, and enveloping, often conjuring the sensation of fabric against skin. It can feel juicy and mouthwatering on the one hand, or shadowy and cocooning on the other, and it is this duality that makes it fascinating. Worn as a scent, as on the fashion catwalk or in now-cosier interior furnishings, plum invites us into autumn’s embrace with a richness that lingers, like dusk gently gathering around you.
While plum scents are what we’re plumping for right now, did you know that creating fruity notes in perfumery is a far more intricate process than it might first appear? Fruit notes are typically recreated synthetically rather than extracted directly from the fruit. This is because the natural extraction process for fruit essences is often challenging due to their high water content and the complexities of their aromatic compounds. Synthetic molecules are cleverly used alongside naturals to mimic the desired scent profiles of these fruits, while some houses may use Head Space technology to capture the scent of the air around the naturally growing fruit, to evoke climate and place as well as it’s smell.
Well luckily, the clever noses who created our curated selection, below, know exactly how to best evoke the complex scent of plum. And so, if perhaps you are casting aside the more summery scents, finally, and looking for a transitional note to welcome the season (without feeling too wintery and swaddling just yet); well then, plum may be the note to seek. Here we array a bounty of perfect plum perfumes just ripe for the picking…
Soki London Artemis
This enchanting exploration of a moonlit woodland opens with luscious plum, a juicy sweetness evoking ripe fruit kissed by a cool evening dew. The heart reveals delicate osmanthus flower, that apricot-leather-y note settling as warm sandalwood and cedar emerge. Inspired by ancient trees and magic, this plum will have you hooked.
£75 for 50ml eau de parfum shop.sokilondon.com
Glossier You Rêve
While still designed to adapt to the wearer’s natural skin-scent – the thumbprint on the bottle is a clue to that – Glossier Rêve most definitely has a gourmand sweetness, leading us into temptation with its notes of buttercream, plumptious plum butter and toasted almond, with white sandalwood, iris and an Ambroxan va-va-voom smooch.
£70 for 50ml eau de parfum uk.glossier.com
Pictor Parfum Silhouette
Inspired by a perfectly composed photograph, vibrant mandarin and lychee are reminiscent of an initial bright flash. but Its heart of powdery rose and plum form a central soft focus that pulls the perfume together. Suede adds texture, spices of clove and pink pepper base provide a sharp contrast, casting deeper shadows as the plum still swirls.
From £84 for 50ml eau de parfum in our shop
Lalique Velvet Plum
Here, we are invited to wrap ourselves in suede and cashmere, the ripe plum soon to be enfolded in a soft velvety swathe of bohemian lushness via heliotrope with iris and osmanthus – all snuggled up on a dark chocolate-y patchouli base. And that extraordinary coloured juice! In the frosted bottle, it looks (and wears) otherworldly.
Now £67.09 for 100ml eau de parfum superdrug.com
EAU.MG Berry Fleur
Berries, yes – bursting from first bite with delicious, sticky cassis. But it’s the plum that grounds in a more velvety opulence. From the piquant to the playfully flirtatious, as it warms we find a passionate floral heart of delicate rose and heady white flowers. smoothed and sensorially heightened by creamy vanilla, rich patchouli and more-ish musk.
£95 for 50ml eau de parfum in the Shop
Written by Suzy Nightingale
