Note Profile
A wild mint that is harsher than the kitchen kinds. Sharp and penetrating, with a bitter green herb body and a camphor lift.
Cooling_mentholic is the note. Both sources agree on the base character without hedging: 'Crushed pennyroyal leaves emit a very strong fragrance similar to spearmint' (Wikipedia), 'fresh, minty scent' (Mountain Rose Herbs), 'instantly recognizable as mint-like' (Flowers and Herbs). It is set above peppermint's 0.85 in intensity of impression but below it in weight, because the same trade source calls it 'sharp, penetrating' and 'piercing' rather than clean, and adds 'sharp camphoraceous lift' which this facet also carries. Aromatic_herbal is the second pillar: 'strongly herbaceous' and 'wild meadow note'. This is higher than peppermint's 0.35 because the sources put the herb character alongside the mint rather than under it. Green is bitter and medicinal, not fresh-cut: 'bitter green herb' and 'a penetrating green medicinal edge that can feel almost biting'. That is nearly double peppermint's 0.25 and it is the facet that carries the harshness. Below the naming line, fresh_spice is Fragrantica's own one-line descriptor, 'with a spicy and herbaceous aromatic content', which is the only source that calls it spicy at all. Earthy is the wild meadow reference. Dry_woody follows peppermint. Sweet_vanillic is held against spearmint's 0.38, because the trade source states the absence directly: 'piercing, bitter, and medicinal rather than soft, sweet, or refreshing'. That is a stated absence, not one inferred from silence.
Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.
CAS 8013-99-8
Mentha pulegium oil (IFRA NCS E2.12, leaf/twig). The note's origin names European pennyroyal and says the oil is steam-distilled, so the Europe grade rather than the rectified or terpenes fractions.
The leaf and flowering top of Mentha pulegium, European pennyroyal. The oil is steam-distilled and is 80 to 92 per cent pulegone, a ketone that smells more medicinal than the menthol of peppermint or the carvone of spearmint. That one number explains most of the difference between this note and the culinary mints.
Rare in finished fragrance. Pennyroyal oil is hepatotoxic and is not usable at any effective concentration, so the note as brands print it is a green herbal idea rather than the oil itself. Five Fragrantica perfumes carry it, all in the herbal and fougere direction, where it reads as a sharper and wilder mint than peppermint would give.
A selection of reviewed perfumes where Pennyroyal appears prominently.
No perfumes featuring this note have been reviewed yet. Check back soon.
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