Raspberry Leaf

Note Profile

Botanical

About

Raspberry leaf is a green, jammy note that comes from the plant, not the berry. It smells like crushing bramble stems and sun-warmed fruit at the same time, over a balsamic base with a soft leathery edge. Perfumers reach for it when a green note also needs fruit and weight, rather than the crisp cut-leaf effect that blackcurrant leaf or galbanum give.

Scent Profile

Green leads, but it is the green of crushed stems and bramble foliage rather than a clean cut leaf. A jammy fruity body sits right alongside it, sun-warmed and sappy, which is what separates this from every other leaf note. Under both runs a balsamic amber_resinous warmth with a soft leather edge that two sources compare to fir absolute. A tart, sour sap note cuts across the opening. The drydown is quietly woody with a faint raisin warmth and a musky-tea trail.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeBase · ~12h lasting

Family Green & Aromatic, Fruity

Read off the wheel, not a label applied to the note.

Origin

The material is an absolute from the leaves of the raspberry plant, Rubus idaeus. Suppliers sell it as a base-note absolute, not as a distilled oil, and the yield is small enough that it stays a niche natural. Every source found agrees the smell is not the fruit. Premiere Peau describes 'tart sap, balsamic resin, a leathery sweetness underneath' and puts it 'closer to davana than to actual raspberry fruit', with 'none of the synthetic candy-sweetness of raspberry ketone'. Living Libations, which sells the absolute, calls it 'a deep, charming aromatic that as a base note effortlessly weaves together aromas of fruity conifers, resin, and musky tea scents'.

Usage in Perfumery

Perfumers use raspberry leaf low in a composition, in the late heart and base, where it links a green top to a resinous drydown. Living Libations lists balsam fir absolute, bergamot, ylang, vanilla, vetiver, oakmoss, jasmine, marjoram and lemon as blending partners, which is a base-note list rather than a fresh-top one. It gives fruit character without the sugar of a berry accord, so it suits chypre and woody-balsamic builds, hedgerow and bramble effects, and fruity florals that need drying out. Measured in the perfume data on 2026-08-23: 30 Parfumo placements across 22 brands.