Winterberry

Note Profile

Botanical 1 perfume

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About

Winterberry is a fantasy note. Ilex verticillata yields no essential oil, no absolute and no extract, so every use of the name is a built accord. It reads tart, bright and slightly waxy. It sits closer to cranberry than to strawberry, sharper than raspberry and less sweet than cherry. A cool green edge keeps it out of gourmand territory. Under that, damascones give a jammy, concentrated red fruit and a faint cinnamic warmth, so the fruit reads as frosted rather than freshly picked.

Scent Profile

Winterberry is a fantasy note built to read tart, bright and jammy red berry all at once. It sits closer to cranberry than to strawberry, sharper than raspberry and less sweet than cherry. A cool green leaf edge keeps it from turning gourmand. A faint waxy sweetness and a warm spiced note arrive in the drydown, so the fruit reads as frosted rather than freshly picked.

ScentWheel

Breadthmedium

EnvelopeHeart · ~5h lasting

Family Fruity, Green & Aromatic

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

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ScentArt

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Origin

Ilex verticillata is a deciduous holly of eastern North America, grown for red berries that hold on bare branches through winter. One of its folk names is black alder. That name is not a link to Alnus, the true alder this repo publishes as a dry-woody timber note, and the two are in different families. The plant makes no aromatic material. The published formula for the accord combines ethyl 2-methylbutyrate for tart berry sharpness, alpha- and beta-damascone for the jammy red-fruit body and cis-3-hexenol for green leaf. Some builds add berryflor or phenylethyl isobutyrate for generic berry, and a touch of cinnamic aldehyde or cassia for winter spice.

Usage in Perfumery

Winterberry is a seasonal note. It appears mostly in mass-market winter and holiday releases, body mists and candles, where a tart red berry is wanted without sugar. It is rare in fine fragrance: 8 perfumes listed it on 2026-10-10. It works in the top and heart. The green ester part fades first and the damascone body stays.