Perfumes with Cedar

Cedar smells dry, clean and lightly resinous, much like freshly sharpened pencil shavings, the inside of a wooden chest or cool air in a conifer forest. The main sources are Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) and the North American Virginia and Texas cedars, which are botanically junipers.

The oil is steam-distilled from wood chips and sawdust. Atlas cedar is softer and slightly sweet, while the American types are drier and more pencil-like. Cedar mostly sits in the base, sometimes in the heart, giving the fragrance structure. It pairs well with vetiver, bergamot, lavender, iris, musk, patchouli and spices.

Cedar appears in 20,728 perfumes in the Fisfis catalogue and is used mostly as a base note.