Archive Cotton Candy
Base note · Sweet
Cotton Candy.
Spun sugar. Light, pink and unmistakably sweet.
Our read on the material, not a measurement.
What it smells like.
Cotton candy is spun sugar and nothing else: light, airy, pink-smelling sweetness with no depth to it and no pretence at any. It is the most straightforwardly fun material on the bench.
In small proportion it makes a fruity blend feel joyful and it flatters strawberry and raspberry. Be honest with yourself about the result, though. It is a sweet, young note, it does not read as formal in any context, and stacked on top of caramel or vanilla it stops being a fragrance and becomes a showbag. Pair it with vetiver or sandalwood if you want it to grow up.
This note is almost a single molecule: ethyl maltol, the smell of spun sugar, discovered by chemists and adopted by perfumery in the 1990s when gourmands arrived. It is unapologetically synthetic and unapologetically fun, and it needs a dry partner the way fairy floss needs a rainy-day limit.
In a blend.
The most playful note here and the easiest to misjudge. Cotton candy reads young. If you want a blend to be taken seriously, leave it out.
Sweet. Soft sweetness without overpowering. Shop the sweet scents.
Pairs beautifully with.
Questions about cotton candy.
What does cotton candy smell like?
Spun sugar. Light, pink and unmistakably sweet. Cotton candy is spun sugar and nothing else: light, airy, pink-smelling sweetness with no depth to it and no pretence at any. It is the most straightforwardly fun material on the bench.
Is cotton candy a top, heart or base note?
It is a base note, so it appears last and stays longest. The most playful note here and the easiest to misjudge. Cotton candy reads young. If you want a blend to be taken seriously, leave it out.
What does cotton candy pair well with?
The studio would start with strawberry, raspberry, sandlewood and vetiver. In small proportion it makes a fruity blend feel joyful and it flatters strawberry and raspberry. Be honest with yourself about the result, though. It is a sweet, young note, it does not read as formal in any context, and stacked on top of caramel or vanilla it stops being a fragrance and becomes a showbag. Pair it with vetiver or sandalwood if you want it to grow up.
What fragrance family is cotton candy in?
Sweet. Soft sweetness without overpowering.
Can I use cotton candy in a custom blend?
Yes. It is one of the 42 notes you can choose at the Bench, where you build across the three tiers and we blend it by hand in Adelaide.
Blend with cotton candy.
Pick it at the bench, choose up to four notes per tier, and we blend it by hand in Adelaide.
Open the bench
