Yes, orange blossom works as a unisex perfume. Neroli, the oil distilled from orange blossoms, is "airy, citrussy, green, but with whispers of honey and orange" and popular in fragrances for men as well as women, per The Perfume Society. The same flower scents colognes and bridal florals; the extract and the company it keeps set the character.
Citrus scents in general cross over. "Often these can be 'shared': equally suited to men and women," says the guide to the citrus family. Many unisex perfumes are simply citrus or white florals sold without a gendered aisle.
Is neroli more masculine than orange blossom absolute?
Neither is, though the two main materials perfumers take from bitter orange flowers lean in different directions. Neroli is steam-distilled and airy. Orange blossom absolute is extracted with solvents and comes out "richer, sweeter, headier", with hints of jasmine, per The Perfume Society's orange blossom entry.
Part of that heaviness is indole, a material ScenTree classes as animalic and white-floral, and finds in orange blossom absolute and jasmine (ScenTree, indole). A perfume leaning on the absolute smells more like a white flower in full bloom. One leaning on neroli sits closer to a cologne.
The Perfume Society lists orange blossom in colognes as well as "petal-perfect florals", and notes its place at weddings, carried in bouquets and bridal headdresses since the Crusades. That bridal history is probably why many people file orange blossom under feminine, even though neroli from the same flowers is popular in men's fragrance.
Perfume's gender labels have changed sides
The clearest case is the fougère. The family began with Houbigant's Fougère Royale in 1882, which The Perfume Society says was originally created for women. Today it is "mostly fragrances for men you'll find in the fougère category". The family's core materials, lavender and coumarin, stayed the same; the label moved. Lavender alone shows the same drift. In modern fragrance it is "lightly used in 'feminine' scents, although it turns up in plenty of 'shared' colognes and men's fragrances" (The Perfume Society, lavender).
Rose sits at the other end. The Perfume Society finds it in at least 75% of women's fragrances and at least 10% of men's. Those shares describe how brands use the flower, not a rule about who may wear it.
How to choose a unisex perfume by weight, not by aisle
Decide how heavy you want the scent to be, then read the notes list for the materials that set its weight.
- For something airy and close to a cologne, look for neroli or bergamot near the top of the list.
- For a fuller white flower, look for orange blossom absolute or jasmine, which bring indole with them.
- For a darker evening scent, look for woods or resins under the flower.
- For an herbal option, try lavender. Perfumer Julie Massé, quoted by The Perfume Society, says lavender can be pushed toward a "cool" minty herb or a "hot", almost spicy one, depending on what surrounds it.
Where our three fit
Orange Blossom, our lead scent, is the flower alone, sweet and a little like honey. Orange Blossom Noir is the most obviously shared of the three; it puts warm resin and wood beneath the bloom, with dusk and dinner in mind. California Lavender uses lavender oil from San Luis Obispo County, distilled where it grows, and reads floral and fresh rather than medicinal.
None of them comes in a men's or women's version, and the Orange Blossom and lavender scents also come as 0.25 oz rollers for $15.
Whichever you pick, test it on skin and wait an hour before deciding, since the heavier materials only show once the top has gone. Our earlier guide to choosing a fragrance for someone else covers the gift side of the same problem.
Photo by Camille Paralisan on Unsplash.
