Banana Perfumes Are Trending for Summer—But Are They Worth the Hype?
And the fragrance puns are ripe for the picking.
Banana bread, banana whip, banana pudding (Magnolia Bakery fans, rise), banana pie. This list of delectable, fruity treats reads like a summer dessert menu. But these desserts, with their creamy, occasionally fresh or sugary or warm flavor profiles, have a different M.O. Well, according to PerfumeTok, that is: banana perfumes are ripe for the summer fragrance picking.
The proof: searches for banana perfume have shot up 100 percent in June alone, according to Google Trends and the hashtag #bananaperfume has well over five million views on TikTok. Do we really need another edible perfume trend? I know you’re thinking it—I am too. Between cherry fragrances, marshmallow-infused scents, and edible eau de parfums that are quite literally designed to be tasted (I can’t get on board with this one, FYI), fostering the banana perfume explosion for summer 2026 is attracting some split opinions.
Take Marie Claire’s Beauty Writer Ariel Baker, for example, who feels so strongly anti-banana (even though she’s candidly never tried one) that she doesn’t “ever want to because some ideas should be left in the vault.” Senior Fashion News Editor Halie LeSavage co-signs the sentiment, insisting she will “never, ever wear or eat one” because they’re too “sickly sweet.” They’re right—to a degree.
On its own, a banana is more of a gourmand than a fruit. It has a sugary, syrupy, almost milky hit that you’d imagine would be housed in a Big Time Pop Star Fragrance with a diamond-shaped bottle and synthetic juice. (I can smell Britney Spears’s Curious Eau de Parfum just thinking about it.) “The earliest iterations of banana perfumes often lumped banana in with other tropical notes like coconut, frangipani, mango, pineapple, etc. to create that classic "summer in a bottle" scent—think Bath & Body Works Butterfly Flower or Escada Pacific Paradise,” says Emelia O’Toole, who is more famously known as Professor Perfume.
A handful of the new launches lean into the kitschy, youthful aesthetic—often in the form of body mists. Solar perfumes or fragrances with notes like sandalwood or coconut are a transportation device to the beach or boardwalk. There’s Vacation’s Vacation, which combines banana with pineapple, coconut milk, and sea salt. Or Ellis Brooklyn’s Banana Milkshake, something I’d describe as a piña colada incarnate courtesy of rum, banana ice cream, and tonka bean notes.
But a bunch of banana fragrances (hehe) currently popping on the fragrance scene are new and unexplored instead of nostalgic. “Rather than leaning overtly edible, banana in fine fragrance tends to be more nuanced, capturing not just the sweet pulp but also green, slightly unripe top notes and a creamy, warm base,” says dsm-firmenich perfumer Nicole Mancini. “It’s being reimagined as something modern, fresh and unexpectedly elegant.” Just look to elevated blends like House of Oud’s L’Explicite Eau de Parfum, which combines a note aptly dubbed banana bread with creamy peanut butter and grounding amber and warm spices to provide a nutty finish. Another new favorite, brought to my attention by fragrance expert Olivia VanDerMillin, is Banane au Chocolat by Teddy the Perfumer. “It’s complex and interesting, marrying chocolate and patchouli to create an earthy, bitter chocolate that balances the sweetness from banana,” says Olivia.
The luxury guard gives the impression of a more refined and subtle banana, like the whiff you’d get from a banana tree that's 50 feet away, not all up in your nose. After the reinvention of vanilla perfumes proved to be such a success—the category is expected to be worth 3,216 billion by 2031—perfumers are on the hunt for the Next Big Note. And because “banana couples nicely with both fruitiness and edible notes, it can fall into a variety of categories,” says Olivia, noting that it’s highly possible banana is about to ditch its juvenile stereotype and become the most sought-after scent.
“I'm all for testing outside-the-box combinations in fragrance, so if bananas are the note du jour, I'm eager to see how the perfume community responds to them long-term,” says Beauty Director Hannah Baxter. While the longevity of the banana perfume-aissance remains to be seen, they’re 100 percent a fruity treat for this summer. Despite my initial skepticism (I’m trended-out, can you blame me?), I’m actually very into this creamy little category.
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Meet the Experts
Know as Professor Perfume, Emelia is a fragrance expert and influencer.
With over 20 years of experience in the industry, Nicole began her career in fragrance after graduating Cum Laude from Montclair State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. Thereafter, she attended Givaudan School of Perfumery in France, which solidified her passion for the métier. Her studies in psychology have informed and influenced her fragrance creations, by emphasizing the mind-body connection, and the power to touch people's lives in meaningful ways.After a successful tenure at Givaudan as a perfumer in the Consumer Products division, focusing on air care and personal care brands, she transitioned to the Fine Fragrance team in New York City, specializing in retail, celebrity, and local fine fragrance brands. Across her extensive career, Nicole has created a variety of iconic and renowned fragrances. Most notably, in 2020, Nicole worked with KKW Fragrance to create “Kylie Nude Lips”, which won the Fragrance Foundation USA’s Fragrance Women’s Popular Award of the Year.
Olivia Olfactory is a fragrance enthusiast who shares their thoughts on perfumes and perfumers on TikTok and Instagram.
