Bananarama
NANATOPIA - BTSO (2023)
Girls just wanna have Fun
Banana has always carried a playful irreverence — a fruit no one would expect in perfume. Its phallic shape, sunny hue, and twisted silhouette spark laughter and a hint of subversive sexuality. So improbable that the very first banana perfume almost never saw the light of day.
In the 1970s, Jean-François Laporte, founder of L’Artisan Parfumeur, was challenged to create a banana scent for a gala costume to wear at the Folies Bergères — a playful nod to Josephine Baker’s famous banana skirt. This quirky challenge would later inspire the house’s creative vision. Decades later, in 2019, Bana Banana brought the concept to fruition. Far from schoolboyish, the juice transforms from Haribo-like candy into a beautiful, ambery and unexpectedly elegant scent that melts onto the skin.
After a quiet spell, banana returned to perfumery with renewed gusto: in Nanatopia (BTSO), it drips with caramel, rum and banana bread, echoed in L'Explicite (THoO), straddling gourmand and sensual. In 2025, Banana Job (Fluez) pushes the joke further with a risqué name, closing the story with a wink.
From Leaf to Pulp
Before it turns yellow and indulgent, banana is green, almost sharp, more jungle than dessert. Leafy, vibrant, tense with vegetal energy, it evokes the canopy rather than sugar. Still botanical — closer to foliage than frosting.
Régime des Fleurs’ In Clover leans fully into the green spectrum. The tone is unmistakably verdant: a charming fusion of green clover, cool spearmint and banana leaf, layered with jasmine, angelica, galbanum, Shizuka apple, sea moss, cucumber skin and young cedar. Banana here is not edible — it's atmospheric.
More accessible houses follow suit. With Daisy Wild, Marc Jacobs introduces banana flower into a fresh, outdoor-leaning floral green. In 2025 its Eau So Intense version deepens the structure with jasmine over a woody amber base. By 2026, Daisy Wild Oh So Extra lets the fruit ripen — pear nectar, banana and chocolate now hinting at indulgence. Once ripe, banana no longer whispers jungle — it tastes like milkshake, pudding, banana split, and sun-kissed sweetness.
Fragrance Spotlight
27 87 Hakuna Matata
Fragrance Spotlight 27 87 Hakuna Matata
Jungle Vibes Made in Barcelona, Launched in 2025.
"Playful, tropical, unconventional: Hakuna Matata’s fruity-amber composition blossoms around an unexpected pairing of banana and honey. Refreshing bergamot and a heart of voracious jasmine sourced from southern China complete this untamed scent —free of constraints, completely present, and redolent with unhurried grace". — 27 87
"More than just a fragrance; it’s a philosophy, an invitation to embrace the present moment, celebrate the beauty of the natural world [...]. As the sun sets on this vibrant paradise, casting long shadows across the jungle floor [...], even in the midst of chaos, there’s always a place for joy, wonder, and the simple pleasures of existence." — Wikiparfum
Banana No Drama
Banana No Drama
BANANA
NO DRAMA
EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED. NEITHER PLAYFUL NOR CANDY‑SWEET, NOT EVEN A LITTLE FLIRTY. NOT FEMININE, NOT MASCULINE, BUT RATHER FOR ALL NATURE LOVERS — BANANA RETURNS TO ITS ROOTS, WITH ITS EXOTIC MAJESTIC LEAVES — NATURALLY GROUNDED AND WILDLY ELEGANT.
GREEN BANANA PEEL MEETS RIPE BANANA IN HAKUNA MATATA BY NICHE BARCELONA BRAND 27 87, ALONG WITH JASMINE AND ORANGE FLOWER ON A BED OF LABDANUM AND HONEY. BANANA LEAF PROVIDES LUSH GREEN FRESHNESS, WHILE DIHYDROMYRCENOL ADDS A CLEAN, SPLASHY, LIME-LIKE EFFECT. PLAYFUL, TROPICAL AND RAW, AND UNCONSTRAINED — HAKUNA MATATA, THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS MOTTO, REMINDS YOU TO CHILL OUT — IN STYLE.
Banana in Technicolor
With Maie Piu’s Banana Oud (2024), banana has darkened to near-black — “Funky, carefree, delicious like a banana dessert inflamed with dark rum, sealed with oud and capsized with musk, with a tune from the ’80s.”
If you thought banana only wore familiar tones, think again! Ellis Brooklyn and Hugo Boss conjure blue Java banana respectively in Isla Sirena and Hugo x Krink (both 2026), while Jacques Fath’s Musc Couture (2025) features dried red banana — sweeter, raspberry-like, adding a unique gourmand twist.
Across these interpretations, banana reveals a surprising versatility, shifting from exotic gourmand to tropical intrigue.
Real or imagined, any hue strays from the beaten path — making banana a perfect note for tropical, fun fragrances — from gourmand Escada classics to playful on-trend body mists.
Love Note,
Butter Side Up!
Love Note, Butter Side Up!
LOVE NOTE,
BUTTER SIDE UP!
BANANA GOES FROM GREEN TO YELLOW — JUST RIPE, THAT’S RIGHT, READY TO BE SAVORED. A PEANUT BUTTER ACCORD MELTS IN L’EXPLICITE, A TRUE BANANA BREAD FANTASY LAUNCHED IN 2025 BY THE HOUSE OF OUD. PEELED,PLAYFUL,COMIC-STRIP-INSPIRED, AND READY TO INDULGE. ON THE CAMPAIGN IMAGES, A BOLD BOOM! ERUPTS, WHILE THE BOTTLE ITSELF, DRESSED IN NEWSPAPER PRINT, FEATURES A WARHOL-LIKE BANANA, SLASHED WITH A RED “JE T’AIME.” BETWEEN POP ART AND COMICS, BETWEEN HUMOR AND A TITLE THAT HAS NOTHING TO HIDE, THOO REVEALS THE FRUIT AT ITS FULL POTENTIAL — EXTRAVAGANT AND FUN-LOVING, NOTHING SHORT OF IRRESISTIBLE. AT THE HOUSE OF OUD THERE’S NO SUCH THING AS A SLIPPERY TOPIC — THEY LAY THEIR CARDS ON THE TABLE, FULLY UNINHIBITED.
Hugo Goes Banana
Hugo Goes Banana
HUGO'S BLUES
WHEN THE BOSS GOES
BANANA
BREAKING INTO THE MEN'S WARDROBE, BANANA TAKES A BOLD TURN — BLUE, VIBRANT, AND UNEXPECTED.
HUGO X KRINK (2026) REINVENTS THE MASCULINE PALETTE WITH A DARING BLUE BANANA ACCORD, PAIRED WITH GERANIUM AND PINK CISTUS.
UNEXPECTED AND PLAYFUL, THE COMPOSITION SPLASHES ENERGY LIKE KRINK’S GRAFFITI DRIPS — CAPTURING FREEDOM, COURAGE TO STAND OUT, AND ADDICTIVE STREETWISE CHARM.
RUMOR HAS IT THE BLUE JAVA BANANA TASTES LIKE VANILLA ICE CREAM. CURIOUS? DISCOVER IT WHILE YOU CAN — LIMITED EDITION.
