Pink Pepper

What it is

Not pepper at all. It is the berry of a Peruvian tree related to cashew, and some people with nut allergies react to it.

What it smells like

Rosy and sparkling with a light prickle rather than a burn. It became ubiquitous in the 2010s as a way to open a fragrance brightly without citrus, so it now carries a faint date stamp of its own.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Lancome (16), Creed (12), Tom Ford (11), Armaf (10), Giorgio Armani (9), Amouage (8).