Is Cherry About To Fade From Your Vanity? A Benzaldehyde Reality Check

If you’ve ever sprayed Tom Ford Lost Cherry on a leather jacket and felt like a film noir heroine with a wicked smile, brace yourself. Industry veteran Olivier Cresp says benzaldehyde, the backbone molecule that gives perfumery its photorealistic cherry and bitter almond snap, is slated for a total ban by 2027. His blunt takeaway: no benzaldehyde means no almond, no cherry. That is a mic drop.

Before you panic-buy the mall, a calmer voice chimes in. Jérôme Epinette calls it not the end of the world. He is right. Cherry as we know it will morph, not vanish. Perfumers are already sketching new paths that lean gourmand rather than nutty or floral. Think syrupy black cherry wrapped in vanilla custard, tonka, cacao and boozy woods, instead of that maraschino-plus-almond bite we’ve loved since the first spritz of Lost Cherry.

You can already smell the pivot. Kayali Lovefest Burning Cherry 48 doubles down on smoky-sweet cherry wood. Guerlain Cherry Oud turns the fruit into a lacquered glaze over oud and spices. BDK Rouge Smoking paints a candy-tinged cherry haze with musk and powder. These builds rely less on a single almond-cherry molecule and more on layered illusions: heliotrope, anisic notes, ethyl maltol, balsams, woods. The vibe gets plush and edible. The pastry shop replaces the patisserie window.

The almond axis will feel it too. The iconic silk-skin hum of Dior Hypnotic Poison and the loukoum fantasy of Serge Lutens Rahat Loukoum owe much to that bitter almond flash. Reformulation is perfume’s oldest plot twist. If benzaldehyde truly exits, expect quieter almond, more vanilla-tonka, and powdery heliotrope standing in as understudies.

My take as a nose-on-the-street reporter who loves a cherry corsage on a leather biker: enjoy what exists now, then stay curious. Cherry will survive, just wearing a glossier lipstick. If you worship the pit’s dark twang, explore current bottles of Lost Cherry, flirt with Electric Cherry, and sample the gourmand-leaning cherries mentioned above. Perfumery thrives on constraint. Every time a door shuts, a perfumer builds a new cherry hallway with different light bulbs.

So no, cherry is not dead. It is changing outfits. And I, for one, plan to follow that red ribbon wherever it leads.