Fragrance Files

In addition to essential oils and perfumery chemicals, many fragrances contain auxiliary ingredients such as fixatives (which help a perfume last longer on the skin), colorants and antioxidants, which add texture and extend the shelf life of the scent. Some perfumes also include talcum powder to improve wear and disperse the aroma over the skin. Perfume bases are modular compounds that can be used to quickly rough out a concept for a perfume from a brief, for example a “fresh rose” or “water lily”. They often serve as better scent approximations of a thing than the pure extracts themselves, especially those flowers whose scents cannot be extracted (such as gardenia or hyacinth). Learn more Click Here

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The five main fragrance families are Floral, Oriental, Woody, and Aromatic Fougere. Each family can be sub-divided further into more specific categories. These are shown on the fragrance wheel below. A good way to start learning what you like is to look at the fragrances in your collection and see which belong to each of these groups.

Top notes are the initial recognizable scents that come off the skin when you spray a perfume, and they play an important role in setting the first impression. Middle or heart notes are the second level, and they add depth to a fragrance. Base notes are the final layers of a perfume, and they linger longest on the skin. Perfume makers carefully blend these elements to create a unique scent that both smells pleasant and evokes a certain experience. This carefully selected combination is known as a perfume accord.