Fragrance Files

When it comes to choosing perfume or cologne, everyone is drawn to certain scents over others. But with so many fragrances to choose from, finding the perfect one can feel overwhelming. If you’re not familiar with the different scent families and notes, it can be difficult to know where to start. That’s where the fragrance wheel and perfume note categories come in handy. Get More Info

The first step is to figure out which scent family you’re drawn to. Once you’ve identified the family, search for a fragrance that contains those same notes and see how it blends with your skin. Alternatively, you can select a fragrance sub-family and look for its counterpart on the fragrance wheel. Scents that sit side-by-side on the wheel are a good starting point, as they’re more likely to blend well together.

“Fragrance Files: Exploring the Artistry and Craftsmanship of Perfumery

Perfume notes include top, middle, and base, with the top being the first thing you notice when a perfume hits your skin and the base being the last note to fade. Middle notes are the heart of a perfume and can include flowers, spices, woods, fruits, or even leaves.

Perfume bases can be made of a number of materials including synthetic aromatics such as linalool and coumarin, plant oils such as coconut oil or jojoba oil, or even natural materials like musk. Often, however, perfumers use a mix of materials to add unique notes that can’t be found in nature. These can include compounds such as calone, which provides the “fresh” ozonous oceanic note that is so popular in modern perfumes or a synthetic version of the molecule salicylate, which gives orchid fragrance its characteristic greenness.