Now that you’ve gotten through Part I and better understand fragrance families, it’s time to get you better acquainted with some common fragrance industry terms. Knowing these terms will be super helpful when shopping on the ground, online, or shoomzing at cocktail parties.
Let’s get started…
ACCORD – Perfume accords are a balanced blend of three or four notes. The notes combine to create a completely new, unified scent or odor impression.
ANTIQUE (VINTAGE) PERFUME – Older scents that have been discontinued or reformulated.
AROMA-CHOLOGY – The study of how perfumes make you feel. It explores our ability to harness the power of human psychology and fragrance technology to evoke specific feelings and emotions.
ATTAR – A fragrant essential oil that has been distilled from flowers.
BASE NOTES – Perfume is made of top, middle, and base notes. Base notes are lingering scents you smell on your skin after all the notes evaporate. They are also the notes that make a perfume last longer.
BLEND – The harmonious mix of fragrance ingredients.
BODY – The middle or “heart” of a perfume which makes up the main theme of a fragrance. It is also used to describe a well-rounded or full fragrance.
BOUQUET – A blend of floral notes.
CLASSICAL – A beloved fragrance that has been popular for a minimum of 15 years (think Chanel No. 5).
COLOGNE (MEN’S) – The light version of a men’s fragrance. Contains 8-15% fragrance concentration.
DESIGNER PERFUME – Mainstream fragrances that are commonly launched by fashion houses and appeal to a wide range of people.
EAU DE COLOGNE – The lightest version of a woman’s perfume. The concentration is only 2-4%. Because it’s so light it can be used more often, like a refreshing mist.
EAU DE PARFUM – A highly concentrated form of a perfume. The fragrance concentration is between 10-15%.
EAU DE TOILETTE – A light fragrance just above an Eau de Cologne. Its concentration is only 4-8% yet it is relatively lasting.
ENVIRONMENTAL FRAGRANCING – Using fragrance to change the feel and perception of an indoor space.
FACTICE – Oversized perfume or cologne bottles filled with tinted liquid. Used for display purposes only.
FLAÇON – Decorative little perfume bottles with stoppers designed for their portability.
FRAGRANCE LAYERING – Applying the same fragrance in different forms to make it last longer (body wash, lotion, perfume).
FRAGRANCE WARDROBE – Your personal fragrance collection used to complement different of moods, occasions, and times of the day.
HARMONIOUS – The balance and unity of a fragrance.
HEART (MIDDLE) NOTES – The second phase of a perfume’s evaporation on the skin. The middle notes make up the perfume’s body and theme of a fragrance. These are the notes that classify the fragrance family or accord. It typically takes ten to twenty minutes for the middle notes to blossom on the skin.
HESPERIDIA – A general term for citrus oils.
HORIZONTAL FORMULA – A method of formulating a perfume so it evolves on the skin from the top, middle, then base notes. As it develops, the true scent is revealed.
INCENSE – The blending of fragrant gums or resins in a solid or powder form. When burned they give off a lingering, scented smoke. This is the original way fragrance was used.
LIFT – Giving life to a fragrance by adding a brilliant top note. Lift can also refer to the diffusiveness of a given blend. A perfume with lift is able to diffuse or spread easily in the surrounding area.
MOUILLETTES – Strips of odorless white paper, perfumers use to evaluate a fragrance as it develops. Now you have a name for those fragrance strips at the fragrance counter.
NATURAL PERFUME – Perfumes made without using synthetic fragrances. They are fragrances that only use safe, pure ingredients free from petrochemicals, solvents, dyes, alcohol, and pesticides.
NICHE PERFUME – Niche perfumes are small batch fragrances. They contain a larger concentration of essential oils than mainstream designer perfumes. And are sold by perfume specialists and high-end boutiques.
NOSE – A person who mixes, blends and creates fragrances – a perfumer.
NOTE – The foundational scents of a perfume. Perfumes are often constructed using top, middle, and base notes.
ODOR MEMORY – The ability to smell and remember hundreds of single perfume odors and blends.
PERFUME (EXTRAIT) – The highest concentration of a fragrance. Also making it the strongest and most long-lasting. Perfumes have a 20-50% concentration of fragrance.
PERFUME ORGAN – Semi-circular stepped shelves that house hundreds of bottles of raw perfume materials.
PERFUMER’S PALETTE – The available ingredients a perfumer uses to formulate a fragrance. There are about 3400 raw materials a perfumer can choose from – 400 naturals and 3000 synthetics.
PROFILE – Fragrance descriptions given to perfumers to inspire a perfume’s formulation. Profiles are often prepared by marketing teams. And they contain a fragrance plan, its type, name, package, color/theme, mood, impression, cost parameters, etc.
ROUNDING OUT – Natural perfume ingredients added to a fragrance to enrich or soften any lingering harsh qualities.
SIGNATURE – A unique quality about a scent that identifies the perfumer. Can also be a distinct scent a person is known for wearing and is remembered by.
SNYERGISM – The ability of certain perfumery ingredients to work together to produce an effect greater than the ingredients could achieve on their own.
SYNTHETICS – Perfume ingredients made in a lab rather than a from a natural source (i.e. plant, tree, animal, etc.).
SOLIFLORE – Fragrances that focus on a single flower.
TONALITY – The dominant theme or note of a fragrance.
TOP NOTES – The first impression of a perfume when sniffed or applied to the skin. These notes are the most volatile and evaporate quickly.
UNDERTONES – The subtle background characteristics of a fragrance.
VERTICAL FORMULA – A fragrance construction where the scent is made to remain the same from the first note to the last. There is no discernable transition from top to bottom notes.
Whew! That was intense. If you have any questions or comments feel free to give me a shout.
Onward to Part III…
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