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Glossary Of Terms

A B
Absolute/ Absolue Base Notes

An absolute is a highly-concentrated fragrance oil similar to an Base notes are the heaviest, longest-lasting notes in a fragrance, that
essential oil, but produced via solvent extraction or enfleurage and usually assert themselves after the heart notes have evaporated. Base
therefore generally even more concentrated. Absolutes are key notes are often present during the middle phase of a perfume, where
ingredients in perfumery, and the low-temperature methods used to they provide depth and stability, but once the heart notes have
produce them are often the only effective way to capture the natural departed they take on a character of their own, a phase often called
fragrant compounds of fragile materials (like jasmine or tuberose, for the dry down. Common base notes include woods, moss, amber, and
example) that can't hold up to steam distillation. musk.

Accord

An accord is a blend of notes that combine to form their own C

distinctive blended note that smells like something else entirely. Chypre
Accords are often created to represent scents that can't actually be
distilled- leather notes, for example, cannot be distilled from actual A family, or category, of fragrances characterized by mossy, woodsy
leather and are therefore usually an accord of other notes. base notes and generally, notes of citrus and an animalic component.
Those notes were originally meant to be characteristic of the smells of
Animalic the island of Cyprus (Chypre in French), and the genre takes its
inspiration from a 1917 Francois Coty fragrance of the same name.
A term used to describe musky, dirty, skanky notes traditionally
Check out Parfums MDCI Chypre Palatin or Bruno Acampora Bianco.
derived from animal sources, like musk, civet, and ambergris.
*Because oakmoss has become heavily regulated in modern
perfumery, many classic chypres have undergone reformulation and
Anosmia
lack their original mossy character; as such, it can be a confusing
Often called nose blindness, anosmia is the inability to detect certain category to understand and has been eliminated or redefined in some
notes or odors. In perfumery, it's usually used to refer to a temporary current forms of fragrance categorization.
condition caused by becoming acclimated to a certain scent- it's why
it can be difficult to smell your own perfume after some time, but Coffret
others can still smell it clearly. Nose blindness has a pronounced
A collection or box set that often contains either smaller sample sizes
effect in the case of single-note fragrances such as Molecule 01, 02,
of several fragrances in a line, or a fragrance and its accompanying
and 03.
bath products.

Attar
Cologne
An attar is a traditionally middle eastern perfume where the See Eau de Cologne
ingredients are fixed in rose essential oil instead of an odorless oil or
alcohol, resulting in intense, complex fragrances. Examples of middle
eastern style attars include the Al Attar and Xerjoff XJ Oud Attars
lines. More broadly, an attar may refer to any essential flower oil. D
Drydown
E The last phase of a fragrance's lifecycle, the drydown refers to the
Eau de Cologne (EDC) final hours of a fragrance's detection, when the top and heart notes
have completely disappeared and only the longest lasting part of the
The least concentrated style of fragrance, with a perfume oil to base remains.
alcohol ratio of only 2-5%. Originally referred to a specific style of
lightly concentrated citrus-heavy fragrance created in Cologne,
Germany, but is now used much more generally. Due to its lightness,
an eau de cologne is typically bottled in large sizes and meant to be F
splashed on throughout the day. Factice
A replica bottle of a fragrance meant for store or advertising display
Eau de Parfum (EDP)
that does not actually contain the fragrance itself.
A fragrance with a 10-15% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol.
Flanker
Eau de Toilette (EDT)
A fragrance release related to a popular or distinctive pre-existing
A fragrance with a 5-10% concentration of perfume oil to alcohol. fragrance, a flanker is usually similar to the first fragrance but with
one or two key alterations. More common in mainstream perfumery-
Enfleurage think Chanel Coco & Coco Madamoiselle or Thierry Mugler A*Men
A traditional process for creating a fragrance absolute wherein the and A*Men Pure Malt. Generally, EDP versions of existing EDT
material is infused into animal fat, and then extracted from the fat into fragrances (like Parfums de Nicolai's New York & New York Intense)
alcohol. The alcohol is then evaporated down to create an absolute. are not considered flankers.
This highly traditional method is now considered inefficient, and has
largely been abandoned in favor of modern processes like solvent or Fougère
CO2 extraction. A style of fragrance named for the French word for fern. Fougères are
 usually herbal scents featuring lavender, oakmoss and woods, and
Essential Oil they take their name from Houbigant's Fougère Royale, which was
A concentrated distillation of a fragrant plant material that is often created in the late 1800s.
used as an ingredient in fragrance. Usually extracted via steam
distillation. Fragrance Families
There have been various attempts over the years to break down the
Extrait/extract world of fragrance into classifiable categories. While there is no
A fragrance with a 15-45% concentration of perfume oil. Extraits are unchallenged standard, the often cited 7-category system used by the
generally the most concentrated form of perfume available to SociTtT Frantaise des Parfumeurs is as follows: citrus, floral, fougere,
purchase. chypre, woody, amber and leather. Conversely, Michael Edwards'
Fragrances of the World uses a wheel of 4 categories: fresh, floral,
oriental and woody. In either system, there are multiple subcategories
of further specificity. Other versions may use overlapping terms from
G both. As there is no universal system, it is common to see a single
Gourmand fragrance categorized in multiple conflicting (or non-conflicting) ways,
which is why it's best to use the families as loose guidelines and not
A gourmand fragrance is one that primarily evokes food, usually
rely on them too heavily.
dessert. This can include notes of vanilla, chocolate, fruit, caramel,
and more. Some of our most notable gourmand scents include
Viktoria Minya Hedonist and Indult Tihota.
H
Heart Notes
M The heart notes, or middle notes, of a fragrance are the primary notes
Middle Notes that define the way a scent is described and categorized. The heart
notes generally assert themselves in the first 10 to 20 minutes of wear
See Heart
as the top notes fade, and they make up the strongest impression of
the scent. Florals, spices and botanicals are common heart notes.

N
Natural
Used shorthand for any perfume ingredient derived from natural, O
non-synthetic sources. Oriental

Nose Another traditional fragrance family, orientals were originally defined

as scents with a strong amber presence, but the term is now taken
A nose is the person responsible for creating the formula of a more generally to include all very heavy, persistent, warm fragrances,
fragrance. While a creative director or brand may be involved in often with other rich ingredients such as musk, vanilla, and resin.
conceptualizing, the nose is the one with the training and expertise to
actually combine the precise ingredients- noses often have advanced
degrees in chemistry, which are required for entry at many of the
world's top perfumery schools.
P
Parfum
Note
See extrait.
A single element of a fragrance, the building block level of a scent.
Perfumer
See Nose.
S
Projection
Sillage
Term for how far away from the wearer someone else would be able
A French term that describes how much of a trail of scent is left
to smell the fragrance. Often estimated by how many inches away
behind the wearer. Differs slightly from projection- sillage is more
from the skin a scent projects.
about how long a scent would linger in the air after the person
wearing the fragrance has left the room.

Skin Scent T
A scent with minimal projection (i.e., one that can only be detected Top Notes
when extremely close to the wearer). Because of the kinds of
The top notes are the first notes that one smells after applying a
ingredients that tend to have this effect, many skin scents have similar fragrance. Top notes tend to be made of lighter molecules than the
characteristics: soft, sheer, and musky. rest of a fragrance, meaning that they disappear first as those
molecules evaporate, revealing the heart of the fragrance (see Heart
Soliflore
Notes). Various forms of citrus are often used as top notes.
A soliflore is a fragrance that highlights the notes of one specific type
of flower (although the ingredients may actually contain more than
one). Notable niche perfume soliflores include By Kilian Love and
Tears (jasmine), Ramon Monegal Impossible Iris, or Van Cleef &
Arpels Gardenia Petale.

Solvent Extraction
The most common method for extracting fragrance from natural
materials, solvent extraction consists of submerging/macerating the
raw material in a chemical solvent (such as hexane) and then vacuum-
separating the now extracted fragrant material from the solvent. This
produces a solid known as a concrete, which can then be dissolved
and distilled again with alcohol to produce an absolute.

Synthetic

Used shorthand for any perfume ingredient that is created via

chemical synthesis, as opposed to those extracted from natural
material. Many of the notes in modern perfumes are now produced
synthetically. Some, like ambroxan, a synthetic form of ambergris
(ambroxan is the central ingredient of both Molecule 02 and Not A
Perfume), were invented to substitute for natural ingredients that have
become too expensive or environmentally hazardous to collect and
distill. Others, like Calone (featured prominently in Parfums de Nicolai
 Musc Monoi and Le Labo's Calone 17 candle, amongst others), which
is used to give off a fresh, ozonic, salt-water type of smell, have no
antecedent in nature.

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