Fragrance Files

When you’re perfume- or cologne-shopping, it can be tempting to test out every bottle that catches your eye. However, doing so can quickly become overwhelming for your nose and your budget. Fragrance, or parfum as it’s often called in France, is the distilled essence of flowers and other plants used to create scents that linger on your skin for hours. It’s also used in a variety of other personal care products, including soap, deodorant, and laundry detergent. Website Here

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The fragrance industry classifies fragrances into families based on their olfactory characteristics and the types of smells they produce. This can help consumers and perfumers narrow down their search for a signature scent. For example, floral scents tend to be feminine, while woody and oriental perfumes are warm and opulent. Those who aren’t particularly fond of incense or musky scents can look to fresh or aquatic perfumes for a lighter, more subtle fragrance.

Scents are further broken down into subfamilies. For instance, a floral-oriental perfume could include rose and jasmine, while a mossy woody perfume would contain sandalwood and patchouli. These are all related and will blend well together, as they share similar olfactory qualities.

Perfumes are made up of different layers, which give them their characteristic smell. The top notes, also known as headnotes, evaporate more quickly and are what people notice first. The heart notes are a little longer-lasting, and the base notes are the longest-lasting, with each layer adding its own distinctive scent to the perfume. Perfumes may also include a few non-olfactory ingredients, such as colorants and preservatives, to increase their marketability and shelf life.