In the first part of this post, while talking about fragrance types, I mentioned notes in passing, now I’m going to walk you through the elementary of Perfume Notes.

Perfume notes can best be imagined as individual ingredients in a fragrance recipe. Though they all come together to make a perfect whole, they each remain distinct in their own right. These ingredients could be natural, synthetic, or man-made. When combined into a perfume to create a unique scent, these ingredients form ‘top’, ‘middle’ (or heart), and ‘base’ note types. They each have an important place in the order of things and can affect the upfront smell, and how a perfume changes over time whilst you are wearing it.

Top Notes

Top notes are the scents you notice first when you smell a perfume. They are the ones that shape your first impressions of the perfume in question. These are usually very light and fresh scents that will fade about 10 to 15 minutes after application, depending on factors like the temperature and weather. This is why it is important to not judge a perfume based purely on the initial scent. It needs to be left for at least 15 minutes to ‘dry down’ and then you will experience the ‘whole fragrance’. A few examples of top notes are lemon, bergamot, lime, and orange.

Middle Notes

Base Notes

Base notes are the marathon runner of perfume notes and are the longest lasting. They come into their own once the top and mid notes begin to subside. They are also instrumental in creating your overall memory of a fragrance as they are present for the longest. Because there are fewer ingredients with such staying power, there are a reduced number of base notes when compared to the huge variety of top and mid notes, examples: amber, patchouli, sandalwood, and musk.

Here is a list of some of the most popular perfume notes used in making fragrances for women. These ‘classic’ notes are often preferred because of the way they pair well with other scents, their staying power, or simply the unique appeal of the note itself.

• Rose
• Lily of the Valley
• Jasmine
• Ylang-Ylang
• Orange Blossom
• Bergamot
• Lemon
• Mandarin Orange
• Lime
• Patchouli
• Vanilla
• Sandalwood
• Amber
• Tonka Bean
• Musk

In order to figure out your fragrance style, you’d need to understand the different Scent Groups and how they project.

Scent Groups

Each perfume ‘note’ will fall under one or more of the different ‘scent groups’ listed below. This makes life a little easier when you are looking to discover a new fragrance. If you like Mandarin Orange for example, then you would most likely find fragrances that incorporate top notes of the ‘citrus’ scent group more appealing.

Fruity: Fruity scents are both spicy and fresh. They please the olfactory sensors with the comforting and pleasant scents of peach, mango, berries, and apples, for example. They combine well with floral scents, becoming even more enticing.

Floral: As the name implies, floral scents are most often made from various flowers to create a traditionally feminine scent. They can be a single note of one flower, such as a lavender or rose. They can contain a combination of several flowers for a symphony of floral.

Citrus: Tangy and fruity are the best ways to describe citrus scents. The essential oil blend contains a lively infusion of citrus fruits. You’ll pick up their scent during daytime and outdoor activities as well as other festive occasions.

Woody: Woody scents tend to be more unisex because they contain bark and moss type fragrances. They recreate natural forest scents. They blend well into masculine or feminine scents.

Oriental: Oriental scents aim to be sexy and exotic. Reserved for strong, distinct, feminine perfumes, oriental scents are intentionally rich and exotic such as musk and vanilla.

Oceanic: Oceanics/aquatics are a bit more modern since they require a lot of synthetic compounds. Oceanic scents are blends of artificial elements that emanate natural smells associated with ocean spray, linen or crisp mountain air.

Spice: Think “sugar and spice.” They call to mind the aroma of baked comfort foods like cinnamon rolls and gingerbread. In a spicy scent, you’ll detect everything from cinnamon to pepper, cardamom, cloves, and ginger.

Green: Green scents are notoriously unisex and don’t fall into the category of sexy or alluring. Yet, they are refreshing and popular for daytime wear due to their fresh smell reminiscent of freshly-cut grass.

I hope that with these, you’re able to figure out what your fragrance style is, and even maybe find your signature scent! However, if you’re still unsure (or just want to be doubly sure), you can take this quiz to help figure it out!