Glossary

Common fragrance-related terms and definitions used in perfumery.

Accord: The accord is the unique, and hopefully well-balanced, fragrance created by blending together raw materials like perfume oils. It’s the overall complete scent of a perfume or other fragrance.

Accord can also refer to the scent families within a fragrance such as a woody accord or a spicy accord.

Aftershave: An aftershave is a lotion that is splashed on the skin after shaving. It may or may not have an added fragrance. Aftershaves are usually lightly scented, much like a splash, and are typically marketed to men as they’re meant to be used on the face after shaving.

The purpose of aftershave is to cleanse and disinfect the micro-abrasions caused by shaving thus preventing infection and ingrown beard hairs. Some aftershaves have a high alcohol content and can sting when applied.

Common ingredients for aftershaves are menthol, witch hazel, and lightweight skin moisturizers.

Aldehydes: Aldehydes are chemicals used in perfumery that can be synthetic or naturally derived. There is no single scent to describe aldehydes instead, they are a family of fragrances. Aldehydes smell clean and fresh and often soapy. They can also have a metallic or wax-like essence to them.

Ambergrease: See ambergris below.

Ambergris: Pronounced amber-gree, ambergris is a French word that means “grey amber” and is a hard, waxy, odiferous, and flammable substance produced in the intestines of sperm whales.

In perfumery, ambergris is used to stabilize fragrance formulations and produce a longer-lasting scent. Its use in perfumes is outlawed in some countries due to the endangered status of sperm whales. Though sperm whales aren’t killed to obtain it.

Ambergris is used in folk medicine and as a spice in some Eastern countries.

Fresh ambergris is typically black and has an offensive fecal odor. Exposure to sunlight changes the color to light grey or yellow and changes the odor to a light pleasant fragrance. The scent of sun-exposed ambergris varies: it can be sweet, earthy, woody, tobacco-like, or musky.

Ambergris is thought to be passed like feces, but some biologists think it might be regurgitated.

Sperm whales are rarely hunted for ambergris as it’s known that very few of them produce it. Instead, ambergris is usually found floating in the ocean and collected either from the water or after it has washed up on a beach.

In the United States, it’s illegal to collect, store, own, buy, or sell ambergris.

Animalic: An animalic is a fragrance type that’s derived from animals. Common animalic scents come from ambergris, castoreum, civet, hyraceum, and musk. In modern perfume-making, animalic notes are often synthetic because of growing concerns about animal cruelty.

Natural animalic scents are obtained from the excretions of animals, the collection of which sometimes results in the animals’ death, or is otherwise harmful to them.

Aquatic: Aquatic fragrances are inspired by scents associated with the ocean or water. Aquatic scents are achieved by using chemicals and essential oils that smell like the beach, the ocean, a pond, or even rainwater.

Seaweed and oakmoss are commonly used in aquatic fragrances, and so is a marine-smelling chemical called calone or calone 1951. Aquatic fragrances are most often marketed to men.

See also Oceanic and Marine.

Aromatic: Aromatic fragrances are a blend of spicy- and grassy-smelling scent notes. They are often blended with other scent notes that are predominately spicy or grassy to further enhance those specific notes.

The most common perfume oils used in aromatics are lavender, cumin, sage, and rosemary.

Citrus notes are also quite commonly used in aromatics, but the base of this fragrance style is always grassy-spicy. Aromatics are typically considered masculine fragrances.

Balsam: Balsam comes from the resin of the balsam fir tree and is a woody fragrance that smells like pine needles or pine sap—think live Christmas-tree smell.

Barbershop: Barbershop scents are considered masculine for the obvious reason that barbershops are mostly frequented by men. The primary purpose of this scent class is to evoke thoughts of old-time barbershops, perhaps the ones that men frequented with their fathers as children.

There is no single scent that defines barbershop, but common scent notes include bay rum, lavender, leather, musk, patchouli, vetiver, and citrus.

Barbershop scents smell clean and fresh and sometimes medicinal. For many, Pinaud Clubman is the barbershop fragrance. (Pinaud is pronounced Pee-know.) Tabac is another popular barbershop fragrance.

Base Notes: Base notes make up the foundation of a perfume and are the deepest, richest, and most robust scent notes in a fragrance. Base notes have a longer scent duration than either the top notes or the heart notes.

Base notes are the same thing as bottom notes.

The individual scent notes that make up the base notes can be overwhelming or even unpleasant. Heart notes are used to mellow out the negative aspects of the base notes.

Boozy: A boozy fragrance is one that smells like liquor or has similar scent notes to a certain type of liquor. The strongly astringent alcoholic notes that come from fragrance formulations like aftershave, which can be high in alcohol, not liquor, are not boozy. Boozy refers to drinking alcohol, not medicinal alcohol.

Common boozy notes are whiskey, bourbon, cognac, and gin. There is no actual liquor in a boozy fragrance. A boozy scent is achieved by using chemicals that give a liquor its distinctive odor and putting them in a perfume.

Bottom Notes: Bottom notes and base notes are the same thing. They make up the foundation of a perfume and are the deepest and most robust scent notes in a fragrance. Bottom notes have a longer scent duration than either the top notes or the heart notes.

The individual scent notes that make up the bottom notes can be overwhelming or even unpleasant. Heart notes are used to mellow out the negative aspects of the bottom notes.

Calone: Calone is a chemical that has a marine-like smell, meaning it smells like the ocean. It was created by Pfizer in 1966 and is used extensively in aquatic fragrances.

Castoreum: Beavers have glands near their tails that are called castor sacs. The secretion from castor sacs is used by beavers to scent mark their territory. Castor glands are artificially expressed by humans to collect the excretions for use in perfumery.

Historically, beavers were killed for their pelts and their scent glands. Today, beavers are usually anesthetized before their castor sacs are expressed; however, modern-day trappers do kill beavers and sell their pelts and castor sacs.

Castoreum is said to smell musky and have a natural vanilla-like scent that is not overly sweet. Many modern perfumers use a synthetic form of castoreum in their fragrances.

Chypre: Chypre is the French word for the island of Cyprus, and it’s pronounced sheep-ruh. At it’s heart, a chypre is a woody fragrance with strong base notes that are typically woody, mossy, and animalic. The top notes and heart notes of a chypre are typically weak.

The top notes of chypres tend to be citrusy, sometimes with added floral notes. The heart notes of a chypre are strongly centered around labdanum.

Chypres are a family of fragrances that can have a variety of support notes, e.g. floral chypre, musky chypre, and even fruity chypre.

Civet: A civet is a small nocturnal animal found in parts of Africa and Asia.

Civet oil, also known as civet musk, is an excretion produced by the anal glands of civets. In its pure form, civet oil can smell strongly fecal or even putrid. When diluted, civet oil takes on a pleasant musky-floral scent.

Civets are farmed and kept in cages. Farmers use a very painful process to collect civet oil, and civets are forced to endure this abuse every 10 days. Due to high costs and growing concerns about animal cruelty, synthetic civet oil is beginning to replace natural civet oil in modern perfumes.

Cloying: An overly strong, overly sweet, or nauseating fragrance can be described as cloying.

Cologne: Derived from the French eau de cologne, this is a lighter fragrance than an eau de parfum, or perfume, because it has a much lower concentration of perfume oils. It’s typically much less expensive than perfume because of the smaller amount of essential oils.

Cologne fragrances tend to last less than 2 hours after application to the body.

In the United States, cologne is used to mean masculine fragrances that are marketed to men with the actual perfume-oil concentration being variable. Typically men are offered an aftershave as a light short-lived fragrance, and a cologne of the same scent as a stronger longer-lasting fragrance.

Coumarin: Coumarin is a chemical compound found in tonka bean and cinnamon. It has a complex aroma that smells like spicy-sweet vanilla with nut-like notes. Both naturally derived and synthetic coumarin are used in perfume making.

Cumin: Cumin is a pungent, nutty, earthy-smelling spice.

Day Wear Scent: An appropriate day-wear, or every day, scent is anything that’s not too strong and generally won’t be noticeable to others unless they are in close proximity to you. Think of something light and inoffensive that could be worn in an office setting.

Decant: Decanting is moving all, or part, of a liquid fragrance from its original bottle to another container. Decants of vintage fragrances are sold on various websites. But do be cautious buying vintage frags as unscrupulous sellers do sell fakes, clones, or re-formulations as original fragrances.

Dimethicone: Dimethicone is a silicone. Silicones are used to create a moisture-saving barrier on human skin and hair. Dimethicone protects skin from moisture loss, but it is permeable, meaning skin can still breathe through it.

Silicones aren’t biodegradable and can be toxic to aquatic environments if accumulated in large amounts.

Dimethicone is used in a huge variety of cosmetics. It’s been used in the beauty industry for over 50 years with little environmental build-up. However, dimethicone is found in aquatic environments where it shouldn’t be. It may not be currently causing widespread environmental damage, but it is toxic to marine life that shouldn’t be exposed to it at all.

Dimethicone isn’t biodegradable, but it can degrade in the correct environmental conditions. It degrades when it comes in contact with clay or sediment. Dimethicone isn’t water soluble and floats in droplets until it contacts sediment.

When degraded, dimethicone breaks down into carbon dioxide, water, and sand. If the correct conditions aren’t met, dimethicone will persist in the environment.

Dimethicone is absorbed by sewage, but not degraded by it. Sewage treatment plants report being able to remove up to 80% of the dimethicone from processed sewage.

Dry Down: The dry down refers to the fading of the heart notes and subsequent prominence of the base notes. Sometimes perfume fans will use “dry down” to mean the point at which the top notes have dissipated and the heart notes become prominent with a mingling of base notes.

EDC: Short for eau de cologne.

EDP: Short for eau de parfum.

EDT: Short for eau de toilette.

Eau De Parfum: Eau de parfum comes in second after parfum in the fragrance dilution classes. The typical perfume-oil concentration is 15% – 20%. It can be a good choice for evening wear, but many eau de parfums are fine for daily wear too.

An eau de parfum usually lasts less than 6 hours after being applied to the body. Most people can get a solid 4 hours of scent from eau de parfum.

Eau De Toilette: Eau de toilette sits in between eau de parfum and eau de cologne in terms of scent strength. This fragrance dilution class contains 5% – 15% perfume oil. The scent duration of eau de toilette is 2 – 4 hours for most people.

Eau Fraiche: Eau fraiche has a low perfume-oil concentration at 1% – 3%. Like eau de cologne, eau fraiche lasts less than 2 hours when applied to the body. Unlike some eau de cologne and aftershaves, eau fraiche has a low amount of alcohol.

Eau de Cologne: At only 2% – 4% concentration of perfume oil, eau de cologne is one of lightest scents in the fragrance dilution classes. An eau de cologne typically lasts less than 2 hours after being applied to the body.

Evening Scent: Any fragrance that has a strong, rich, long-lasting scent is appropriate for evening wear; think white or black tie, cocktail dresses, or any formal-ish late afternoon or evening event. Parfum is typically the fragrance concentration of choice for an evening scent.

Fixative: A fixative is a chemical, or essential perfume oil, that increases the tenacity of a perfume producing a longer-lasting scent.

Flanker: Flankers are additional fragrances introduced by a perfume house to complement an existing perfume. Flankers share some of the attributes of the original perfume while still being their own unique scents.

Floral: A floral is a perfume-scent type that smells like flowers. Rose, gardenia, and jasmine are very popular floral scents.

Fougere: Pronounced foo-jair, fougere is the French word for fern. As a fragrance category, the fougere has been around since the late 1800’s and was originally considered a feminine fragrance.

Times change, however, and now the fougere is considered a masculine fragrance.

Like all perfume families, the fougere can have a variety of scent notes, but the defining notes are coumarin, lavender, oakmoss, geranium, and bergamot.

Fraghead: Someone obsessed with perfumes and fragrances in general. Fragheads typically collect fragrances and are often very knowledgeable about perfume making. Some fragheads have very sensitive noses and can pick out scent notes with little effort.

See also, fragrance nerd and perfume nerd.

Fragrance Nerd: Someone obsessed with perfumes and fragrances in general. Fragrance nerds typically collect fragrances and are often very knowledgeable about perfume making. Some fragrance nerds have very sensitive noses and can pick out scent notes with little effort.

See also perfume nerd and fraghead.

Gourmand: A gourmand is a perfume made up of edible notes. Scent notes commonly found in a gourmand are honey, coffee, chocolate, fruits and berries, caramel, and copious amounts of vanilla.

Citrus notes are not considered gourmand.

Green: A green scent is reminiscent of green plants; think freshly mowed grass, moss, green leaves, and cucumber.

Cucumber is also an aquatic scent and is found in many aquatic fragrances.

Head Notes: Head notes are the same as top notes. The head notes are the initial scent notes smelled when a perfume or cologne is applied to the body. See also Opening.

Heart Notes: When the opening fades, the heart notes of a fragrance are revealed. The purpose of the heart notes is to bolster the top notes, which are the weakest scent notes in a fragrance, and mellow out the base notes, which are the deepest and most robust scents notes in a fragrance. Heart notes are also called mid notes or middle notes.

Herbal: An herbal perfume scent is exactly what is sounds like; it’s one that smells like herbs. Common herbal notes are lavender, sage, rosemary, thyme, anise, and basil.

Hyraceum: Hyraceum is an animalic scent derived from the petrified feces and urine of the Cape Hyrax, a medium-sized, cave-dwelling, rodent found in Africa and the Middle East.

The Cape Hyrax is not harmed when its waste products are collected. Hyraceum is also known as African Stone.

Juice: The liquid fragrance in a bottle is called the juice.

Labdanum: Labdanum is a fragrant resin derived from the cistus species of shrubs called rockrose, which are found in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and Africa. The scent of labdanum is variable, but common notes are leathery, darkly musky, fruity, and ambergris-like.

Lanolin: Also known as wool grease, wool wax, or wool yolk; lanolin is a natural wax produced by the sebaceous glands of sheep and other wool-bearing animals.

Marine: Marine fragrances are inspired by scents associated with the ocean or water. Marine scents are achieved by using chemicals and essential oils that smell like the beach, or the ocean, or a pond, or even rain water.

Seaweed and oakmoss are commonly used in marine fragrances, and so is a marine-smelling chemical called calone or calone 1951. Marine fragrances are most often marketed to men.

See also Aquatic and Oceanic.

Menthol: Menthol is a chemical compound derived from mint plants like peppermint, spearmint, and wild mint.

Menthol has a cooling effect when applied to skin and is frequently used in men’s aftershaves to cool and brace the skin.

Mexican Vanilla: Natural vanilla spice, or pure vanilla, is extracted from the seed pods of the vanilla plant, which is a tropical orchid. Vanilla plants originated in South America, but are now grown in several countries including Madagascar, Tahiti, and Indonesia.

Mexico produces pure vanilla extracts; however, Mexican vanilla is often made with tonka bean, which has a similar taste and aroma as pure vanilla, but it comes from the tonka tree and not the vanilla plant.

Tonka bean contains a large amount of a compound called coumarin, which is toxic if ingested in large quantities. Coumarin can cause liver and/or kidney failure, cognitive impairment, and cancer.

Carefully read the labels on Mexican vanilla products and only use products from trusted Mexican manufacturers.

Middle Notes: When the top notes fade away, the middle notes of a fragrance are revealed. The purpose of the middle notes is to bolster the top notes, which are the weakest scent notes in a fragrance, and mellow out the base notes, which are the deepest and most robust scents notes in a fragrance.

Middle notes are also called mid notes or heart notes.

Musk: Natural musk is an animalic scent derived from the glands of male musk deer. Deer are killed to harvest musk. Due to conservation and animal-cruelty concerns, the use of musk in perfumery is greatly diminished and outlawed in many places; however, the poaching and trading of animals that produce musk continues.

Many perfumers use synthetic musk in their formulations, which is called white musk. Use of synthetic musk is very common in modern-day perfumery. Animal-derived musk can smell very offensive in pure concentration, but can smell very pleasant when diluted and mixed with other scents.

Notes: Notes are the scent layers that make up a fragrance: top notes, heart notes, and base notes. But notes can also refer to scent families like citrus notes, floral notes, woody notes and more.

Oak Moss: Oak moss is a lichen that grows primarily on oak trees. The essential oil of oak moss has an earthy woody aroma, and it’s typically used as a base note. It also works well as a fixative.

Oak moss has been used in perfumery for hundreds of years. It’s use is now heavily regulated because it can cause irritation to people with sensitive skin. Synthetic oak moss is common in modern fragrances and in re-formulated older fragrances.

Oceanic: Oceanic fragrances are inspired by scents associated with the ocean or water. Oceanic scents are achieved by using chemicals and essential oils that smell like the beach, or the ocean, or a pond, or even rain water.

Seaweed and oakmoss are commonly used in oceanic fragrances, and so is a marine-smelling chemical called calone or calone 1951. Oceanic fragrances are most often marketed to men.

See also Aquatic and Marine.

Opening: The initial fragrance smelled when a perfume or cologne is applied to the body. See also Top Notes and Head Notes.

Oud: (Ryhmes with lewd) Oud is a rare fragrant resin produced by agar trees. It’s also known as agarwood oil. Oud has a woody scent and is used in male, female, and unisex fragrances. It’s quality varies and the best-quality oud is very expensive.

Ozone or Ozonic: An ozonic scent is reminiscent of sea air, or the scent of air immediately before or after rainfall.

Parfum: Out of all the fragrance-dilution classes, parfum—also known as extrait de parfum or perfume—has the highest concentration of perfume oils. The actual amount of perfume oil in parfum ranges broadly from 15% – 40% with the most typical range being between 20% – 30%.

The high concentration of perfume oils gives parfum a robust scent. 6 – 8 hours is the expected time frame for parfum to linger on the body, but body chemistry and weather can affect the scent lifespan.

Due to its high concentration of pure perfume oils, parfum tends to be more expensive than other fragrance dilution classes. Parfum typically contains less alcohol than other dilution classes.

Perfume: Perfume is often used as a synonym of parfum, but is sometimes used as a general term for fragrance. In the United States, perfume is typically used to mean feminine fragrances of any perfume-oil concentration.

Sometimes the perfume bottle will state which fragrance dilution class the juice is despite being marketed as perfume. For example, it’s common in the U.S. to see a scent marketed as a perfume, and find that scent in a women’s department of a store, despite the fragrance being an eau de toilette.

Perfume Nerd: Someone obsessed with perfumes and fragrances in general. Perfume nerds typically collect fragrances and are often very knowledgeable about perfume making. Some perfume nerds have very sensitive noses and can pick out scent notes with little effort.

See also fragrance nerd and fraghead.

Perfume Oils: Fragrance essential oils, also known as volatile oils and perfume oils, are scented distilled liquids derived from plants or animals.

Petitgrain: Pronounced petty-grain, petitgrain is an essential oil collected from the leaves of the bitter orange tree. The aroma is green citrus with slight woody notes.

Projection Bubble: A projection bubble is the distance around a perfume-wearer’s body that a fragrance can be easily smelled by others. A healthy projection bubble is no more than 2 – 3 feet around the scent wearer. If the scent can be smelled farther away than 3 feet, the fragrance wearer has over-perfumed him/her self.

Re-Formulation: When established fragrances are changed it’s called re-formulation. This is done either to modernize a scent or to cut production costs. Re-formulations are often subtle and don’t always change the overall scent of a fragrance product. In some cases, only a sensitive nose can detect any changes in scent notes.

Sillage: Pronounced see-ahj, sillage is a French word meaning “wake” and refers to the scent trail a person wearing fragrance leaves when moving about.

Solute: The solute in a fragrance is perfume oil, otherwise known as aromatic oils and essential oils.

Solvent: The solvent is the part of a fragrance that isn’t perfume oil. The most commonly used solvent in perfumes is ethanol, which is also known as ethyl alcohol and grain alcohol. Ethanol is used to dilute perfume oil, which can be damaging to the skin in its pure form.

Spicy: Spicy fragrances smell like spices. There are quite a variety of spice scents used in perfumery. Spice notes can be fresh-smelling, warm, cool, sweet, or sour depending on the spice essences used in the fragrance formulation.

Splash: A splash is a light fragrance with a low concentration of pure perfume oil. Splash fragrances are dribbled into the hands and splashed onto the face rather than sprayed.

Tenacity: Tenacity, in perfumery, is the length of time a fragrance stays noticeable when applied to the body.

Tonka Bean: Tonka bean comes from the Brazilian Teak tree native to South and Central America. The seeds of the Brazilian Teak are called tonka beans.

Tonka bean has a mildly sweet and somewhat spicy aroma with a strong vanilla note.

Top Notes: The fragrance notes that are smelled immediately upon application of perfume, cologne, aftershave, or other fragrance type. Top notes tend to fade quickly thereby revealing the heart notes.

See also Opening and Head Notes.

Vanilla: Natural vanilla, or pure vanilla, is a spice extracted from the seed pod of some tropical orchids. *Mexican vanilla is often made from tonka beans, which are produced by tonka trees, and is not the same as pure vanilla, although it has a similar taste and aroma. Some products labeled “Mexican Vanilla” are actually pure vanilla, so read the label of any product you’re looking to buy/use.

Vanilla smells sweet, creamy, and lightly spicy. It’s considered an aphrodisiac and is used extensively in both men’s and women’s fragrances.

Many modern perfumes use synthetic vanilla, called vanillin, instead of the natural spice because it’s more stable in perfumes than the natural extract, and is much less expensive.

Vanillin: Vanillin is a synthetic version of the natural vanilla spice. It’s used in perfumes and as a flavoring agent in a huge variety of foods and beverages. Synthetic vanillin is not to be confused with natural vanillin, which is a compound found in natural vanilla spice.

White Floral: Perfume made from white flowers are called white florals. Common white-floral notes are gardenia, jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, honeysuckle, and lily of the valley.

White Musk: White musk is a synthetic form of musk intended to replace the use of animal-derived musk in perfume.

Wipe: A thin strip of paper that’s designed to hold liquid fragrance without disturbing the scent. Wipes are used to test perfume without applying it to the body.

Witch Hazel: Witch hazel is an extract from the witch hazel plant, which is a shrub or small tree depending on the variety and growth pattern. It’s used for a variety of medical issues like soothing insect bites, lightening age spots, and as a general skin cleanser and toner.

Witch hazel is commonly used by men post shave to soothe and protect skin from infection.

Woody: A woody scent, or note, is reminiscent of trees and wood. Common woody scents are tree bark, tree resin, pine cones, and moss.

Ylang-Ylang: Pronounced eelang-eelang, ylang-ylang is a fragrant floral extract made from the flowers of the ylang-ylang tree, also known as Conanga odorata tree.

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