Fragrances – A Glossary of Terms

Absolute:  the essential oil of scented flowers and other aromatic plant parts in its purest and most concentrated form.  Among the most important oils used in an absolute form are cassie, champac, clary sage, geranium, ylang-ylang, jasmine, labdanum, lavender, lily mimosa, orange flower, rose, tuberose, violet and violet leaf.  Absolute imparts richness and an inimitable texture.  In the case of jasmine, it takes twelve thousand pounds of flowers to produce two pounds of oil, therefore yielding the very high price.

Accord:  In perfumery, this signifies a combination of a number of different scents which blend together to produce a new fragrance.

Aldehyde:  An organic chemical consisting of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.  Aldehylde have a powerful diffusive effect.  Aldehyde-type fragrances are characterized by a rich opulent top note.  The most famous of these is Chanel No.5.

Amber:  is an abbreviated form of ambergris.  When discussing perfume, the word demotes a fragrance found not only in ambergris, but also in  several other natural materials like labdanum or oakmoss.  Amber is also used to designate the fragrance family of perfumes usually called ‘Oriental’.

Ambergris:  One of the most valuable of perfume ingredients and also one of the most legendary.  Ambergris is found in oily, grey lumps floating in the sea, mainly in the Indian Ocean or cast upon its shores.  Its odor is most unpleasant in this raw state and it has to be diluted considerable by dissolving it in alcohol for it to be highly fragrant.  Quality perfumes which contain ambergris include:  Amouage, Miss Dior, Parure, and Vol de Nuit.

Aromachology:  a branch of aromatherapy concerned with the physiological effects of scents.  Current research is concerned with the selection of scents with calming of uplifting effects and the physical measurement of those effects.

Atomizer:  also called spray and vaporizer; in French it is called Vaporizateur.  A perfume bottle made with a pressure device, often operated by squeezing a rubber bulb, which discharges its fragrance as a fine spray.

Balsamic Note:  a term used in perfumery to describe the sweet, soft and warm fragrance of balsams and resins.

Bergamot Oil:  an orange-scented essential oil extracted by expression from the fruit peel of the Bergamot Orange tree.  The oil, one of the rarer and more valuable perfume materials, has a fresh, fruity fragrance, appearing in about 34% of all women’s perfumes.  ‘L’Heure Bleue’, Balahe’ and ‘Crepe de Chine’ all contain bergamot oil.

Bouquet:  a mixture of different floral notes in a perfume.  Also a perfume composed of a combination of perfumes from different Perfume Families.  Also a blend of different essences.

Chypre:  is used to designate one of the main Perfume Families.  Chypre perfumes are mostly based on oakmoss, patchouli, labdanum or clary sage, with the addition of flowery notes such as rose or jasmine, and a sweet note like bergamot of lemon.

Civet:  also called Zibetha, civet is one of the few perfume materials obtained from an animal and also one of the most important.  It is an excellent fixative and a constituent of many top-quality perfumes today.  ‘Bal a Versailles’, ‘Boucheron’ and ‘Parfum d’Hermes’ are examples of perfumes containing civet.

Cypress:  is an essential oil traditionally distilled in Provence and which liberates the amber and balsam.  Cypress is widely used in oriental, chypre and woody accords.

Diffusion:  is the ability of a fragrance to develop its notes harmoniously leaving an impression of unity and volume in the air.

Distillation:  is the main method of obtaining essential oils from plants, other methods being enfleurage, maceration, expression and extraction.  Distillation is based on the principal that when plant material is placed in boiling water, the essential oil in it will evaporate with the steam;  once the steam and oil have then condensed back, the oil will separate from the water, floating on the water’s surface, from which it can be collected.  Sometimes this process is repeated to obtain a purer essence.

Dominant Note:  is the olfactory effect of a perfume which is present throughout its diffusion.

Eau de Cologne:  is sometimes used in the same context as eau de toilette.  It was first developed in the early 18^th century and made popular by Napoleon.  It is a light, fresh citrusy scent,  based on citrus, neroli, lemon, bergamot and lavender, intended to be refreshing and airy, but not very long-lasting.   Modern eau de colognes  contain 3-5% perfume oil and 70% alcohol/water mix.

Eau de Parfum:  is the highest grade of Eau, containing 15-18% perfume oil mixed with an 80-9-% grade alcohol.

Eau de Toilette:  contains only 4-8% perfume oil in alcohol, making it stronger than eau de cologne and weaker that eau de parfum.

Enfleurage:  a process first used by the ancient Egyptians, by which the petals or other fragrant parts of a plant are steeped in fat or a non-evaporating oil which will absorb their fragrance.

Essence:  means essential oil.

Essential Oil:  is the odorous oil contained in the flowers, buds, leaves, stems, wood, fruit, etc.  Essential oils are composed of numerous organic compounds enabling synthetic perfumes to be produced.  They are the basic ingredients used by the perfumer in the preparation of a fragrance.  Essential oils are mixed with 96% proof alcohol in strictly prescribed portions.

Expression:  is a method of extracting oil from plants by applying pressure.

Extract:  commonly called perfume, this is the most concentrated perfumed product.

Extraction:  is a process developed in the nineteenth century for extracting the odorous principals of raw materials, such as rose, jasmine, or orange blossom.

Extrait:  is the most  concentrated form of perfume sold over the counter, consisting of 15-30% perfume oil in a high-grade alcohol.

Fixative:  is a perfume ingredient which prolongs the retention of fragrance on the skin and makes other fragrant ingredients mixed with it last longer.

Floral Note:  is a term used to describe one of the Fragrance Families.  This type of fragrance if primarily made up of flower essences.  Floral is the largest and most popular fragrance family.

Fougere:  means fern in French.  Fougere is a Fragrance Family, which describes a fragrance of fresh, herbaceous notes on a moss and fern-like base.

Formula:  is a very precise list of raw materials measured to the mearest milligram which compose a fragrance.  The formula is top secret only known to the perfumer.  It is not protected by any patent and is sometimes the object of poor counterfeit copies, which are immediately recognizable to professionals.

Fragrance:  derived from the Latin ‘fragrare’ (to smell), it denoted a pleasant odor.  In perfumery, it denotes the various concentrations such as perfume, eau de parfum, eau de toilette or eau de cologne.

Fragrance Blotter:  also called a smelling strip or a mouillette, this is a small strip of absorbent paper which perfume makers dip into their mixtures, allow to dry and than sniff in order to test the perfume being created.

Fragrance Components:  are the ingredients in a perfume.  Some may be composed with 200-300 ingredients, which is common in a modern quality perfumes.

Fruity Note:  the first was the peach note, a synthetic, evoking the odor of this fruit.  Today there are a considerable number of fruity notes derived from red fruit, exotic fruits and berries.

Gourmand:  is a note evoking ripe fruit or honey and even the tempting smell of chocolate, vanilla and cinnamon, transforming fragrance into an olfactory extension of the pleasures of taste.

Grasse:  is a town in Provence, in the south of France.  It has been the center of the French perfume industry since the 16^th century.  The location and unusually even climate of the Grasse region was particularly well suited for growing plants for perfumery, producing and processing thousands and thousands of tons of flower oils, such as jasmine.  Grasse remains the perfume capital of the world, with more that 30 factories processing perfume materials, including Chanel.

Green Notes:  is a term used in perfumery to denote the general fragrance of grasses and green plants.  It is also a Fragrance Family depicting fresh invigoration notes.

Heavy Notes:  denotes a fragrance which has the least volatile ingredients are dominant, giving a very strong effect.

Labdanum:  is of great importance in modern perfumery:  its fragrance closely resembles ambergris.

Linear Fragrance:  is a term used to describe a perfume whose top, middle and base notes present the same olfactory characteristics throughout its evaporation.

Micro-fragrance:  is also called micro-encapsulation and ‘scratch-and-sniff”.  It is a technique devised by 3M to coat a fragrance on to paper, so that their odor is released when scratched with a fingernail.  This way used to advertise perfume, for example, in magazines.

Middle Note or Heart Note:  this relates to the main fragrance of a perfume, which becomes dominant after the top notes have faded away on the skin.  It usually consists of floral, spicy or woody components.

Musk:  is probably the most powerful of all perfume fragrances, and certainly one of the most expensive.  It can only be used in extremely diluted form.  It is exceptionally long-lasting and very important as a fixative.  Musk has been a key constituent in very many perfumes ever since its discovery, being held to give perfume ‘life’, and musk or synthetic musk can be found in 35% of all quality perfumes and fragrances for men.

Narcotic:  in perfumery is used to describe exceptionally strong and heavy fragrances obtained from some flowers and animal ingredients.

Neroli:  is the perfume oil steam-distilled from the flowers of the Bitter Orange Tree.  It is used as a principal ingredient in about 12% of all modern quality perfumes.

Oceanic:  is a synthetically produced fragrance evoking ocean-like qualities.  These are fresh scented, slightly soapy fragrances.

Olfactory Memory:  is a particularly highly developed faculty, in the case of an experienced perfumer, who is capable of memorizing several hundred or even several thousand odors.

Oriental Perfumes:  form its own family of fragrances.  The Orientals contain key components reminiscent of the East, giving them a strongly exotic, spicy or balsamic character.

Palette:  is the complete range of raw materials used by a perfumer.  These are his/her favorite materials and notes, which like a painter’s palette, reflect his/her personality and particular characteristics.

Patchouli:  is an essential oil steam-distilled from the dried and fermented leaves of a mint-like plant called Patchouli.  The oil, which has a unique, cedar-like odor with spicy undertones which improves with age, is the most powerful of all the plant scents and one of the finest fixatives known.  It is used particularly in ‘heavy’ and oriental-type perfumes.

Perfume:  is a concentrated essence of fragrant materials diluted in a minimum possible amount of high-grade alcohol.  It consists of 15-30% of pure essential perfume oils, diluted in 90-95% pure alcohol.

Synthetic Fragrances:  are laboratory-made imitations of natural perfumes, or fragrances devised in a laboratory, which do not exist in nature.   Most perfumes today contain a high proportion of synthetic materials.

Tonka Bean:  is used both for flavoring and in perfumes, sometimes as a vanilla substitute.

Eau de Toilette:  signifies a preparation containing 4-8% perfume oils in alcohol.

Unguent:  is a semi-solid perfumed ointment or grease, often make by steeping fragrant plants or plant parts into animal fat.  In the early days of perfume, one would rub the perfume onto the skin.

Woody Note:  is a Fragrance Family.  This term is used to describe fragrances reminiscent of wood.  Woody notes appear in varying degrees in most modern perfumes.

Ylang-ylang:  is an essential oil used in high-class perfumery.  It is derived from the Ylang-ylang Tree.  The fragrance is sweet, jasmin-like and powerful.

Courtesy of:  The Perfume Book by Nigel Groom