All you need to know about perfumery

Nose:

The nose or perfumer, is a talented person that understands the designer’s ideas and intangible concepts into a fragrance. There are only a few noses all over the world, and they are in charge to develop a new scent by blending different ingredients with the purpose of giving a unique personality to each fragrance.

Notes:

The notes are different scents that can be sensed since the application of a perfume. This notes are separated in three groups;

Head notes: Introduce into the perfume, it’s the aroma you smell first and evaporates very fast, around 5 to 30 minutes.

Heart notes: These unfold the skin after head notes linger off and prepares it for the base notes. Can be sensed for 10 to 30 minutes after application.

Base notes: Are dense, supportive and long-lasting aromas. Can be sensed after 30 minutes of application, remaining in the skin for 2 or 4 hours. Finally base notes boost and blend the head and heart notes.

Olfactive Family:

Citrus: One of the most popular families, some of them are pioneers in fragrance world. Has a fresh and classic-elegant aroma. Bergamot, Lemon, Mandarin and Neroli are the most common.

Fruits and Vegetables: These category has light, refresh and sweet aromas. Most of them used in female fragrances, but some are very popular in male scents, like Apple, Fig and Pear.

Floral: A wide family of flowers, this aromas add romantic and delicate-elegance in a fragrance. Most of these aromas are extracted from nature by different techniques and some are reconstructed in lab. The most common in male perfumery are Iris, Jasmine, Lavender, and Lilac.

Greens and Herbs: A powerful aromatic unisex notes, with a fresh-raw-countryside scent. The most popular are Cucumber, Juniper, Rosemary and Tea.

Spices: Notes with a long-lasting effect that you could find in your kitchen too. The most populars are: Cardamom, Coffee, Nutmeg, Vanilla and Tonka Bean.

Woody: This is the masculine olfactive family by excellence. Extracted by natural process from barks, roots, moss and bushes or produced via lab. The most common are Oud, Cedar, Patchouli, Sandalwood and Vetiver.

Resin and balsamic: Pair very well with woody scents and these are the most ancient components in perfumery (Oriental family).The most used are the Incense and Frankincense.

Animalistic and Leather: Originally this scents were obtained from the animals, nowadays most of them have been synthesized in the lab. Ambergris, Leather and Musk are the most popular.