Perfume Glossary

Highly concentrated perfume ingredient obtained by the alcohol extraction of the concrete. Absolutes usually come in the form of oil, much like essential oil, but are differentiated by the extraction method and odour intensity.

The basic character of a fragrance. Perfume accords are a balanced blend of three or four notes which create a completely new, unified odour impression, analogous to musical keys combining into a single chord that's part of a larger composition.

The process of using synthetic perfume materials to enhance or support natural raw materials. Also called sophistication, cutting, boqueting, diluting or rounding. Common in the material trade, where certain natural ingredients vary depending on their environment. Adulteration helps conserve the ingredient's original aromatic properties.

A method of instantly dispersing perfumes using a pressurised system and various propellants.

A descriptor for heavy, dry, earthy notes such as hay, tobacco, lovage and elderflower, and sometimes oakmoss when it leans hay-like and barnyard-dry rather than damp and mossy.

Arabic (المعطر), built from the root ʿ-ṭ-r, the same root behind ittar and attar, which relates to fragrance and perfuming. Al-Muattar translates literally as 'the perfumed one', describing the person wearing the scent rather than the scent itself. Being well-perfumed carries real social weight in Arab hospitality traditions, where fragrance is closely tied to personal presentation and how a host is received by guests.

An essential class of perfume ingredients that impart a vivid top note. First successfully incorporated into a perfume by Ernest Beaux in 1921, in Chanel No 5. An aldehydic fragrance is a floral bouquet harmonised with a complex of fatty aldehydes.

Prunus dulcis, an almond tree in the Rosaceae family, grown in two main varieties. Sweet almond is pressed into a carrier oil used to dilute other materials for skin application. Bitter almond is the variety behind marzipan's distinctive character, its kernel naturally contains amygdalin, a compound that releases toxic hydrogen cyanide when crushed, so genuine bitter almond oil is only used industrially once that toxic component has been removed.

A methylated ionone, structurally part of the same violet-ketone family as the ionones found naturally in violet flowers, orris root and raspberry. Soft and powdery, a backbone of iris and violet accords.

As a perfume group, amber is often synonymous with Oriental. It also describes scents that are sweet, woody and earthy. Labdanum, vanilla and benzoin all carry amber qualities. Amber as a note is almost always a blend rather than one particular ingredient.

A historic and valued perfume ingredient produced by the sperm whale as a result of consuming squid. The squid's beak irritates the stomach and a growth forms around this irritation, which is either regurgitated or passed through the whale's intestinal tract. It may float on the ocean's surface for years before landfall. Fresh ambergris has a marine, faecal odour, but as it ages it develops a sweet, earthy scent reminiscent of isopropyl alcohol without the vaporous chemical astringency.

A synthetic amber-woody molecule with no direct natural counterpart, structure proprietary to the manufacturer. Contributes warm, smooth sweetness with strong longevity.

Abelmoschus moschatus, a flowering plant in the Malvaceae family native to India and tropical Asia. The seeds are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, or solvent extracted to produce an absolute. Musky and wine-like with a faintly fruity edge, the classic plant-derived musk.

A tricyclic ether related to the ambergris-derived compound ambrein, and to sclareolide, which occurs naturally in clary sage. The benchmark ambery-woody-musk molecule, prized for its skin-like radiance and diffusive sillage. Juliette Has a Gun's Not a Perfume follows a similar minimalist formula, built almost entirely around this molecule. Buy the raw material directly below and you can wear the same effect, or build your own version of it, for a fraction of the retail price.

Amyris balsamifera, a small tree in the Rutaceae family native to the Caribbean. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Light and sandalwood-adjacent, though not a true sandalwood substitute.

Arabic for ambergris (عنبر), or for the warm, sweet accord built to imitate it. Historically one of the most prized natural fixatives in perfumery.

Angelica archangelica, an herb in the Apiaceae family native to northern Europe. The root is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Musky, earthy and faintly celery-like, an unusual and distinctive base note.

Characterised by bodily aromas most associated with traditional animal materials, musk deer, civet cat, beaver (castoréum) and sperm whale (ambergris). These are now rarely used in commercial perfumes and have largely been replaced with musks obtained from plants and synthetic molecules.

A methoxy-substituted benzaldehyde. Occurs naturally in anise seed, star anise and vanilla. Sweet, powdery and heliotrope-like, with an anisic edge.

Pimpinella anisum, an herb in the Apiaceae family native to the eastern Mediterranean. The seeds are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Sweet and distinctly liquorice-like.

A medical term for the total absence of the sense of smell, commonly the result of damage to the olfactory bulb. 'Specific anosmia' is a narrower and surprisingly common variant in perfumery, where someone smells everything normally except for one particular molecule, certain synthetic musks and amber compounds are frequent culprits.

A type of sweat gland found in specific areas of the body, whose secretions contribute to natural body scent and interact with whatever fragrance is worn over them.

The proper manner of fragrance usage to assure depth and character on the skin, usually involving layering. For example: splash eau de cologne/toilette all over the body, then smooth or spray perfume on all pulse points from ankles up, since fragrance rises. A guide to applying oil perfumes →

Molecules obtained from natural products or made by synthetic organic chemistry that have an aroma. Most synthetic aroma chemicals are nature-identical, chemically identical to the same molecule obtained from a natural source. Found in food, wine, spices, flowers, perfumes and essential oils; many form biochemically during fruit ripening or as fermentation by-products in wine.

The use of volatile plant oils, including essential oils, for psychological and physical wellbeing. The therapeutic use of pure essential oils and herbs in body massage, described by proponents as healing, beautifying and soothing to body and mind. The term was coined by French chemist R.M. Gattefossé.

Fragrance family or type denoting an intense, spicy-grass scent embodied by a combination of citrus and woody herbs, particularly lavender.

Withania somnifera, a shrub in the Solanaceae family native to South Asia, long used in Ayurvedic tradition. The dried root is used directly, without distillation. Earthy and faintly bitter.

A holy incense made by hand by the monks of Mount Athos in an ancient tradition. The scent derives from the distillation of the flowers, woods and resins of the flora of Mount Athos.

From the ancient Persian word 'to smell sweet.' Refers to essential oil obtained by distillation, particularly that of the Bulgarian rose, an extremely precious perfumery material. In India, attar (or ittar) more specifically describes botanical materials distilled straight into a base of pure sandalwood oil rather than alcohol, a technique long centred on Kannauj.

A system of wellness with roots in India.

Arabic for incense (بخور). Wood chips soaked in fragrant oil and combined with natural materials like resin and musk, then burned over charcoal to scent a home, majlis or item of clothing. A close cousin to the Levantine pastille tradition.

The result of carefully blended fragrance components, such that no one aromatic body or effect is readily identifiable on its own. The perfumer always seeks a balanced composition that resolves into one harmonious sensory experience.

Sticky, resinous materials obtained from trees or shrubs, giving a combined sweet-woody odour associated with well-seasoned, non-coniferous woods such as maple.

An odour characterised by a mild, sweet, vanilla note.

A kind of hair fixer, very popular in Western Europe during the 19th century. Referred to at the time as a 'fixature', alongside products like wax pomatum, while wax was used to smooth down stray hairs, bandoline was used the way hairspray is today, to fix a finished style in place. Read more, plus DIY formulas →

A descriptor for a pungent, earthy, animalic character reminiscent of leather, animal fur and soil, most often used for the deep, complex funk of Hindi oud.

The base notes, or 'fond' (French for 'bottom'), are the underlying, most enduring tones, responsible for a fragrance's lasting qualities, as base note materials have low volatility and high tenacity.

A long-running online fragrance community and database, similar in spirit to Fragrantica, with active discussion forums alongside its database of perfumes and reviews.

Ocimum basilicum, an aromatic herb in the Lamiaceae family. The leaves and flowering tops are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Green, anisic and herbaceous.

The natural differences between harvests of the same raw material, caused by soil, climate, timing and growing conditions, meaning this year's rose otto or vetiver won't smell perfectly identical to last year's. A normal and expected feature of working with naturals rather than synthetic aroma chemicals, which are consistent batch to batch.

Styrax tonkinensis, a tree in the Styracaceae family native to Southeast Asia. The resin, gathered from the bark, is extracted as a resinoid. Warm, sweet and vanilla-balsamic.

An ester of benzyl alcohol and benzoic acid. Occurs naturally in balsam of Peru, balsam of Tolu, cananga oil and ylang ylang. A mild-scented fixative and solvent that softens and rounds sharper materials in a blend.

Citrus bergamia, a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family native to southern Italy. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil. Bright citrus with a characteristic faint floral-tea nuance.

An effect described as a metallic greenness devoid of sweetness.

Picea mariana, a conifer in the Pinaceae family native to North America. The needles and twigs are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Crisp, resinous and coniferous.

A harmonious mixture of fragrance materials.

Highly absorbent paper, cut into fine strips and intended for dipping into a raw material or composition to allow for evaluation.

Matricaria chamomilla (German chamomile), a flowering herb in the Asteraceae family. The flowers are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, coloured deep blue by its natural azulene content. Sweet, herbaceous and warmly apple-like, softer and more complex than Roman chamomile.

The collective whole, but also fullness and richness, also used to describe the middle note or theme of a composition.

The dominant theme expressing well-known flower types, or a well-rounded blend of two or more fragrance complexes.

Eremophila mitchellii, a shrub in the Scrophulariaceae family native to Australia. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Smoky and ambery-woody, with a distinctive Australian botanical character.

An unglamorous technical term for an accord or chemical that smells of rancid butter or sour milk. Used in tiny amounts to add realism to certain tropical fruit notes, like mango or passionfruit.

A synthetic benzopyranone-type ketone with no significant natural counterpart. The defining 'ozonic' aquatic note of 1990s marine fragrances, a watery, melon-adjacent character.

A bracing, cool, menthol-like scent, as found in eucalyptus, tea tree or bay leaf.

Cananga odorata forma macrophylla, a tree in the Annonaceae family native to Southeast Asia, closely related to ylang ylang. The flowers are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Heady and banana-like, less refined than true ylang ylang.

The seed pods of Elettaria cardamomum, a rhizomatous herb in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) native to South India. The seeds inside the pods are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, and the whole dried pods are also used directly. Warm and spicy-green, with a eucalyptus-like lift.

A perfumer's personal reference collection of raw material samples, built up over years of training and used for blind evaluation and formula-building. Traditionally a physical set of labelled vials organised by family or note, though many perfumers now keep a digital version alongside it.

Cinnamomum cassia, a tree in the Lauraceae family native to China, a distinct species from true cinnamon. The dried bark is used directly, without distillation. Warm and spicy.

Acacia farnesiana, a shrub in the Fabaceae family native to Central and South America and now naturalised widely. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Sweet, spiced and honeyed with violet and clove-like facets. A material of the golden age of French perfumery, present in Chanel No 5 and Guerlain's Après l'Ondée.

The buds of Ribes nigrum, a shrub in the Grossulariaceae family, most closely associated with Burgundy in France. The buds are solvent extracted to produce an absolute. Green, tart and distinctly catty, an unusual and pungent material used sparingly to add realism and lift to fruity and green compositions.

A perfume material derived from the Canadian or Russian beaver, a creamy secretion from the two pear-shaped membranous sacs found in both sexes. Once removed, the secretion is dried and taken as a resinous substance, ultimately used in the form of a tincture prepared by rubbing down with orris root or clean sand, macerating in ethanol and carefully filtering.

Cedrus deodara, a conifer in the Pinaceae family native to the Himalayas. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Dry, with a pencil-shaving woody note.

Juniperus virginiana, a conifer in the Cupressaceae family native to eastern North America, a juniper rather than a true cedar despite the common name. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Softer and sweeter than Himalayan cedarwood, with a faintly smoky edge.

Magnolia champaca, a flowering tree in the Magnoliaceae family native to South and Southeast Asia. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Rich and tea-like, with a honeyed, slightly fruity depth. A sacred flower in Hindu and Buddhist tradition, used in temple offerings and worn in the hair, and long celebrated in Indian classical poetry as an emblem of romance. Champaca oil was historically one of the florals blended directly into sandalwood-based ittar in centres like Kannauj, alongside rose and other flowers.

What makes a note, harmony or perfume distinctive or singular.

Put simply, a form of matter having constant composition and characteristic properties. Everything you breathe, see, ingest or touch is made of chemicals. Water is dihydrogen monoxide. The air we breathe is made of oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen and more. An aroma chemical is a chemical that has an odour. There is no form of artistic expression more intimately connected with chemistry than perfumery.

A scientific method of analysis used to identify perfumery components.

Pronounced sheep-ruh. French for 'cypress', often synonymous with the modern term Mossy-Wood. François Coty popularised the term with his 1917 perfume 'Chypre'. Oakmoss, patchouli, sandalwood and vetiver are typical, alongside orris, calamus, clary sage and tarragon; a generous addition of citrus gives lift, and floral notes are rendered from jasmine, rose and cassis.

Cinnamomum verum, a tree in the Lauraceae family native to Sri Lanka. The bark is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, spicy and slightly sharp.

Cinnamomum verum, a tree in the Lauraceae family native to Sri Lanka. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warmer and more clove-like than the bark oil, with less sharpness.

A short-chain unsaturated alcohol, one of the 'green leaf volatiles' released by damaged plant leaves and grass. The 'cut grass' molecule, extremely potent and green, used in tiny traces for realism.

Cistus ladanifer, a flowering shrub in the Cistaceae family native to the Mediterranean, the same plant behind Labdanum. Where labdanum is the sticky resin gathered from the leaves and processed into a resin or absolute, cistus (or rockrose) oil is steam distilled from the leafy twigs themselves, giving a fresher, greener, more herbal-balsamic profile than the deeper, ambery labdanum.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species, an international agreement that regulates or restricts trade in materials sourced from at-risk species, including wild oud, some rosewoods and certain sandalwoods.

Cymbopogon winterianus, a lemon-scented grass in the Poaceae family native to Southeast Asia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Bright and lemony-green.

Odours from citrus fruits (orange, lemon, lime, mandarin, bergamot) that give fresh, fruity top notes, used especially in eau fraîche, classical and men's colognes.

Also called civet musk, obtained from the perineal glands of the African civet (Civettictis civetta), animals in the family Viverridae related to the mongoose. Historically the musk was scraped from civets kept captive in small cages, repeatedly stressed to increase secretion, a practice widely criticised for animal welfare and avoided by most reputable modern perfumers. TPA only uses a synthetic civet replacer, never the animal-derived material. A different species, the Asian palm civet (Paradoxurus hermaphroditus), is separately known for kopi luwak coffee, made from beans that pass through its digestive tract, a practice that has faced similar ethical scrutiny over captive, force-fed animals.

A contemporary fragrance descriptor for scents that evoke freshly laundered linen, soap or a shower rather than any specific natural material. Built almost entirely from synthetic aroma molecules, musks and aldehydes especially, rather than traditional florals or woods, 'clean' as a category has no real historical precedent before modern synthetic perfumery.

Syzygium aromaticum, a tree in the Myrtaceae family native to the Maluku Islands of Indonesia. The dried, unopened flower buds are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, spicy and medicinal-sweet, rich in eugenol.

The ability of a scent to linger long after contact, or to satiate the senses beyond a natural desire.

A modern extraction method that uses pressurised carbon dioxide as a solvent instead of heat or alcohol. Produces a 'CO2 extract' that's often closer in character to the living plant than a steam-distilled essential oil, since less heat-sensitive material is lost in the process.

French for a small box or case. In perfumery, a gift set or boxed collection, often a group of miniatures, a perfume paired with a matching lotion or oil, or a curated set of samples.

A perfume with a light concentration of 2-4% pure fragrance. Light, refreshing and suitable for frequent application. Also a popular preparation dating back to 17th-century Italy, developed by De Feminis; it first became popular in the city of Cologne, hence the name. A composition based on citrus compounds.

The finished mixture, obtained as the culmination of creative work.

Solid, waxy substance obtained by the solvent extraction of plant material (flowers, bark, leaves, etc). The absolute is obtained by alcohol extraction of the concrete.

Odours reminiscent of cone-bearing trees and shrubs, like pine.

A family of hard, high-melting-point resins, most from trees now extinct, dug from the soil where those trees once grew. Amber is the hardest and best known of the copals, itself odourless until destructively distilled.

Coriandrum sativum, an herb in the Apiaceae family. The seeds are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm and spicy-green, with a linalool-rich, faintly citrus character.

Centaurea cyanus, a flowering herb in the Asteraceae family. The dried petals are used directly, without distillation. Delicate and faintly sweet, valued more for colour and texture than fragrance strength.

A synthetic musk molecule. Structurally unrelated to natural musk (muscone, a macrocyclic ketone from the musk deer), though built to evoke a similarly soft, skin-like effect. A soft, skin-like musk.

A reference reproduction of a composition, kept on hand for comparison against later batches to make sure nothing has drifted.

French for blending. The practice of combining different batches or lots of a material, or different materials entirely, into a single consistent whole.

An oil-based fragrance concentrate worn undiluted or diluted only in a carrier oil, with no alcohol at all. Popular in Middle Eastern and South Asian perfume traditions, and closely related to attar and ittar.

Callitris intratropica, a conifer in the Cupressaceae family native to Australia's Northern Territory. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil, naturally coloured deep blue-green by its guaiazulene content. Smooth and ambery-woody, quite distinct from Northern Hemisphere cypress.

Cupressus sempervirens, a conifer in the Cupressaceae family native to the Mediterranean. The needles, twigs and cones are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Dry, resinous-green and coniferous.

Artemisia pallens, a flowering herb in the Asteraceae family native to India. The flowering tops are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Fruity and wine-like with a herbaceous, tobacco-like depth, an unusual and distinctive material that smells slightly different depending on what it's blended with.

To transfer a small amount of perfume out of its original bottle into a smaller container, for travel, testing or sharing samples, without buying a full bottle.

The traditional copper apparatus used for hydro-distillation in Indian attar-making. The deg is the still where raw material and water are heated over an open flame, and the bhapka is the receiving vessel, typically filled with sandalwood oil, into which the vapour condenses.

Arabic for 'fat' or 'oil' (دهن). Refers to a pure, undiluted oil extract of a single raw material, most famously Dehn al-Oud, the concentrated natural oil pressed or distilled directly from agarwood.

A historically common solvent and fixative in alcohol-based perfumery, valued for its clarity and neutrality. Increasingly displaced by alternative carriers in some markets due to regulatory scrutiny of phthalates, always check current local compliance before formulating with it.

A perfume released by a mainstream fashion or luxury brand and sold widely through department stores and retail chains, the opposite end of the spectrum from a niche release.

A monoterpene alcohol derived from myrcene, a compound that occurs naturally in hops, bay and verbena, though dihydromyrcenol itself is a synthetic hydrogenation product. A fresh citrus, woody, floral aroma chemical, one of the defining materials of the modern masculine 'fresh' category, giving that clean, laundered-linen lift you'll recognise from countless fine fragrances since the 1980s.

French for thinner or diluent, a liquid used to cut a concentrate down to a workable strength. In perfumery this overlaps heavily with solvent, though diluant leans toward the act of thinning something already made rather than extracting from raw material.

A deliberately non-harmonious combination of fragrance materials, the opposite intention to an accord. Occasionally used to mask an unpleasant smell in an industrial product, since a strong clashing scent can be more effective at covering something up than a pleasant one.

Steam distillation is used to collect the fragrant components (essential oils) contained in certain natural raw materials. In a still, hot steam is led through plant material laying above boiling water; the steam carries the volatile oils, and after cooling you're left with both the essential oil and the hydrosol, a fragrant water.

The material or facet that reads most strongly and immediately recognisable in a composition, regardless of whether it technically sits in the top, heart or base.

A near-odourless solvent used to dilute fragrance oils and aroma chemicals, the workhorse carrier for testing blends at bench-top concentration before deciding on a final base.

Describes the absence of sweetness, including woody, grassy and fern scents. A powdery character can also give the impression of dryness.

The final phase of a fragrance, the character that appears several hours after application. Perfumers evaluate the base notes and the tenacity of the fragrance during this stage.

Part of the broader Wood family, fragrances that read drier through elements of cedarwood or burnt wood. Dried tobacco and leather are often characterised as dry wood.

A Swiss-Dutch fragrance and flavour house formed in 2023, when Firmenich, founded in Geneva in 1895, merged with the Dutch chemicals group DSM. One of the industry's 'big four' houses, and the formulator behind materials including Hedione and Exaltolide.

An empty replica bottle used for retail display or advertising, doesn't contain any actual perfume, and protects the real stock from light damage, tampering or theft on the shop floor.

Industry slang for an unofficial, cheaply made copy of a designer or niche perfume, sold by a different company under a different name. Distinct from a flanker, which is an official variant released by the original house itself.

A large Southeast Asian fruit famous for a scent so strong and divisive it's banned on public transport in several countries, often described as a mix of ripe fruit, custard, onion and gym socks. Occasionally referenced in perfumery discussions as the extreme end of what a 'pungent' or challenging note can mean.

Distortion of the sense of smell. Includes phantosmia (a smell perceived without an external stimulating vapour) and heterosmia (where all vapours smell alike).

The musty, stale smell of freshly turned soil.

A perfume containing 8-20% pure fragrance mixed with alcohol or oil. TPA perfumes sit at eau de parfum to parfum grade, around 20-25% concentration, meaning you can use less for the same impact, so each bottle lasts longer.

Contains 4-8% fragrance concentrate. Light yet relatively lasting.

Canarium luzonicum, a tree in the Burseraceae family native to the Philippines. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Peppery and citrus-green, with a resinous character related to frankincense.

A perfume manufacturing technique involving immersing raw materials in odourless fats, solid at room temperature, to capture the fragrant compounds exuded by plants. Petals are placed between layers of purified fat, which become saturated with flower oil; alcohol is then used to obtain the absolute.

The extract of a substance that retains its fundamental or most desirable properties in concentrated form.

The 'essence' of plants, obtained by distillation of the plant material or its concrete. Plant materials include flowers, grass, stems, seeds, leaves, roots, bark, fruits, tree moss and tree secretions.

The alcohol itself, the chemical compound used broadly as a solvent and carrier across perfumery, cosmetics, medicine and industry. In perfumery it's what dilutes and carries the concentrated oils, and modifies how a fragrance opens and develops on the skin.

A descriptor for fragrances with a light, delicate, almost weightless quality, built from soft florals, clean musks or airy citrus rather than anything heavy or dense.

Eucalyptus globulus, a tree in the Myrtaceae family native to Australia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Sharp, medicinal and camphoraceous.

Corymbia citriodora, a tree in the Myrtaceae family native to Australia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Citronella-like and lemony-green, considerably less medicinal than blue gum.

A descriptor for notes or accords that are fleeting and quick to dissipate on the skin, closely related to volatility, but used more as a poetic description of the effect than a technical term for it.

An aromatic benzoate ester, built to replicate compounds found naturally in oakmoss lichen (Evernia prunastri). The key material replicating oakmoss's dry, mossy character since natural oakmoss is restricted.

A macrocyclic lactone, a 15-membered ring structurally related to the natural musk lactones found in angelica root and ambrette seed. A soft, powdery macrocyclic musk with excellent tenacity.

An essential oil extraction process performed exclusively on the peels of citrus fruits.

French for 'perfume extract', the strongest standard concentration, typically 20-30% or more pure fragrance in the finished product. Sits above eau de parfum in both intensity and lasting power.

Fragrances constructed in a similar manner, with key ingredient combinations in common, are said to be in the same fragrance family.

A material, usually a base note, added to a composition to slow the evaporation of more volatile ingredients and anchor the fragrance, extending how long it lasts on the skin.

French for a small bottle. In perfumery it specifically means a premium, decoratively crafted perfume bottle, as distinct from a standard commercial spray container.

A new fragrance released as a variation on an existing, usually successful, perfume, sharing its name and bottle design but with a tweaked composition. In practice this often means the original juice with one or two notes swapped or intensified, sometimes literally drawn from the same production vats with small adjustments, then sold under a slightly altered name such as Intense, Elixir, Parfum or Eau Fraiche. Dior's Sauvage Elixir, Chanel's Bleu de Chanel Parfum and Giorgio Armani's Acqua di Gio Profondo are all flankers of their respective originals. Common among mainstream and designer fragrance houses, the opposite of a niche release built from scratch.

Fragrance family or type, either characteristic of a specific flower, or a blend of several flower notes.

A fragrance note or family denoting a sweet, powdery base with deep floral and spicy elements.

The overall floral character or intensity of a composition, how much a fragrance reads as flower-forward, ranging from a faint floral nuance to a bold, saturated bouquet.

Pronounced 'foo-jair' (with a soft 'j', almost 'foo-shair'). Derived from the French word for fern, denoting a fragrance family defined by coumarin with hints of lavender, oakmoss and geranium.

Separating an essential oil into its different components by distillation, usually to isolate a specific fraction with a desired character.

Informal slang for a fragrance enthusiast, someone with a sizeable collection, a habit of research and reviews, and strong opinions on notes and houses.

Covers two related habits. The first is applying different formats of the same fragrance line together (soap, lotion, oil, perfume) to build intensity and make it last longer on the body. The second is combining two or more unrelated perfumes on the skin at once to create a personal, one-off blend that neither bottle achieves alone.

Either straight aroma chemicals, or a mix of aroma chemicals and natural ingredients like essential oils, extracts and resins. Often used in high-end scented candles for their strength.

The classic three-tier structure used to describe how a perfume unfolds over time: top notes, heart notes and base notes, each departing at a different rate as the composition dries down on the skin.

A collection of fragrances a person owns to meet different moods, occasions and times of day.

A large, community-run online fragrance database and review site, widely used to look up a perfume's listed notes, read reviews, and browse by fragrance family or brand.

Boswellia sacra (syn. Boswellia carterii), a tree in the Burseraceae family native to Somalia and the Arabian Peninsula. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is used directly or steam distilled to produce an essential oil. Resinous and balsamic with a faintly citrus-green lift.

Boswellia serrata, a tree in the Burseraceae family native to India. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. A similar resinous character to carterii frankincense, slightly greener and fresher.

Freesia refracta and related hybrids, flowering plants in the Iridaceae family native to South Africa. The living flower yields very little usable oil, so the freesia note in perfumery is almost always a reconstruction built from aroma molecules rather than a true natural extraction. Light, sweet and slightly fruity, with a fresh, airy floral character.

A broad fragrance family covering scents that read crisp, clean and just-showered, typically built from citrus, green notes, aquatic accords or light musks. A looser, more general category than Clean or Solar, which each describe a more specific version of freshness.

Casual slang, most often for a car air freshener, the hanging cardboard or paper kind rather than a fine fragrance, though the word sometimes gets used loosely for any strongly 'fresh'-smelling scented product.

A fragrance family or type indicating scents of sweet, fresh or tart edible fruits (coconut, peach, pear). Citrus generally sits in its own category rather than here.

A polycyclic musk built on a fused tricyclic pyran ring system, with no natural counterpart. The ubiquitous clean 'laundry musk' found in countless fine fragrances and detergents.

A gum resin tapped from Ferula galbaniflua, a flowering plant in the Apiaceae family native to Iran and Central Asia. Used directly as a resin or steam distilled into an essential oil. Sharp and bitter-green, evoking crushed stems and freshly cut leaves.

The primary Sanskrit word for aroma or odour, and the root behind many modern Indian words for fragrance and perfume.

Gardenia jasminoides, a flowering shrub in the Rubiaceae family native to East Asia. Like several other delicate white flowers, natural gardenia absolute is rare and difficult to produce well, so most gardenia notes in perfumery are built from aroma molecules rather than true extraction.

Pelargonium graveolens, a flowering shrub in the Geraniaceae family, this crop grown in South Africa's Western Cape. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Rosy, green and minty-herbaceous, a classic rose extender.

An ester of geraniol and acetic acid. Occurs naturally in geranium, citronella, lavender and many other essential oils. Fruity-floral, rose-and-lavender-adjacent.

The rhizome of Zingiber officinale, a flowering plant in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae). The rhizome is steam distilled to produce the essential oil, and the dried whole root is also used directly. Warm and spicy, with a faint citrus lift.

A Swiss fragrance and flavour house headquartered near Geneva, founded in 1895 and the largest in the industry by revenue. One of the 'big four' houses, alongside DSM-Firmenich, IFF and Symrise, that between them formulate most of the aroma molecules used across modern perfumery.

A sugar-alcohol obtained from natural sources, used as a skin protectant and moisturiser in soap for its water-retaining properties.

The 'five tastes' (五味), a classification system used alongside Rikkoku by Kōdō masters to describe agarwood using taste words rather than modern fragrance vocabulary: sweet (amai), bitter (nigai), spicy or hot (karai), sour (suppai) and salty (shiokarai).

A food-like quality in a fragrance, most commonly associated with sweet fruit or dessert-like scents (coconut, pear, vanilla). As a fragrance family it's a relatively modern invention, usually traced back to Thierry Mugler's Angel in 1992, which built an entire perfume around synthetic edible notes like cotton candy, caramel and chocolate, an idea considered radical at the time.

Citrus paradisi, a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil. Grown in several varieties distinguished by flesh colour, most commonly White and Pink (also called Ruby), which differ slightly in sweetness but yield a very similar oil. Bright, bittersweet citrus.

Generally Recognized As Safe, a US regulatory designation for raw materials considered safe for use in personal care products like lipstick and facial cream.

A town in the Provence region of southern France, considered the historical capital of perfumery. Its favourable climate for growing rose, jasmine and other flowers, combined with centuries of accumulated expertise, made it the centre of the French fragrance industry from the 18th century onward.

Fragrance family or type reminiscent of fresh-cut grass, leaves, or a warm, moist forest. Characteristic of some lighter herbs, green tea or cucumber.

A natural exudation from certain plants or trees, made up of gum and resin, sometimes with a small amount of essential oil. Only partly soluble in alcohol or common solvents, and of limited use in perfumery unless that essential oil content is present.

A casual community term for a scent kept specifically for the gym, usually something cheap, easy and unlikely to be missed if it gets sweated off, rather than a proper signature scent.

A method for capturing the scent of a living flower or material that can't be distilled or solvent-extracted without damaging or destroying its character, lily of the valley, violet leaf and lilac are classic examples. A sealed chamber captures the volatile molecules surrounding the material, which are then analysed and recreated using aroma molecules.

An exhilarating, rich and stimulating scent.

The middle, or 'heart', notes make up the main blend of a fragrance that defines its family or accord. It usually takes ten to twenty minutes for the middle notes to fully develop on the skin.

The methyl ester of a cyclopentane fatty acid, closely related to the natural jasmonates found in jasmine flowers. Transparent, radiant and slightly citrus-jasmine, famous for adding 'air' and diffusion to a composition; a defining material of Eau Sauvage.

The living flower of Heliotropium arborescens yields very little usable oil, so the heliotrope note in perfumery is built almost entirely from heliotropin (piperonal), a synthetic aromatic aldehyde with a powdery, almond-like, vanilla-adjacent character. Soft and powdery with a warm, slightly sweet depth.

A grassy-green, spicy and somewhat therapeutic note, thyme, chamomile.

Oud sourced from India, prized for a strong, animalic, earthy 'barnyardish' character that gives real depth and complexity, a favourite in traditional Indian and Middle Eastern perfumery.

Short for fragrance house, the company that formulates and releases a perfume, whether a large commercial name or a small independent operation. TPA itself operates as a small, solo house.

Hyacinthus orientalis, a bulb flower in the Asparagaceae family, traditionally classed with the lilies, native to the eastern Mediterranean and long cultivated around Grasse, France. The living flower's scent is difficult to capture directly, so the hyacinth note in perfumery is usually built from aroma molecules.

A distillation method where plant material is fully submerged and boiled directly in water, rather than exposed to steam passing through it. The traditional method behind deg and bhapka attar production.

An abnormally heightened sensitivity to smell, the opposite of anosmia.

A fossilised deposit of rock hyrax urine and excrement, found in rock crevices across Southern Africa, also called Africa stone. Historically used as an animalic fixative in the same category as civet, castoreum and ambergris. TPA does not source hyraceum, preferring synthetic alternatives for these animalic effects.

The International Federation of Essential Oils and Aroma Trades, a London-based trade body founded in 1968 for the natural raw materials side of the industry, growers, distillers and traders of essential oils, absolutes and aroma chemicals, distinct from IFRA, which governs safety standards rather than trade. Best known for its large annual conference connecting the global essential oil supply chain.

International Flavors & Fragrances, a US-based fragrance and flavour house listed since 1964 and one of the industry's 'big four' houses. Formulates many widely used aroma molecules, including Iso E Super, Galaxolide, Vertofix and Vertenex.

The International Fragrance Association, the industry body that sets usage limits and safety standards for fragrance materials worldwide. TPA's compositions and safety documentation are prepared with IFRA standards in mind.

A broad umbrella term for fragrant material burned to scent a space, ranging from raw resins and wood chips to shaped pellets and sticks. Used across countless cultures and religious traditions, from Egyptian kapet to Arabian bakhoor to the wood-based Kōdō tradition of Japan.

Indole is a molecule found naturally in white flowers like jasmine and tuberose. In small amounts it gives flowers their heady, narcotic richness; in higher concentrations it smells of decay. 'Indolic' is the descriptor perfumers use for that character, and it's added deliberately to bring a raw, animalic warmth to floral compositions.

A fragrance that projects so strongly it intrudes on the personal space of people nearby, read as inconsiderate in close quarters like an office or elevator rather than simply having good projection.

A class of aroma molecules related to the compounds that give violets their characteristic scent, ranging in character from woody and floral to fruity and powdery depending on the specific isomer. A backbone of violet, iris and many modern woody-floral accords.

The international technical standard that defines the terminology and classification used for natural aromatic raw materials in perfumery, essential oils, absolutes, concretes, resinoids and the like, giving the trade a shared, formal definition of what counts as 'natural'.

A polycyclic ketone with no direct natural counterpart, though structurally related to the woody terpenoids found in vetiver. Smooth, velvety, near-skin woody-amber, one of the most widely used modern perfumery materials. Escentric Molecules built its well-known Molecule 01, released in 2006, almost entirely around this single material, an early and influential example of the minimalist, one-molecule school of fragrance. Buy the raw material directly below and you can wear the same effect, or build your own version of it, for a fraction of the retail price.

A single chemical compound separated out from a natural essential oil, eugenol isolated from clove oil is a classic example, rather than a material built up from scratch synthetically.

Arabic in origin, with two related meanings: traditionally, the artisan who blends natural botanical and oil-based scents, and the alcohol-free perfume oil itself. In India specifically, ittar (often spelled attar) refers to botanical materials distilled directly into a base of pure sandalwood oil rather than alcohol, a technique historically centred on Kannauj.

French for 'garden'. Used to describe a fragrance built around the impression of a specific garden or natural setting, typically a multi-floral, green composition rather than a single flower.

Jasminum grandiflorum, a flowering vine in the Oleaceae family. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Rich, indolic and heady.

Jasminum sambac, a flowering shrub in the Oleaceae family. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Sweeter, fruitier and slightly greener than grandiflorum jasmine.

A Guerlain perfume from 1889, created by Aimé Guerlain and widely considered the first modern perfume built deliberately around synthetic aroma chemicals, coumarin and vanillin among them, rather than relying purely on natural materials.

French for 'juice'. The liquid perfume concentrate itself, before it's diluted down with alcohol into an eau de parfum or eau de toilette.

The deliberate pairing of contrasting elements within a composition, light against dark, sweet against bitter, fresh against warm, to create tension and interest rather than a single, uniform impression.

A city in Uttar Pradesh, India, sometimes called the 'Grasse of the East' for its centuries-old perfume-making tradition. Attar is still distilled there using deg and bhapka, the traditional copper stills and water receivers, much as it has been for generations.

Ancient Egyptian (κῦφι in Greek), originally meaning simply 'any substance to be burned'. It grew into an elaborate temple incense built from around sixteen sacred ingredients, including raisins, wine, honey, myrrh and frankincense, burned at sunset in devotion to the sun god Ra.

A fragrance note inspired by kirsch, a clear cherry liqueur, sweet, fruity and faintly boozy, used to add an indulgent, slightly grown-up edge to gourmand and fruity compositions.

A structured incense-identification game played within Kōdō (組香), where participants try to identify different rare aromatic woods by scent alone, often guided by classical poems associated with each round.

The highest grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (伽羅), sourced from Vietnam and prized for a gentle, graceful character with a subtle bitterness. Kyara isn't really a type of wood at all, it's an immune response: when an Aquilaria tree is wounded by lightning, insects or fungus, it slowly secretes a dark, dense resin to heal itself, a process that can take centuries. The old-growth wild trees capable of producing it have been almost entirely depleted, and cultivated agarwood can't replicate the same resin structure, which is why genuine wild Kyara can sell for many times the price of gold by weight. One traditional test: true Kyara is so saturated with resin that it sinks in water, unlike ordinary wood.

An ornately decorated lacquer box (香箱) used within Kōdō to store precious incense woods and the tools used to prepare and appreciate them.

Japanese for 'the Way of Incense' (香道). A meditative, ceremonial art of scent appreciation, ranked alongside tea ceremony and flower arranging among Japan's classical refined arts. Rather than wearing perfume on the body, practitioners focus on the quiet, disciplined appreciation of aromatic woods.

Cistus ladanifer, a flowering shrub in the Cistaceae family native to the Mediterranean. The resin, gathered from the leaves and twigs, is solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Warm, ambery and leathery-sweet.

A creamy, milky, faintly peachy or coconut-like scent quality, driven by lactone-family molecules. Softens and rounds out gourmand, floral and fruity compositions.

A saturated fat found in plants, particularly coconut and palm kernel. Used in soap for its skin-soothing and anti-microbial effects.

Lavandula x intermedia, a hybrid shrub in the Lamiaceae family, a cross between true lavender and spike lavender. Grown on a huge scale across France and North Africa, it's one of the highest-volume natural materials in perfumery, sharper and less refined than true lavender.

Lavandula angustifolia, a flowering shrub in the Lamiaceae family native to the Mediterranean. The flowering tops are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Herbaceous, floral and slightly camphoraceous, the backbone of the Fougère family.

Fragrance type and odour resembling the sweet, pungent smokiness characteristic of the ingredients used in the leather-tanning process.

Citrus limon, a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil. Bright, sharp citrus.

Melissa officinalis, a lemon-scented herb in the mint family (Lamiaceae). The dried leaves are used directly, without distillation. Soft, lemony-green.

Aloysia citrodora, a flowering shrub in the Verbenaceae family native to South America. The dried leaves are used directly, without distillation. Bright, intensely lemony.

Syringa vulgaris, a flowering shrub in the Oleaceae family native to the Balkans. Like several other delicate spring flowers, the living bloom yields very little usable oil, so the lilac note in perfumery is almost always a reconstruction built from aroma molecules rather than a true natural extraction. Sweet, green and softly floral.

Citrus latifolia, a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil. Tart, green citrus.

A cyclic ether formed from the oxidation of linalool, a monoterpene alcohol. Occurs naturally in tea, lavender and various fruits. Soft, floral-woody, with a tea-like nuance.

A fragrance that stays fairly consistent from application through to dry down, rather than shifting distinctly through top, heart and base phases. Not necessarily a flaw, some of the most memorable modern perfumes are built to be linear on purpose.

Litsea cubeba, a tree in the Lauraceae family native to East Asia. The fruit is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Lemony and fruity-green.

How long a fragrance remains perceptible on the skin before fading out entirely, distinct from dry down, which describes what it smells like in its final hours rather than how long it lasts.

A word from the Maniq, a hunter-gatherer people of Thailand, describing the smell of old logs, wet soil and wild mushrooms found deep in the forest, a scent the Maniq associate with safety and shelter. One of a small number of abstract, dedicated smell-words found in indigenous languages, where English and French mostly have to reach for comparisons instead, like 'smells like smoke'.

A word from the Jahai, a hunter-gatherer people of Malaysia, for the specific metallic smell of blood, raw meat and fresh fish, a category the Jahai keep entirely separate from their word for ordinary rotten smells. Like the Maniq's lspas, an example of a dedicated abstract smell-word rarely found in Western languages.

The traditional burner used to smoulder bakhoor over charcoal (مبخرة), often an ornately decorated piece of clay, metal or porcelain, passed around a room or among guests.

A style of bakhoor made from finely ground or shredded agarwood soaked in fragrance oil (مبثوث), producing a denser and more intense smoke than standard wood-chip bakhoor.

A compounded oil popularised by celebrated London barber Alexander Rowland. In 1793, it became one of the first nationally advertised products, boasting extravagant claims of thickening and growth stimulation. It was an effective hair and beard styling agent, giving shine, lustre and, importantly, scent. History, recipes and formulas →

Myristica fragrans, the same tree as nutmeg, but this material comes from the lacy red aril that wraps around the nutmeg seed rather than the seed itself. The dried aril is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm and spicy like nutmeg, but lighter, softer and slightly more delicate.

Soaking a raw material in a liquid, usually alcohol or oil, over time to draw out its aromatic compounds. Closely related to tincturing, and the traditional method for preparing materials like castoreum.

Ancient Egyptian for a thick, fragrant unguent paste. High-society Egyptians famously wore cones of madjet, fat or wax infused with myrrh and flowers, on top of their heads at banquets, letting the heat of the room slowly melt it to release scented oil over their hair and clothes through the evening.

A grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (真南蛮), sourced from Cambodia, with high oil content and a sweet scent.

A grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (真那賀), sourced from Malaysia, light, airy and balanced in character.

Origanum majorana, an herb in the Lamiaceae family native to the Mediterranean. The flowering tops and leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, herbaceous and slightly camphoraceous.

Traditional marketing categories grouping fragrances by gender association, woody and spicy typically marketed as masculine, sweet and floral as feminine. Increasingly blurred and contested as more fragrances are released or worn as unisex.

Letting a finished perfume composition rest for a period, anywhere from days to months, before bottling. The individual materials continue to interact and settle during this time, rounding out into a more harmonious whole than the mixture smelled on day one.

Derived from Cocos nucifera, a palm in the Arecaceae family. The oil is fractionated to isolate its medium-chain triglycerides. Light and virtually odourless, used as a carrier.

A tall wood or wicker frame placed over a mabkhara (مدخن), so rising incense smoke passes through and settles into clothing draped over it rather than dispersing into the room.

Named for the ancient Egyptian city of Mendes, a heavy, complex perfume oil built from myrrh, cassia, pine resin and balanos (desert date) oil, exported across the Mediterranean and worn by Egyptian royalty, sometimes described as antiquity's answer to Chanel No 5.

A highly regarded, pungent Egyptian-style perfume later adopted by the Greeks (μετώπιον), made by pressing bitter almonds with galbanum resin, cardamom and myrrh.

The ancient and medieval medical belief that disease spread through foul smells and noxious air. Because of this, doctors and perfumers were often one and the same, using heavy incense, floral waters and aromatics as a believed chemical shield against infection.

Acacia dealbata, a tree in the Fabaceae family native to Australia, cultivated in the south of France since around 1820. The flowers and twig tips are harvested in early spring and solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Delicate, waxy and sweet, and valued as much for its fixative properties as its scent.

Able to mix with another liquid to form a single, stable solution without separating back out. A key property when choosing a solvent or carrier for a fragrance material.

Arabic for musk (مسك). A foundational base note in Arabic perfumery, valued for a clean, powdery, long-lasting character.

The celebrated 'scent of rain', made by baking earth or clay and distilling it directly into a base of sandalwood oil, capturing the aroma of dry soil meeting the first monsoon rain.

A further-refined form of steam distillation carried out under very high vacuum and low temperature, allowing heat-sensitive fractions to be separated out with more precision than standard distillation. Used to produce the cleanest, most refined cuts of materials like patchouli, stripping away the heavier, muddier facets.

Japanese for 'listening to incense' (聞香), the term used within Kōdō in place of 'smelling'. The word choice reflects the practice's meditative intent, opening the mind to absorb a scent rather than simply detecting it. The wood itself is never burned, since smoke would mask its delicate character. Instead, a small coal is buried inside a cup of fine ash, the ash is shaped into a smooth cone with a vent down to the heat, and a paper-thin, silver-edged mica plate is rested on top. A sliver of wood the size of a grain of rice is placed on the mica, where rising heat gently vaporises its aromatic compounds without ever producing smoke.

A seasonal category from South Asian perfume culture, fragrances chosen to suit rainy weather, typically balancing earthy, fresh or spicy notes against the damp air.

Often referred to as Chypre fragrances, characterised by wet, grassy, woody scents, like oakmoss.

The French term for lily of the valley, one of the three most-used florals in perfumery.

Arabic for 'mixture' or 'blend' (مخلط). A custom-composed perfume oil built from several materials together, commonly oud, rose, saffron and amber, worn as one layered scent rather than a single ingredient alone.

Originally derived from the perineal glands of the Tibetan musk deer, now an endangered and protected animal. TPA only uses musk odours derived synthetically or from plants to achieve the same fragrant result, a warming, sensual element in perfume.

The foundational Greek word for scented oil (μύρον), distinct from plain olive oil used for cooking or sport. Myron meant oil that had been treated, boiled and aged with aromatics, and is the linguistic root behind 'myrrh'.

Ancient Greek perfume shops. The Greeks adopted many Egyptian perfuming techniques but democratised them, opening dedicated commercial shops selling scented oils and studying the science of smell itself.

Commiphora myrrha, a thorny tree in the Burseraceae family native to the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is used directly or steam distilled to produce an essential oil. Warm and balsamic with a faintly medicinal edge.

A Melaleuca species (honey myrtle), a shrub in the Myrtaceae family native to Australia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Sweet and honeyed, with a faint camphoraceous edge.

Backhousia citriodora (lemon myrtle), a tree in the Myrtaceae family native to Australia, a different genus to true myrtle despite the common name. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. A lemony-green variant.

Narcissus poeticus, a bulb flower in the Amaryllidaceae family. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce a rare, expensive absolute, historically produced in very limited quantities each year. Green, hay-like and leathery.

In perfumery, refers to aroma chemicals produced by or using living organisms (plants or animals), with the aroma molecule isolated as a distinct aromatic chemical. From a chemistry perspective, natural ingredients are structurally identical to lab-made aroma molecules: same structure, same behaviour on the body. Perfumes labelled 'natural' commonly use essential oils, absolutes and concretes as opposed to fragrance oils.

Citrus aurantium (bitter orange), a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The flowers are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Fresh and honeyed orange blossom.

Boutique, artisanal perfumes produced on a small scale, with minimal or non-existent presence in mainstream retail, the scents you'd likely find at a perfume specialist or high-end fragrance boutique.

Borrowed from the language of music, indicating an olfactory impression of a single smell, or the three parts of a perfume: top note, middle note, base note.

Myristica fragrans, a tree in the Myristicaceae family native to Indonesia. The seed is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, spicy and slightly woody-sharp.

Evernia prunastri, a lichen in the Parmeliaceae family that grows on oak and other trees. It's extracted as an alcohol tincture. Earthy, mossy, forest-floor character, one of the defining materials of the Chypre family.

A scent chosen and reserved for a specific kind of event, a date night, a job interview, a wedding, rather than worn as an everyday signature.

A natural exudation from certain plants or trees containing gum, resin and essential oil together, myrrh and frankincense are the classic examples. The name used commercially varies, sometimes just 'gum', sometimes the plant's own name.

Relating to the sense of smell. The olfactory bulb is the part of the brain that processes smell, and connects directly into the areas responsible for emotion and memory.

Also called nose blindness, the temporary loss of sensitivity to a particular smell after prolonged exposure to it. Well known to anyone testing several perfumes in a row, where the first few notes fade from perception the longer you sniff.

Also called sweet myrrh, the resin of Commiphora guidottii or Commiphora erythraea, trees in the Burseraceae family native to the Horn of Africa. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is used directly or steam distilled. Warm and balsamic like myrrh, but sweeter and less medicinal.

The peel of Citrus aurantium (bitter orange), a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The essential oil is cold pressed from the peel. Tart and faintly bitter.

Citrus sinensis (sweet orange), a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil, and the dried peel is also used directly. Juicy and sweet.

Fragrance family or type denoting heavy, full-bodied and tenacious perfumes, with amber notes dominant. The term comes from the French for 'East', a reference to the origins of many key ingredients used in the family.

The root of Iris germanica or Iris pallida, flowering plants in the Iridaceae family native to the Mediterranean. The rhizomes are dried and aged for up to five years before steam distillation, since the aromatic compound only develops slowly as the root dries out, which is why orris butter is one of the most expensive materials in perfumery. Powdery, cool and faintly carroty, with a soft violet-like depth.

Osmanthus fragrans, a flowering shrub in the Oleaceae family native to China. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Apricot-like and leathery, a genuinely distinctive floral prized for its unusual fruit-and-suede character.

A perfume conservatory in Versailles, France, dedicated to preserving historic and discontinued fragrances, including many formulas that would otherwise have been lost entirely to reformulation.

Also agarwood, aloeswood or gharuwood (عود), a fragrant, dark, resinous wood formed in the heartwood of Aquilaria trees when they become infected with a type of mould. Deep, animalic and complex, running from smoky and leathery through to sweet, barnyard-funky and balsamic, and shifting considerably as it develops over hours on the skin or on burning incense. Oud has been prized for over a thousand years across the Middle East, South Asia and East Asia, burned as incense in Arabian bakhoor and at religious and social occasions, used in Japan's kōdō incense ceremony under the name jinkō, and referenced in ancient Sanskrit and Islamic texts as a mark of luxury and hospitality. Because the resin only forms in a small proportion of wild, infected trees, genuine oud has long been one of the most expensive natural materials in the world, and wild Aquilaria populations are now protected under CITES, with most modern supply coming from cultivated, artificially inoculated trees.

A descriptor for a fresh, clean, airy quality reminiscent of fresh air or the moments before a storm, often with a slightly metallic or aquatic edge. Common in modern, sporty fragrances, and distinct from a purely oceanic or marine note.

Cymbopogon martini, a grass in the Poaceae family native to India. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Rosy-green, with a geranium-like character.

The most highly concentrated form of fragrance, the strongest and most lasting. Perfume may contain hundreds of ingredients within a single formulation.

Petroselinum crispum, an herb in the Apiaceae family. The seeds are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Green and slightly spicy-herbaceous.

A form of granulated or powdered incense material mixed with a sticky binder (dried fruit, honey, or a soft resin) and formed into pellets, balls or shards, then allowed to mature and dry so the fragrances can amalgamate and become more coherent. The main incense style used in Levant cultures, known in Arabic as bakhoor (بَخُورٌ), and in Eastern Orthodoxy as thimiama. Japan has a related tradition of kneaded incense called neriko or awaseko.

Applying a small, diluted amount of a new material to the skin and waiting 24 hours before wider use, to check for any irritation or allergic reaction. Standard good practice before using any new raw material or finished fragrance directly on skin.

Pogostemon cablin, an herb in the Lamiaceae family native to Southeast Asia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, sold in different grades depending on how far the distillation is taken. Dark patchouli is the traditional, least processed cut, heavy and earthy with a muddy, animalic depth. Light (or clear) patchouli is redistilled further to strip out that heaviness, giving a softer, cleaner profile. Molecular distilled patchouli takes this furthest still, isolating just the desirable facets for the most refined version with the least of the raw, muddy character. Earthy-woody throughout, ranging from heavy and dark to soft and clean depending on the cut.

Includes calcium and magnesium; used to maintain the stability of soap.

Piper nigrum, a flowering vine in the Piperaceae family native to South India. The dried fruit (peppercorns) is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, dry and spicy.

Schinus terebinthifolius, a tree in the Anacardiaceae family native to South America, unrelated to true pepper. The dried fruit is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Fruity-spicy, softer than black pepper.

An umbrella term covering how a fragrance behaves once worn, its longevity and its projection or sillage together, rather than any one of those on its own.

A specific ethanol blend formulated for perfumery use, denatured with additives chosen to be low-odour rather than the harsher denaturants used in some industrial ethanol, so it doesn't interfere with the fragrance itself. The standard carrier for spray and eau de parfum formats.

An expert or professional who creates perfume compositions, sometimes affectionately called a 'nose' (nez in French, parfumeuse for a woman) for their fine sense of smell and skill in producing olfactory compositions. Other cultures have their own words for the role: sani' itour (صانع عطور) and khabir itour (خبير عطور) are the modern Arabic terms for a commercial perfume maker and a fragrance expert respectively.

Myroxylon balsamum var. pereirae, a tree in the Fabaceae family native to Central America. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, sweet and vanillic-balsamic.

Citrus aurantium (bitter orange), a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family. The leaves and twigs are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Green, with a bitter-orange-leaf character.

The pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a long period of warm, dry weather. Coined by Australian scientists in 1964, more precisely it names the combination of plant oils and geosmin, a compound released by soil bacteria, that lifts into the air just before and during rainfall. Humans are unusually sensitive to it, able to detect geosmin at concentrations as low as parts per trillion. Some scientists suggest humans inherited an affection for the smell from prehistoric ancestors who relied on rainy weather for survival.

An olfactory hallucination, the medical term for smelling something that isn't physically present, often triggered by migraines, head injury or neurological changes. Usually presents as a phantom smell of smoke, chemicals or burning rubber.

A descriptor for a smoky, medicinal or antiseptic quality in a fragrance, associated with compounds like phenol, guaiacol and cade oil. Adds intensity and a slightly sharp, clinical edge where used.

An aromatic alcohol. Occurs naturally in rose otto, where it's one of the main components, as well as in several other floral oils. A clean, soft rose note, often used as a partial rose alcohol as well as a fragrance material in its own right.

From the French pomme d'ambre, 'apple of amber'. A perforated precious-metal sphere worn around the neck or waist in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, packed with heavily spiced wax, musk and ambergris. Worn to mask the stench of the streets and, it was believed, to ward off the miasma thought to carry disease.

A mix of dried flowers and spices kept in an open container to scent a room.

Sweet, dry, somewhat musky odour, reminiscent of talcum powder or rose. Orris, heliotrope, violet and certain musks are among the materials most responsible for a powdery effect.

How far a fragrance radiates outward from the skin, distinct from sillage, which describes the trail it leaves as the wearer moves. A perfume can have strong projection but weak sillage, or the reverse.

An organic alcohol used in soap, in small amounts, to help the lather wash off cleanly with water.

A sharp, intense smell quality, strong enough to be a little irritating or overwhelming at close range.

The Land of Punt, an ancient trading region (likely somewhere in the Horn of Africa) that Egyptian traders depended on for their finest raw aromatics. The name became shorthand for the very highest grade of imported frankincense and myrrh.

Daucus carota, a wild flowering herb in the Apiaceae family, and the wild ancestor of the cultivated carrot. The flowering umbels and seeds are steam distilled to produce a green, earthy, faintly carroty essential oil, used by some natural perfumers for its unusual vegetal character.

A fragrance note capturing the tart-sweet, faintly floral aroma of the quince fruit, used in both fruity and floral compositions for a crisp, slightly unusual edge.

A class of aromatic chemical compounds, some of which contribute smoky, leathery, almost tar-like facets to a composition. Turns up in leather and tobacco accords looking for that harder, more industrial edge.

From the Latin quinta essentia, 'fifth essence', an old alchemical concept for the purest, most concentrated essence of a substance, distinct from the four classical elements. Early distillers and perfumers used the term for a material's most refined extract, before the modern vocabulary of essential oils and absolutes settled in.

A grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (羅国), sourced from Siam (modern-day Thailand) and known for a sharp, pungent, assertive character.

An oil built from nature-identical synthetic materials, designed to match a named essential oil as closely as possible, both in its chemical makeup and in how it actually smells.

Removing impurities from a raw material by redistilling it.

The process of altering an existing perfume's formula, usually because a material has become restricted, unavailable or prohibitively expensive. A major driver behind reformulation is IFRA's periodically updated usage limits, which is why an older 'vintage' bottle of a fragrance can smell noticeably different from what's sold today.

Extracts of gums, balsams, resins or roots (e.g. orris) that consist wholly or partly of resinous materials, generally used as fixatives in perfume compositions.

A resinous extract obtained by treating balsams, gums, resins or dried plant material with a volatile solvent, distinct from an absolute, which comes from a concrete by alcohol extraction rather than direct solvent treatment. Typically used in the base of a composition.

Analysing an existing perfume with lab equipment like GC/MS to work out roughly what's in it. Modern equipment can reveal a great deal about a formula within days, which is part of why dupes and clones are able to get so close to the original.

The Research Institute for Fragrance Materials, an independent body that conducts and reviews much of the safety research IFRA's standards are built on.

Literally 'the six countries' (六国), a classification system within Kōdō that sorts aromatic agarwood into six broad types by origin and character, further described using taste-like descriptors such as sweet, sour and salty.

A French, family-owned fragrance house based in Grasse, and one of the largest suppliers specialising specifically in natural raw materials rather than synthetic aroma chemicals, long associated with Grasse's rose and jasmine harvests.

A cyclic terpene ether. Occurs naturally in rose otto and geranium oil, where it contributes their characteristic green, metallic-rosy top notes. Used to sharpen and lift rose accords.

Rosa centifolia, a flowering shrub in the Rosaceae family, grown especially in Grasse, France. The petals are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Rich, honeyed and deep, distinct from the lighter Rose Otto distillation.

Rosa damascena, a flowering shrub in the Rosaceae family. The petals are steam distilled to produce rose otto, also called the attar of rose, or solvent extracted to produce a rose absolute, richer and deeper than the otto since solvent extraction captures compounds that heat and pressure leave behind. Brighter and greener than Rose, Centifolia in its otto form.

Aniba rosaeodora, a tree in the Lauraceae family native to the Amazon. The wood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Soft, floral-woody. Also called Bois de Rose.

Wearing a changing selection of different fragrances across different days rather than reaching for one signature scent every time, the opposite instinct to a signature scent.

A pure, undiluted essential oil made through steam distillation of flowers or herbs in Indian perfume tradition. Unlike attar, which is distilled directly into a diluting base of sandalwood oil, ruh is the raw, concentrated material on its own.

Small fabric bags filled with perfumed powder, dried petals, herbs or scented tablets, tucked into drawers, closets or luggage to scent fabric and enclosed spaces over time.

A standardised document detailing a material's hazards, safe handling, storage and composition, required for the safe supply of chemicals and fragrance materials. TPA prepares and supplies these on request for materials sold through the shop.

Salvia apiana, a shrub in the Lamiaceae family native to the southwestern United States. The dried leaves are used directly, without distillation, traditional in smoke-cleansing practices. Dry, herbaceous and resinous.

Santalum album, a hemi-parasitic tree in the Santalaceae family native to South Asia. The heartwood is steam distilled to produce the essential oil, the benchmark sandalwood species. Creamy, warm and milky.

A grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (佐曾羅), sourced from western India, with a cooling, dry, slightly sour character.

The small, close radius of fragrance immediately around the wearer's skin, closely related to a skin scent style, where little to nothing is perceptible beyond arm's length.

Choosing a fragrance to suit the weather, lighter citrus and green notes for warmer months, heavier ambers, spices and woods for cold ones.

A complex, traditional Indian perfume made by distilling a blend of many different spices, herbs and flowers directly into sandalwood oil. Rich, spicy and warm, and historically one of the more elaborate products of centres like Kannauj.

Abies sibirica, a conifer in the Pinaceae family native to Siberia. The needles are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Fresh, resinous and coniferous.

The one fragrance a person is known for and reaches for consistently, worn often enough that others come to associate it with them specifically.

Pronounced see-yazh. The aura, or scent trail, created by a perfume when it's worn on the skin.

The combination of skin pH, oil production, temperature and diet that makes the same perfume smell slightly different from one person to the next, and part of why a fragrance is worth testing on your own skin before committing to a bottle.

A very light, close-to-the-body fragrance style designed to read as an enhanced version of the wearer's own skin rather than announce itself from a distance. Popularised in recent years by musk and ambrette-forward compositions with deliberately minimal projection.

Mostly refers to scents reminiscent of incense, burnt wood or amber.

A fragrance family or type with a soft, warm, powdery base, softened by the intense freshness of a floral bouquet. One of the oldest and most important fragrance families, typified by Chanel No 5. Today it's one of the most under-represented families in terms of new releases. TPA hopes to change that.

A fragrance family with tones of incense paired with flowers, spices and amber, creating a softer style of Oriental.

A descriptor for scents that evoke sun-warmed skin, suntan lotion or a beach holiday, typically built from notes like coconut, frangipani, ylang ylang, immortelle and salicylates.

A perfume built around a single flower, aiming to capture that one note as true to life as possible rather than blending it into a wider composition.

A liquid, commonly hexane or ethanol, used to dissolve and draw aromatic compounds out of raw plant material. The starting point for concretes and absolutes, and for the resinoids made from gums and resins.

The process of steeping raw plant material in a solvent to draw out its aromatic compounds. The solvent is then removed, leaving behind a concrete, which is further processed with alcohol to produce an absolute.

A naturally occurring sugar-alcohol used in soap to help prevent moisture loss.

Mentha spicata, an herb in the Lamiaceae family. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Fresh, sweet and minty.

Piquant or pungent notes such as clove oil and cinnamon, characteristic of carnation, ginger, lavender, or the chemical spicy notes of eugenol and isoeugenol.

The thickening or fixing agent used in Greek perfumery. Without alcohol as a base, perfumers needed another way to bind scent to oil, so resins, honey and gums were used as a spissamentum, to slow evaporation and lock the fragrance in.

Greek for 'dropping' or 'distilling' (στακτή). It described the natural, unpressed weeping of fresh myrrh resin, collected before any heat or pressure was applied, the purest and most expensive form of myrrh oil available in the ancient world.

A fatty acid found in plants, especially cocoa and shea butter.

Stephanotis floribunda, a flowering vine in the Apocynaceae family native to Madagascar, sometimes called Madagascar jasmine despite being unrelated to true jasmine. The flowers are notoriously difficult to extract by solvent, so true stephanotis absolute is exceptionally rare and expensive, most fragrance reconstructions of it are instead built using headspace technology to capture the living flower's scent and recreate it from aroma molecules. Waxy and heady, with jasmine, gardenia and orange blossom facets, closely associated with bridal bouquets.

A descriptor for a soft, velvety, slightly powdery leather effect, gentler and less sharp than a full leather accord.

Latin for 'of its own kind'. Used to describe a scent so distinctive it doesn't fit neatly into an existing fragrance family.

A grade of agarwood within Rikkoku (寸聞多羅), sourced from Sumatra, shifting between sour and bitter as it develops.

The Greek world's celebrated lily perfume (σούσινον), named after souson, lily. Making it was extraordinarily labour-intensive, requiring the petals of thousands of lilies macerated repeatedly in oil over several days to capture their crisp floral character. Pliny the Elder noted that Greek men favoured it as an aftershave.

Lathyrus odoratus, a flowering climbing plant in the Fabaceae family. The living flower doesn't yield a usable natural extract, so the sweet pea note in perfumery is built entirely from aroma molecules rather than true extraction. Sweet, green and delicately floral.

A German fragrance and flavour house headquartered in Holzminden, formed in 2003 through the merger of Bayer's fragrance division Dragoco with Haarmann & Reimer. One of the industry's 'big four' houses alongside Givaudan, DSM-Firmenich and IFF.

Perfume ingredients produced by synthetic organic chemistry rather than biosynthetically by a plant. In most cases, the synthetic ingredients used in perfumery are nature-identical, chemically identical to the molecule made by the plant.

A fragrance that carries deep personal meaning for the wearer beyond how it actually smells, tied to a memory, a person or a period of life, and worn as much for that association as for the scent itself.

Artemisia dracunculus, an herb in the Asteraceae family. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Green and anisic-herbaceous.

Tasmannia lanceolata, a shrub in the Winteraceae family native to Tasmania. The berries are solvent extracted to produce the absolute. Warm, peppery and fruity.

Melaleuca alternifolia, a shrub in the Myrtaceae family native to Australia. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Medicinal, camphoraceous and green.

A class of hydrocarbon compounds found throughout essential oils, responsible for much of their characteristic scent. Highly volatile and reactive, terpenes are also part of why citrus oils oxidise and lose freshness relatively quickly.

An essential oil that's had its terpene content removed, usually to improve stability, slow oxidation, or concentrate the material's remaining aromatic compounds.

A descriptor for fragrance notes derived from terpenes, the organic compounds found throughout essential oils. Terpenic notes range from citrusy and pine-like to more complex herbal facets, and generally read as fresh, natural and botanical.

Molecules used to bond ingredients together, used in soap to help it wash cleanly off the skin and out of the shower.

Named for the writer Marcel Proust, the psychological term for an intense, involuntary rush of memory triggered by a smell. The olfactory bulb connects directly into the amygdala and hippocampus, the brain's centres for emotion and memory, which is why scent can unlock vivid recollection faster and more powerfully than any other sense.

Fragrant materials produced by directly soaking and infusing raw materials in room-temperature or warm alcohol.

An earth mineral, ideal for sensitive skin, used for colour in soap.

Nicotiana tabacum, an herb in the Solanaceae family native to the Americas. The cured leaf is solvent extracted to produce a tobacco absolute. Warm, dried and faintly honeyed, with a sweet hay-like depth.

A traditional unit of measurement for perfume oil (تولة), roughly 11.7 grams or about 12 millilitres, still commonly used when selling attars and concentrated oils across South Asia and the Middle East.

Myroxylon balsamum var. balsamum, a tree in the Fabaceae family native to South America, closely related to the tree behind Peru Balsam. The resin, harvested by tapping the bark, is used directly or solvent extracted. Warm, sweet and cinnamon-like, brighter than Peru Balsam.

The seed of Dipteryx odorata, a tree in the Fabaceae family native to South America. The bean is tinctured in alcohol to extract its aromatic compounds. Warm, hay-like, almond-vanilla character, rich in coumarin.

The first impression of a fragrance when sniffed or applied to the skin.

Polianthes tuberosa, a flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family (formerly classed with the agaves) native to Mexico. The flowers are solvent extracted to produce the absolute, an extremely labour-intensive process since the flowers continue producing scent after picking and must be processed quickly. Heady, creamy and narcotic, one of the most intense white florals. Cultivated by the Aztecs before Spanish colonisation carried it to Europe, where it became a fixture of Victorian perfumery, folklore of the time held it so intoxicating that young unmarried women were advised against smelling it alone in a room. Today it's grown commercially for perfumery mainly in India and Egypt, alongside a smaller, prized harvest still carried on in Grasse.

Curcuma longa, a rhizomatous plant in the ginger family (Zingiberaceae) native to South Asia. The rhizome is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Warm, earthy and slightly woody-spicy.

The subtle characteristics of a fragrance's background.

A fragrance designed to suit all genders.

Valeriana officinalis, a flowering plant in the Caprifoliaceae family. The dried root is used directly, without distillation. A famously pungent, earthy-animalic character, used sparingly.

Vanilla planifolia, a climbing orchid vine in the Orchidaceae family native to Mexico and Central America. The cured seed pods are solvent extracted to produce the absolute, since true vanilla essential oil is impractical to produce at scale. Rich, warm and deeply complex, more layered than vanillin alone.

Vanilla planifolia, a climbing orchid vine in the Orchidaceae family native to Mexico and Central America. The cured pods are extracted and concentrated to five times the strength of standard vanilla extract. A strong, true vanilla character.

A descriptor for a vanilla-like quality in a fragrance, ranging from sweet and dessert-like to warm and softly aromatic, whether it comes from real vanilla, vanillin, or another material contributing a similar effect.

An aromatic aldehyde. The primary aromatic compound in cured vanilla pods, also found in trace amounts in other plants. The classic sweet vanilla note.

A synthetic aroma molecule. Green and honeyed, with a linden-blossom character.

A cyclohexyl acetate ester with no direct natural counterpart. Soft, woody-floral cedar note.

A polycyclic ketone derived from cedrene, a terpene found naturally in cedarwood oil. Dry, leathery cedarwood with excellent tenacity, common in masculine woody compositions.

Chrysopogon zizanioides, a dense-rooted grass in the Poaceae family native to India. The roots are steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Earthy, smoky and woody, with a damp, root-cellar depth, one of the true foundation materials of perfumery.

The acetate ester of vetiverol, an alcohol that occurs naturally in vetiver root oil. Smoother, drier and less earthy-raw than vetiver essential oil itself, with a soft woody-amber facet that blends easily into a base without dominating it.

In perfumery, an older formulation of a fragrance made before a reformulation changed its recipe. Distinct from the wine-style meaning of a good or bad year, here it simply means 'made under the old formula', prized by collectors when the original ingredients were richer or higher-concentration than what replaced them.

Viola odorata, a small flowering plant in the Violaceae family. The leaves, rather than the flowers, which don't yield a usable extract, are solvent extracted to produce violet leaf absolute. Green, cucumber-like and slightly metallic, quite different from the powdery, ionone-driven character most people associate with 'violet' as a note.

Simmondsia chinensis, a shrub in the Simmondsiaceae family native to the Sonoran Desert. The seeds are cold pressed to produce a liquid wax. Stable and skin-friendly, used as a carrier.

A substance that evaporates readily at room temperature. In perfumery, the most volatile materials are experienced as top notes, gone quickest, while the least volatile linger as base notes.

Arabic for rose (ورد). Ward Taifi, rose grown around Ta'if in Saudi Arabia, is especially prized, a crisp, honeyed variety of the same damask rose used to produce Rose, Damascena.

An aquatic or oceanic fragrance with a clean, watery scent.

Pimenta racemosa, a tree in the Myrtaceae family native to the Caribbean. The leaves are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, traditional in bay rum. Warm, spicy-clove character.

A fragrance family built from flowers that are white, particularly jasmine, tuberose, gardenia, freesia and similar. Typically heavier, richer and sexier than rose or iris, and often carries a touch of indole for its heady, narcotic depth.

Wisteria sinensis and related species, climbing vines in the Fabaceae family native to East Asia. Like lily of the valley, the living flower's scent can't be captured by distillation or solvent extraction without destroying it, so the wisteria note in perfumery is built from aroma molecules using headspace technology. Light, sweet and slightly powdery, with a delicate green-floral character.

A fragrance family and odour linked to the aroma of freshly cut, dry wood or fibrous roots, such as sandalwood or vetiver.

A fragrance group characterised by spicy Oriental elements paired with warm wood accords, like sandalwood or vetiver.

Cananga odorata, a tree in the Annonaceae family native to Southeast Asia. The flowers are steam distilled to produce the essential oil, traditionally collected as separate fractions as the distillation runs. Extra (or 1st) is drawn off earliest and is the lightest, most floral and most prized fraction. 2nd and 3rd are drawn off later in the run and grow progressively heavier, woodier and less refined. Complete is the entire distillation collected together without fractioning, giving a fuller, rounder profile that sits between the individual cuts. Heady, creamy, banana-and-jasmine-like across all fractions, with the balance shifting from bright and floral (Extra) to deep and woody (3rd).

Citrus junos, a citrus tree in the Rutaceae family native to East Asia. The peel is cold pressed to produce the essential oil. Bright and tart with a slightly floral-green edge, more complex than lemon or lime.

Geranium macrorrhizum, a flowering herb in the Geraniaceae family native to the Balkans. The whole herb is steam distilled to produce the essential oil. Minty-green and herbaceous with a slightly musty, woody undertone. Zdravets means 'health' in Bulgarian, and the plant has long been grown alongside damask rose in Bulgaria's rose valley, traditionally worn as a folk charm for good health.

A loose, contemporary marketing descriptor for a calm, minimalist, meditative-feeling composition, usually clean green tea, soft woods or gentle florals rather than anything loud or complex.

The oil-rich outer peel of a citrus fruit, released by scraping, grating or pressing. The everyday word behind the citrus top notes captured through cold press extraction.