A guide to perfumery: notes, the pyramid, accords, how scent is made, and how to wear it. Interactive modules and deep dives, then try it in the Builder →
Each section ends with a quick question; answer it right to tick it off. (0 of 8)
The heart of most perfumery - from soft to heady.
Which of these is a citrus note?
The bright opening, citrus and fresh notes are in full force.
Which layer of a perfume fades first?
Individual notes are like single musical notes; an accord is the chord they form, several notes the nose hears as one smell. Pick one to watch it come together:
Which notes make the fougère accord?
A house asks for a scent around an idea, a mood or a market: the constraints a perfumer starts from.
The perfumer (the 'nose') writes a recipe, often dozens to hundreds of naturals and molecules, weighed to the milligram.
Dozens of 'mods' are smelled on blotters and skin over months; the accord is tuned until it holds together from top to base.
The finished concentrate rests in alcohol for weeks so the molecules 'marry', like letting a stew develop before serving.
In perfumery, who is the 'nose'?
Steam carries volatile oils out of the plant; the condensed oil is the 'essential oil'. Used for lavender, rose, vetiver.
Citrus peels are simply pressed (no heat), which keeps the fresh, zesty smell intact.
Delicate flowers (jasmine, tuberose) are washed with solvent to yield a 'concrete', then an 'absolute', richer and truer than distillation.
Pressurised carbon dioxide extracts oils at low temperature: a clean, modern method that captures very lifelike smells.
A glass bell traps the air around a living flower (or any object); the molecules are analysed and rebuilt: how perfumers 'smell' things that can't be extracted.
How are rosewater and lavender oil usually obtained?
Strongest and longest-lasting; richest and most expensive.
Strong and long-lasting - the common premium format.
Lighter and fresher; great for daytime and warm weather.
Light and brief - a refreshing splash.
The lightest - very subtle and short-lived.
Which usually has the most perfume oil?
Should you rub your wrists together after spraying?
Incense and resins burned in Egypt and Mesopotamia: 'perfume' means 'through smoke' (per fumum).
Avicenna (Ibn Sina) is credited with refining steam distillation to draw oil from flowers; Persian rosewater and rose oil become prized across the Islamic world and beyond.
'Hungary Water' (one of the first alcohol-based perfumes) appears in Europe.
Houbigant's Fougère Royale uses synthetic coumarin, the first perfume built on a lab molecule.
A daring overdose of aldehydes makes an abstract, non-'flower' floral, and a legend.
Calone brings 'sea-breeze' freshness; Cool Water (1988) launches the trend that Acqua di Gio (1996) carries through the decade.
Independent houses put the perfumer's name first and push oud, ambergris accords and raw naturals.
Who is credited with refining steam distillation of flower oils?
Independent: a scent can last all day yet stay close to the skin.