38 Perfume Terms You Should Know

The world of perfumery comes with both familiar and completely new vocabulary. Here are 38 common terms you’ll encounter in fragrances.

1. Accord A blend of different scent notes that creates a new, unified impression—often used to replicate smells that can’t be naturally extracted, such as leather notes.

2. Animalic A term used to describe musky, skanky, or “dirty” notes often derived from animal sources such as musk, civet, or ambergris.

3. Anosmia A temporary or permanent loss of smell. In perfumery, this often refers to becoming “nose-blind” to your own fragrance after wearing it for a while, even though others can still smell it clearly. This is especially common with single-note fragrances such as Molecule 01, 02, and 03.

4. Aromatic Refers to herbal or “green” scents such as lavender, thyme, or rosemary.

5. Attar / Ittar Traditional perfume oils from Persia, India, and the Middle East. They’re produced by steam-distilling flowers, herbs, or other materials (like dried earth) or by infusing them into oils such as sandalwood—without using alcohol. This results in rich, concentrated scents. Notable examples include Al Attar and Xerjoff XJ Oud Attars.

6. Base Notes The heaviest and longest-lasting notes in a fragrance. They appear after the middle notes fade, forming the final character and depth of the scent. Common base notes include woods, moss, amber, and musk.

7. Balsams Oily, resinous materials with soft, sometimes slightly sweet aromas. Examples include Peru balsam, benzoin, and tolu balsam. They are often used as base notes.

8. Chypre A fragrance family characterized by mossy, woody, citrus, and animalic notes. Inspired by the scent profile of Cyprus and popularized by the 1917 François Coty fragrance “Chypre.” Due to modern regulations on oakmoss, many classic chypres have been reformulated, causing some confusion in classification today.

9. Citrus Notes from citrus fruits such as grapefruit, lime, lemon, tangerine, orange, and petitgrain.

10. Coffret A boxed set or collection of fragrances—usually mini sizes or discovery sets.

11. Compound A technical term referring to the chemical mixture that creates a fragrance, flavor, or aromatic blend.

12. Drydown The final stage of a fragrance’s life cycle, when the base notes linger after the top and middle notes have evaporated.

13. Eau de Cologne (EDC) The least concentrated perfume type, containing only 2–5% perfume oils. Originally from Cologne, Germany, EDCs are typically citrus-forward and light, often packaged in larger bottles for frequent reapplication.

14. Eau de Parfum (EDP) A fragrance concentration with about 10–20% perfume oils.

15. Eau de Toilette (EDT) A lighter fragrance concentration containing about 5–10% perfume oils.

16. Extrait / Extract / Parfum The most concentrated type of perfume available commercially, usually containing 20–45% perfume oils.

17. Factice A display bottle with no real perfume inside, used for merchandising and visual presentation in stores.

18. Flanker A new version or variation of an existing popular fragrance—similar to the original but with one or two notable changes. Common in mainstream brands (e.g., Chanel Coco & Coco Mademoiselle).

19. Floral Refers to scents inspired by flowers such as rose, jasmine, iris, or ylang-ylang.

20. Fougère A fragrance style inspired by ferns. Typically combines herbal notes, lavender, oakmoss, and woods. The name comes from Houbigant’s “Fougère Royale” from the late 1800s.

21. Fragrance Families Systems for categorizing perfume styles. The French system divides scents into 7 families: citrus, floral, fougère, chypre, woody, amber, and leather.Michael Edwards’ fragrance wheel divides them into 4: fresh, floral, oriental, and woody.Since no universal standard exists, a single fragrance may appear in different categories depending on the system used.

22. Fruity Notes inspired by fruits such as plum, blackberry, peach, apple, cherry, or strawberry—often blended with florals.

23. Gourmand Fragrance Fragrances inspired by edible or dessert-like notes such as vanilla, chocolate, caramel, or sweet fruits. Examples include Viktoria Minya Hedonist and Indult Tihota.

24. Heart Notes / Middle Notes The core of the fragrance, appearing after the top notes fade—typically around 10–20 minutes in. These notes define the main character of the scent.

25. Leather A fragrance category evoking smoky, leathery, or tannic aromas—commonly created using ingredients like birch tar.

26. Musk Originally derived from musk deer glands (now illegal), modern perfumes use synthetic musks, which often create clean, soft, skin-like scents.

27. Natural Refers to ingredients derived from natural sources rather than synthetic chemistry.

28. Nose / Perfumer A professional perfumer responsible for composing fragrance formulas. They typically undergo extensive training and often have a strong background in chemistry.

29. Note A single aromatic component within a fragrance.

30. Oriental A traditional fragrance category known for warm, heavy, long-lasting scents, often featuring amber, vanilla, musk, and resins.

31. Projection How far a scent radiates from the skin—the distance at which others can smell your perfume.

32. Sillage A French term describing the scent trail left behind after someone walks away. Unlike projection, sillage refers to how long the scent lingers in the air.

33. Skin Scent A fragrance with low projection that stays close to the skin—soft, subtle, and often musky.

34. Soliflore A fragrance designed to highlight the scent of a single flower, even though multiple ingredients may be used. Examples include By Kilian Love & Tears (jasmine) and Van Cleef & Arpels Gardenia Petale.

35. Solvent Extraction A common method of extracting natural aromas by soaking raw materials in solvents like hexane. The result is a solid material called a concrete, which is then washed with alcohol to produce an absolute.

36. Synthetic Ingredients created through chemical synthesis rather than natural extraction. Modern perfumery uses many synthetics like ambroxan (a substitute for ambergris) or calone, which creates fresh, ozonic, aquatic notes not found in nature.

37. Top Notes The first notes you smell when a perfume is applied. They’re lighter, evaporate quickly, and reveal the heart notes underneath. Citrus notes are common top notes.

38. Undertones A less commonly used term referring to the deeper underlying details of a fragrance that contribute to its unique character.