Fragrances are often categorized into families—think of them as genres of scent. Michael Edwards’ Fragrances of the World, considered one of the leading classification systems in the industry, organizes scents into four primary families with subfamilies that offer even more nuance.

• Floral: The most popular family, floral scents highlight the aromas of fresh-cut flowers. They can range from single-note soliflore (like rose or jasmine) to lush bouquets.
  
• Amber: Warm, exotic, and often spicy. These scents may include vanilla, resins, incense, or musks.
  
• Woody: Earthy and grounded, woody fragrances feature notes like sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, or patchouli.
  
• Fresh: These scents are bright, clean, and invigorating—think citrus, green herbs, aquatic notes, or crisp air.

Understanding these families can help you articulate your preferences or shape the direction of a custom scent experience. At Scentex, we often begin scent design consultations by referencing these families to align with the mood, message, or emotion a client wants to evoke.

Fragrance is not static, it evolves on your skin and in the air. This evolution is described through the structure of top, middle, and base notes, which make up the fragrance pyramid. A top, a middle, and a base are all necessary components of a full fragrance. We smell in order of top > middle > base due to the size of the molecule (which informs the strength of the scent):

• Top Notes: These are the initial impressions of a fragrance—what you smell first, and are the lightest (weakest) molecule—the top note is the spark that sets the other scents alight. Typically light and volatile, they include notes like bergamot, lemon, or mint and fade quickly (within 15 minutes).
• Middle Notes (or Heart Notes): Middle notes are the heart of the scent, emerging as the top notes dissipate. Florals, spices, and fruits are common here.
• Base Notes: These give depth and longevity. Rich, grounding scents like amber, vanilla, musk, and woods. Base notes are the largest molecule, and move (and therefore, dissipate) the slowest, allowing scents to linger the longest.

We take these layers into account when developing all of our scent services to ensure a scent aligns with the duration and emotional arc of your event.

Both play an important role in modern perfumery. Natural extracts, like essential oils, have beautiful depth, but can be limited by availability, cost, and sustainability concerns. Synthetics, on the other hand, offer consistency, safety, and access to scents that don’t exist in nature, like ozone, or the smell of clean linen.

At Scentex, we work with both types of materials, always prioritizing quality, skin safety, and scent integrity, to meet the goals of each project. You can learn more about the difference between natural and synthetic scents here.

Here are a few other terms you may encounter in the world of scent:

• Sillage (pronounced see-yazh): The trail a fragrance leaves in the air after the wearer passes by. High sillage means a scent projects strongly, while low sillage stays close to the skin.
  
• Accord: A blend of multiple notes that create a new, unified scent—sort of like a fragrance chord in music.
  
• Nose: A term used for professional perfumers, the artists behind fragrance composition.
• Gourmand: A subfamily of scents that mimic edible delights like caramel, chocolate, or coffee.

The truth is, you don’t need to memorize French terms or master perfume pyramids to talk about scent. As Allure magazine notes in their guide to fragrance vocabulary, personal, emotional descriptors are often the most powerful. 

Think about what a scent reminds you of, how it makes you feel, or the kind of story it tells. If you’re unsure how to describe a scent, start with associations: “It smells like fresh laundry,” “like a walk in the forest after rain,” or “like my grandmother’s vanity.” 

Whether you’re hosting an activation, a wedding, or a corporate event, our custom scent experiences are designed to delight the senses, spark emotion, and leave a lasting impression that will be uniquely recalled by your guests.

Understanding fragrance terminology opens the door to more intentional, expressive scent experiences. Whether you’re looking to deepen your personal knowledge or develop a signature scent for your event, we’re here to help you find the words, and the notes, that resonate.

Explore what’s possible by exploring our various offerings, or reach out to learn more about our custom scent design services. Let’s create something unforgettable together, one note at a time.

Download our Fragrance Language guide here.