Perfume Notes Are Not Ingredients: How to Read a Fragrance Pyramid
A fragrance pyramid can promise passion fruit, amber or warm milk without revealing the formula. Here is what perfume notes actually tell us – and what they leave out.
Guides
Practical perfume guides, recommendations and explanations designed to make fragrance easier to explore, without unnecessary rules.
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Perfume Projection, Sillage and Longevity: What They Actually Mean
Projection, sillage and longevity describe different parts of a perfume’s behavior. Here is how to tell them apart without turning your wrist into a research laboratory.
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Jasmine in Perfumery: The White Flower That Refuses to Behave
Jasmine can smell green, luminous, creamy, indolic, vintage or almost indecent. Here is how perfumers use it—and five fragrances that explain why I never tire of this unpredictable white flower.
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What Is a Blue Fragrance? Beyond the Bottle Color
“Blue fragrance” sounds like a proper olfactory category, but it is really an informal shorthand for a modern style built around freshness, aromatic lift, clean woods and diffusion. Here is how to recognize it—and why the bottle color is only marketing.
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Bergamot in Perfumery: The citrus note that does far more than sparkle
Fresh, bitter, floral and quietly indispensable: bergamot does far more than open a perfume. Five fragrances show how versatile this Calabrian citrus can be.
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Neroli, Orange Blossom and Petitgrain: Same Tree, Different Mood
One tree, three genuinely different perfume materials. Here’s what actually separates neroli, orange blossom absolute and petitgrain, and why pyramids rarely explain it properly.
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The Strawberry Note: A Fruit Perfumery Had to Invent
Strawberry does not yield a conventional essential oil, yet its scent appears everywhere in perfumery. Here is how the accord is built—and why it deserves better than its candy-store reputation.
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Pistachio in Perfumery: From Green Nut to Gourmand Obsession
Pistachio can smell creamy, toasted, green, floral or completely gourmand. We explore how perfumers use the note and five fragrances that show its evolution.
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Amber in Perfumery:The Note That Doesn’t Really Exist
Amber is everywhere in perfumery, except it is not really a single ingredient. Here is what an amber accord actually is, how it smells and why amber, ambergris and Ambroxan are very different things.
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Iris in Perfumery: Powder, Lipstick and Quiet Drama
It may look delicate, but iris has roots, patience and considerably more personality than a polite purple flower has any…
