- Accord
- A blend of two or more raw materials that creates a single perceived smell. Most fragrances are constructed from a small number of accords rather than dozens of individual notes.
- Aldehyde
- A class of synthetic and natural compounds with a sparkling, slightly waxy, sometimes soapy character. Famously dominant in Chanel No. 5.
- Ambergris
- A waxy substance originally produced by sperm whales, valued in perfumery as a fixative and base note. Almost always synthetic today (ambroxan).
- Amber
- An accord of warm, sweet, slightly powdery materials, traditionally combining labdanum, vanilla, and benzoin. Not a single note.
- Attar
- A traditional concentrated perfume made by distilling botanicals into a sandalwood or other carrier oil, common in the Middle East and South Asia.
- Base note
- The longest-lasting layer of a fragrance, perceived hours after application. Common base notes include sandalwood, oud, vanilla, white musk, amber.
- Bergamot
- A small bitter citrus fruit grown mainly in Calabria, Italy, that produces one of the most-used top notes in perfumery.
- Chypre
- A fragrance family built around a citrus top, a floral heart, and an oakmoss-labdanum base. Mitsouko by Guerlain is the canonical example.
- Citrus
- A fragrance family characterised by bright, sparkling top notes from fruits like bergamot, lemon, lime, grapefruit, mandarin.
- Floral
- The largest fragrance family, built around flower notes such as rose, jasmine, tuberose, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, iris.
- Fougère
- A fragrance family combining lavender, oakmoss, coumarin, and often geranium. The traditional structure of classic men's colognes.
- Fresh
- An umbrella descriptor for fragrances that smell clean, airy, or aquatic, including marine, ozonic, herbaceous, and citrus profiles.
- Gourmand
- A fragrance family built around edible-smelling notes like vanilla, caramel, chocolate, almond, coffee. Angel by Mugler defined the modern category.
- Green
- Notes that evoke crushed leaves, cut grass, or stems. Often built around galbanum, violet leaf, or tomato leaf.
- Heart note
- Also called the middle note. The body of a fragrance that emerges 15 to 60 minutes after application and lasts a few hours.
- Iso E Super
- A widely used synthetic molecule with a soft, woody, ambery, slightly cedar-like character. The defining material of Molecule 01.
- Leather
- An accord that smells of cured hide, often built from birch tar, isobutyl quinoline, castoreum, or saffron.
- Moss
- Most often oakmoss, a lichen used as a fixative and base in chypre fragrances. Modern formulations use restricted oakmoss derivatives or synthetics due to IFRA limits.
- Musk
- Originally an animal-derived material, today almost always synthetic (white musks, polycyclic musks). Provides warmth, depth, and skin-like sensuality.
- Notes pyramid
- The standard three-tier representation of a fragrance: top notes evaporate fastest, heart notes follow, base notes anchor the dry-down. An approximation, not a strict timeline.
- Oriental
- An older industry term for warm, often spicy, resinous, vanillic fragrances. Many brands now use 'amber' as a more accurate descriptor for the same family.
- Oud
- Also agarwood. A resinous wood produced by Aquilaria trees infected with mold. Deeply complex, animalic, smoky, sweet. One of the most expensive raw materials in perfumery.
- Powdery
- A descriptor for fragrances with a soft, cosmetic, slightly dusty quality, often built from iris, violet, heliotrope, vanilla, or musk.
- Resin
- Sticky botanical exudates such as benzoin, frankincense, myrrh, labdanum, and styrax. Used as base notes and fixatives.
- Spicy
- A descriptor for fragrances featuring spices: pink pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, saffron.
- Top note
- The first impression of a fragrance, perceived in the first 15 to 30 minutes. Usually citrus, herbs, or light fruits.
- Woody
- A family of base notes including sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, patchouli, oud, guaiac, gaiac, and synthetic woods like Iso E Super.
