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Perfumery Glossary
Descriptors
28
Agrestic
Literally “relating to the country; rural or rustic”. Refers to earthy notes like hay, tobacco, oakmoss. Dry rather than fresh and green. From Latin , meaning “course, wild and uncultivated”.
Aldehydic
(See Aldehyde) You get this quality mostly from synthetics. Often clean/sea breeze/soap vibes. Chanel No. 5 is apparently aldehydic. “”.
Ambery
Animalic
This one seems like it could be an umbrella term for musky, indolic, “funky” smells. Also, castoreum and civet.
Balsamic
“sticky” and sweet scent, similar to balsamic vinegar. Benzoin is considered balsamic(?!)
Bois de Rose
Butyric
Butter, cheese, “mold” and...stinky socks?! ”Specific to acids and esters with four carbon atoms before their carboxyl functional group. More extreme dairy vibe than creamy or milky aromas. Think parmesan.
Camphoreous / Camphoraceous
Has the cooling sensation of camphor, mint, menthol or eucaliptus. Also strong and medicinal. Frankincense, hyssop, marjoram, rosemary and sage fit here too.
Diffusive
Fatty
Fecal
Gourmand
Indolic
Indole is a naturally-occurring molecule found in many gorgeous white flowers, most particularly, jasmine, gardenia and tuberose, and slightly in orange blossom, and neroli. It gives you a heady, dense, dirty, dark, animalic, not sure what it is but I amdrawn to it, kind of smell. 
Some noses smell moth balls, others smell sweat, cat urine or feces. However the secret to perfuming with indole, either in it's pure, synthesized form, or as a compound in an extracted floral, is what is can do to the other aromas surrounding it. Its ability to lift, push, vibrate or align flowers and citruses is the magic wand of indolic formulas.
Lactonic
Linear
Stays more or less the same over time.
Macrocyclic
Marine
Metallic
Muguet
/my.ɡɛ/
! Apparently ultimately from the because of the shape. White floral with green stem. Lighter than gardenia or tuberose. Apparently it’s a (can’t be extracted) so all muguet fragrances are reconstructions.
Musty
Noble Note/Noble Material
Pure, non derivative notes. Rare oils including rose, jasmine, orange blossom, Ambergris, Tuberose...
Ozonic
Phenolic
Peaty, tar or leather notes. . Refers to “pungent, acrid, smoky scent that is very dry and can veer into tarry-smelling, even like bitumen and hot tarmac”.
Terpenic
Transparent
Hard to define (see ) but essentially, how clearly can you smell “through” a fragrance? Either in terms of identifying its notes or smelling something else underneath it. In terms of a single note, transparency can be thought of as not interfering with other smells or “blocking” them out. Like putting an EQ on a mix to separate your instruments.
White Floral
Wintergreen
Yellow Floral
Materials
19
Absolute
Acetate
Alcohol (as a suffix)
Aldehyde
Alcohol + Dehydrated. to which a hydrogen atom is bonded: R-CH=O). (describes as a double bond between an oxygen atom and a carbon atom).
Ambrette
aka “muskmallow”—a plant native to India. The flowers are while the shoots, leaves and seeds are used in cooking. Previously used in place of animal musks but like those, often replaced by synthetics.
Civet
The musk/glandular secretion of a Civet. Traditionally farmed in Africa. Not allowed to be imported to the US because it can transmit SARS. Also, just generally not in use that much these days. Replaced by synthetics like ambretone. From the Arabic زباد zabād or سنور الزباد sinnawr al-zabād.
Concrete
Cyclamen
Can’t get a good description on the scent of the flower. It looks like the flower isn’t used much, possibly because it’s toxic to (at least) pets? Cyclamen Aldehyde often replaces it. Apparently only some cyclamens have a scent but it’s described as “” with hints of rose and violets.
Hesperidia
Refers to citrus oils
Infusion
Ionone
Ketone
Natural
Natural Isolate
Oxide
Salicylate
Semi-synthetic
Synthetic
Terpene
Tools & Techniques
4
GC/MS
(From ) ”A Gas Chromatograph with a Mass Spectrometer attached. The Gas Chromatograph separates a sample into individual components and then passes each of the components through a mass spectrometer to see what they are. The mass spectrometer compares the behavior of the material to a database of results from known materials and then outputs what it believes the material to be.”
Headspace Analysis
Maceration
Ageing a finished solution of fragrance and carrier medium (alcohol). Can draw out body in the fragrance. Frederic Malle suggest you need of liquid for this to be effective.
Maturation
Ageing a fragrance concentrate or blend of raw materials without dilution
Fragrance Families
12
Amber
Aromatic
Chypre
French for Cyprus.
Citrus
Floral
Fougère
Fresh
Includes “Hesperidiae” (aka Citrus), Fruity, Green, Aquatic and “Aromatic”. Not exclusive to summer scents but commonly summery.
Gourmand
Hesperidiae
aka Citrus
Oriental
Soliflore
Single flower aroma (it can still be expressive/complex/nonlinear, it’s just trying to capture the essence of one flower)
Woody
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