Popular Fragrance Notes - Perfume Scents Fashion resources, perfumery guides

Popular Perfume Notes

Perfume notes and fragrance directory of popular scents. View a complete list of all Perfume Notes here.

Citrus Notes

Energizing and zesty notes like bergamot, mandarine, and lemon.

Bergamot
A light citrus fragrance from the extract of a bergamot orange. A bitter orange and limetta hybrid cultivated in Italy.
Bitter Orange | Bigarade | Seville Orange
A very aromatic and full-bodied citrus adding freshness and density to a perfume fragrance. A pomelo and mandarin hybrid.
Grapefruit
A fresh citrus fragrance with a slightly bitter scent.
Lemongrass
An invigorating lemon citrus aroma envelopes and stimulates, creating a vibrant, refreshing fragrance.
Mandarin
Citrus fragrance from a loose-rinded orange. Yellow to reddish-orange in color, this small orange tree origins can be found in southeastern Asia.

Fruity Notes

Uplifting notes with sweet, sour, and tart aromas like apples and berries.

Blackcurrant | Cassis
A delicate fruity scents with a deep tangy aroma that is mildly spicy and woody with a hint of green. Often used as a top note in perfumes.
Juniper Berry
A sharp and stimulating scent of freshness blended with a distilled gin note. A top note in perfumes.
Pear
The pear is a sweet fruity fragrance with a nutty earthy undertone. Most common is the d'Anjou pear.

Floral Notes

The largest fragrance category with keynotes of jasmine, tuberose, or gardenia.

Cherry Blossom
This beautiful flower offers a sweet, powdery, and mildly tangy scent. A light fruity scent mixed with a romantic floral aroma. A common fragrance note in perfumes, bath and body products.
Frangipani | Plumeria
This tropical flower offers a fruity jasmine-like scent with a sweet heady fragrance. A common perfume heart note.
Gardenia
Similar to jasmine, a white floral that blends sweetness with green notes. A highly fragrance aroma.
Geranium
A heady rose scent coupled with a green, fruity-mint fragrance. Often used in men's and woman's perfume compositions.
Heliotrope
A floral with a soft edge of almond and vanilla like sweetness. Often used in fragrance heart notes.
Honeysuckle
A floral heart note with a sweet jasmine-like scent toned down with a honey fruity aroma.
Hyacinth
A stunning feminine floral aroma with a note of buttery green for an intoxicating depth of scent.
Jasmine
A sweet fragrance. Essential oil extracted from the jasmine shrub. Highly intense floral sweetness.
Lavender
A refreshing herbaceous floral.
Lilac
A fresh, clean, feminine floral scent with a touch of jasmine-like sweetness.
Lily
There are a variety of lily species used in perfumery. This flower offers a sweet, spicy and waxy note. The Casablance Lily is a robust white floral with a hint of sweetness.
Lily of the Valley or Muguet (French)
A delicate and light sweet fragrance. Native to the Northern Hemisphere or Europe and Asia. Also known as the May Lily, or Our Lady's Tears in Christian legend. A green floral and rosy-lemony scent.
Magnolia
A sweet creamy floral fragrance with a fresh hint of citrus. Used in heart note of feminine perfumes.
Mimosa
A delicate puffy flower with a sweet soft scent similar to heliotrope. Often found in perfume midnotes.
Neroli | Orange Blossom | Orange Flower
A very strong and refreshing bittersweet fragrance most widely used in perfumery. Distilled oil from the flowers of a bitter orange tree.
Osmanthus
A delicate fruity floral apricot fragrances. The osmanthus flower is native to China.
Peony
A well-rounded light floral aroma that is feminine and delicately sweet with a green freshness. Often found in the heart note, pairs well with other florals.
Rose
One of the most beloved flowers by woman, the rose is a earthy floral scent often found in the heart notes. There are a variety of rose species used throughout perfumery. The Bulgarian Damascena rose has a powdery tea note. The Egyptian Rose Centifolia has an earthy dewy petal note.
Tuberose
A highly fragrant lily-like aroma. This Mexican herb has waxy white flowers that grow in spikes and grasslike leaves. Intense creamy floral scent often in the mid heart note.
Violet
A feminine woody-floral scent with a sweet powerdy aroma. The flower part and the leaf part of this plant are often used in perfumes.
Ylang Ylang
A sweet floral fragrance. Oil from the flowers of the cananga tree. Pronounced "ee-long ee-long". Rich floral with a slight banana scent mixed with jasmine, sweet narcotic effect.

Exotic Spice Notes

Rich and opulent exotic spices and resins illuminating the Far East.

Amber
A subtle woody, warm and full-bodied fragrance. This powdery scent is often created from a mix of balsams such as labdanum, styrax, vanilla, and benzoin.
Cardamom
A sweet and spicy fragrance similar to ginger. Native to India. An resinous and intensely aromatic fragrance often used in men's colognes.
Cistus
Derived from the balsam of the rock rose bush, this scent has a powerful and deep, leathery, amber vibe. Found in base notes.
Copal
Incense-like scent in this aromatic bright resin. This tree resin is a ceremonial burned incense in South American cultures.
Frankincense | Olibanum
An aromatic resin from the Boswellia tree used in incense and perfumes. This aromatic scent is sweet, silvery and a narcotic for the senses. Burned as a ceremonial incense.
Honey
A rich and sweet golden scent blend of floral notes. Often found in gourmand perfumes.
Myrrh
A warm, woody, bitter scent from the oleo gum resin. Native to Ethiopia, Oman, Somalia and eastern Mediterranean.
Patchouli
A distinctive woody fragrance with rich musk notes. One of the earthiest essential oils, from the mint family. Earthy woody aroma from leaves of this exotic Indian bush.
Saffron
This bittersweet, soft, leathery scent is a highley prized spice. Often used as an earthy base note.
Thyme
A classic spice used in cooking, Thyme has a spicy, leathery, herbal scent that can add depth to a perfume fragrance.
Tobacco Leaf
A warm, rich aroma with notes of leather, maple, whiskey and caramel. Makes a rich base note for fragrances.
Vanilla
A classic oriental note, vanilla is variety of the orchid with a powerful and sweet scent. Often used as a base note in perfumes, bath products and candles.

Musk Notes

Earthy woody and herbaceous give both warmth and brightness to fragrances.

Agarwood Oud | Agar | Oudh | Kyara
A woody-nutty, sweet, musty scented aroma. Oud is a dark resinous heartwood secretion from Aquilaria trees in southeast Asia. The essential oil is highly prized.
Cedarwood
A distinct woody scent with a spicy-resinous tone that often is used in the base of perfumes.
Fig Leaf
A powdery green scent that is reminiscent of the coconut-tinged milky sap of the fig fruit.
Fir Balsam
This tree resin has a fresh green and woody scent with a hint of dark berries. A common base note.
Galbanum
From the resin of tall grass, a bitter green scent found in the mid notes of perfumery.
Labdanum
A soft pine fragrance. From variety of woody herb, rockroses.
Oakmoss
Sharp pine fragrance. Growth on oak trees. A rich earthy aroma with a distinct woody, forest-like fragrance. Common base note to add body and depth to a perfume.
Orris
Fragrant, buttery, powdery roots that smell similar to baked bread.
Sandalwood
A soft, sweet and woody fragrance. Used in perfumery, aromatherapy and incense. Creamy velvet aroma with slight green note.
Styrax Benzoin
A woody fragrance. From a small shrub or tree that has fragrant bell-shaped flowers hanging below green foliage. With resinous undertone this scent is warm and sweet with a rich vanilla-like aroma.
Vetiver
An earthy, smoky fragrance. Essential oil from an African grass root.

Note Accords

An accord is a blend of several scent notes to create a new scent, such as several florals mingled to create a bouquet.

Aquatic Accord
Aquatic notes have a light and clean energy layer with notes like salty ocean water or warm spring rain accords, include cooling aquatic aroma with notes such as water lily or water hyacinth.
Tea Accord
An aromatic composition of tea leaves with an earthy herbaceous scent.

View the complete list of Perfume Notes

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