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Fragrance Notes

post #1 of 4
2/20/06 at 11:13pm
Thread Starter 
While searching the Basenotes Directory I tend to look at the Fragrance Notes of each cologne... I notice some differences from other websites that list the Notes. Sometimes the differences are small and other times the differences are enough to make a completely different fragrance.

Anyone know where to find the most accurate list of Fragrance Notes for Men's and Women's perfumes? Thanks.
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post #2 of 4
2/20/06 at 11:47pm
That would be the true reference media by intellectual means, but ALL the notes are relative to everyone smelling it. Let your nose be your guide, you'll definitely smell the notes that are familiar with you. Don't lose yourself in the joy by identifying any scent by textbook.
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post #3 of 4
2/21/06 at 5:04am
To say the same thing as Mav in a different way:

To a greater or lesser extent, all fragrance pyramids are wrong. They never list everything that is in a fragrance and if perfumery were as simple as combining the 8 or 10 ingredients from the pyramid in the proper proportions, then we wouldn't be paying $60 per bottle. I used to try to pick frags based on the pyramid alone, but there is so much information missing that you can't.

The pyramid can (no garantee) get you in the right ballpark, but thats all. It doesn't really matter whose pyramid you look at. Think of it as a one page summary of a novel. 2 different summaries by 2 different people can easily describe the same book, but look nothing alike.
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post #4 of 4
2/21/06 at 6:59am
FAT TONY
Quote:
To a greater or lesser extent, all fragrance pyramids are wrong. They never list everything that is in a fragrance and if perfumery were as simple as combining the 8 or 10 ingredients from the pyramid in the proper proportions, then we wouldn't be paying $60 per bottle. I used to try to pick frags based on the pyramid alone, but there is so much information missing that you can't. Â*

The pyramid can (no garantee) get you in the right ballpark, but thats all. It doesn't really matter whose pyramid you look at. Think of it as a one page summary of a novel. 2 different summaries by 2 different people can easily describe the same book, but look nothing alike.

FT hits it right on the head. Â*many times the notes descriptions come straight from the perfume maker.

they don't list all their ingredients or notes any more than Coca-Cola does. for marketing reasons, they may
not even want you to think Â*too much or to even be aware of some notes -- they might be Â*including things
that could be off-putting (or even disgusting).

another aspect to fragrance pyramids is that they give you no idea of the relative potencies or strengths of the particular notes.

you don't know from a pyramid whether a note is predominant or taking a back seat or barely hanging on to a hubcap.
two fragrances can have very similar pyramids yet be totally different fragrances and belong to different fragrance families.

take hermes jardin sur le nil, for instance, it's supposed to be unisex but a glance at their pyramid and you would think it is
too flowery for a guy. Â*in reality, the grapefruit, mango and other mystery citrus (for the life of me it smells like meyer lemon
or even sour mix from a good bar) are almost loud. the citrus is what your nose really perceives for quite a long time. the flowers
only add a rounding or background sweetening. on me and on the paper testing strip, this is a fruity citrus fragrance. I have seen
fragrace notes for very feminine, very sweet florals that list nearly identical notes but the presentation is almost the reverse.
in them the proportions are different; the flowers are in the foreground, the grapefruit , other citrus and mango are in the
background providing a little spark of tartness to the basic sweetness. A pyramid gives you no idea of that sort of thing.

still, i like to see them and i also appreciate a realistic, even if subjective description
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