I was thinking about this yesterday.
In old-school fragrance theory, there’s only a few scent families, built around a few fundamental accords: fougeres, chypres, orientals, etc.
The traditional scent families tell you the architecture of a fragrance, while leaving a lot of latitude for the particular feel of it. That's different from modern classifications, which tell you 'fresh' or 'woody' or 'aquatic' and so on.
Fougeres are built around lavender and coumarin, oakmoss optional. They cover everything from the boyish modesty of Canoe to the jock-strap intensity of Kouros.
Chyrpes are built on bergamot and oakmoss. It’s a versatile platform on which you can build anything from Miss Dior Cherie to Yatagan.
Similarly orientals. Vanilla + Spice. Sweet fizzy Opium PH, dry smoky Idole – take your pick. Heck, Guerlain’s Vetiver is an oriental in technical terms (tonka + coriander and nutmeg)
There’s a hole here. Citrus and herb. Classic fundamental accord you can build a lot of things around. Original Eau de Cologne recipe from the Napoleonic era was citrus and rosemary.
Calling these ‘citrus’ scents is no good. Sure, citrus is the dominant note of a lot of them. But the fundamental citrus/herb accord underlies a whole lot of more complex scents, that you’d never even think of calling ‘citrus’ alone.
Take Rochas Lui. It’s aromatic-woody in character. And yet architecturally, it’s built around the accord of neroli and bison grass.
Or Cuiron pour Homme. Neroli and “fresh notes” are the fundamental accord; architecturally it’s citrus + herb – but you’d no more call it a ‘citrus’ scent than you’d call Kouros a lavender scent.
Even Acqua di Gio. Sure, it’s got all the watery synthetic molecules. But it’s the same “hesperidic notes” (i.e. citrus) and rosemary structure as Giovanni Maria Farina’s original cologne 200+ years ago.
So…we need a better name for this family. Citrus is misleading…I think ‘aromatic’ is too generic.
I suggest either ‘True Cologne’ or ‘Farina’. Put it in the pantheon with chypre and fougere and oriental.
(NOTE: Is all this family-making useful if it doesn’t tell you about a scent’s character – fresh or heavy, aquatic or musky? Yes. I’ll go into why later.)
In old-school fragrance theory, there’s only a few scent families, built around a few fundamental accords: fougeres, chypres, orientals, etc.
The traditional scent families tell you the architecture of a fragrance, while leaving a lot of latitude for the particular feel of it. That's different from modern classifications, which tell you 'fresh' or 'woody' or 'aquatic' and so on.
Fougeres are built around lavender and coumarin, oakmoss optional. They cover everything from the boyish modesty of Canoe to the jock-strap intensity of Kouros.
Chyrpes are built on bergamot and oakmoss. It’s a versatile platform on which you can build anything from Miss Dior Cherie to Yatagan.
Similarly orientals. Vanilla + Spice. Sweet fizzy Opium PH, dry smoky Idole – take your pick. Heck, Guerlain’s Vetiver is an oriental in technical terms (tonka + coriander and nutmeg)
There’s a hole here. Citrus and herb. Classic fundamental accord you can build a lot of things around. Original Eau de Cologne recipe from the Napoleonic era was citrus and rosemary.
Calling these ‘citrus’ scents is no good. Sure, citrus is the dominant note of a lot of them. But the fundamental citrus/herb accord underlies a whole lot of more complex scents, that you’d never even think of calling ‘citrus’ alone.
Take Rochas Lui. It’s aromatic-woody in character. And yet architecturally, it’s built around the accord of neroli and bison grass.
Or Cuiron pour Homme. Neroli and “fresh notes” are the fundamental accord; architecturally it’s citrus + herb – but you’d no more call it a ‘citrus’ scent than you’d call Kouros a lavender scent.
Even Acqua di Gio. Sure, it’s got all the watery synthetic molecules. But it’s the same “hesperidic notes” (i.e. citrus) and rosemary structure as Giovanni Maria Farina’s original cologne 200+ years ago.
So…we need a better name for this family. Citrus is misleading…I think ‘aromatic’ is too generic.
I suggest either ‘True Cologne’ or ‘Farina’. Put it in the pantheon with chypre and fougere and oriental.
(NOTE: Is all this family-making useful if it doesn’t tell you about a scent’s character – fresh or heavy, aquatic or musky? Yes. I’ll go into why later.)
