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the most real scent classification

post #1 of 5
6/27/10 at 2:52pm
Thread Starter 
Scents are usually divided in olfactive groups as orientals/woody, woody/aromatic, etc... Every site like Fragrantica, Osmoz, etc.. has its own classification and often a scent is something for a site and something different for another . Which do you think is the best olfactive classification?
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post #2 of 5
6/27/10 at 4:26pm
I don't find those classifications useful no matter where they are. The useful descriptive words I find are "citrus," "floral," "fougere," "sandalwood," "patchouli," and "lavender." I find it is very easy to describe and talk about scents without recourse to those classifications. I think they are really too fussy to be useful myself.
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post #3 of 5
6/27/10 at 6:18pm
I largely gave up, since for one thing I still don't really understand fougeres and chypres...i.e. where they fall among my own mental categories. I realized I needed to make up a full set of my own categories to try to include every possible men's scent, and then populate them with the ones I own, have sample vials of, and have owned in the past. So right now, this is what terms I'm thinking in, roughly from the "summers" to the "winters":

dry and sweet aqua
cool and warm fruit
eau de cologne
dry and sweet citrus
light, med, and heavy/floral soap
sharp, sweet, and earthy green
dry and sweet herbal
smooth, "barbershoppy", and sharp spice
dark and creamy gourmand (though I tend to call them "desserty" instead)
sweet and sharp musks/leathers
smooth and sharp woods
smoke and tobacco

Otherwise, I'd get caught up in the strictures of the traditional terminology which doesn't really mean anything to me. The next step is to separate out "floral wood" and "floral spice" categories for things of those sorts that have a bit more floral component (rochas lui? third man?) By doing this, I hope to learn about the way I think when I evaluate new scents the first time I try them...it's not even so much for "accurately" placing the scents in the categories, but deciding what the categories are and where to divide them.
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post #4 of 5
6/27/10 at 6:46pm
I can live with the one that the manufacturer (company) of said scent gives.
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post #5 of 5
6/27/10 at 8:02pm
I used to French Perfumer Association classification.
It`s not so logical, but it has historic feel.
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