GLOSSARY OF TERMS FOR A NEW GUY

[goldslinger]

Cloying; what does that mean?

Can someone point me to a post where someone has pointed out some meanings, please?

A glossary of terms used here?

[liquid]

www.dictionary.com

[teflondog]

I don't have the links to any posts you're looking for so I apologize. But if it helps, I can give you my own meanings of a few popular terms used here.

Cloying is when a scent simply becomes too much. Overpowering, tiring, headache inducing, etc.

Sillage is the trail of scent you leave in the air. The amount of sillage a fragrance has is reflected on how much other people around you can smell it.

Longevity speaks for itself. It's how long a scent lasts.

There are more but I can't think of them from the top of my head.

[Noseorgy]

“The sweetest honey
Is loathsome in his own deliciousness
And in the taste confounds the appetite.”
8-)
high school lit is all coming back to me now

[liquid]

almost all the words used here are actual words. you can look them up in a dictionary.

i'm just sayin.

[docluv45]

What is really fun is trying to figure out what all the abbreviations mean when you are new! The in-crowd loves codes and acronyms...but hang in there and soon you too will know that MI does not mean myocardial infarction, SL is not the sports edition of a cologne, and pH has nothing to do with hydrogen ion concentrations. Welcome to the jungle!

[liquid]

^
maybe we'll add abbreviations to the faq...

[knightowl]

lol


(laughing out loud)

[Shycat]

Transparent is in the dictionary, but I still asked my princess pals what it meant to them. Also, I looked at the Frederic Malle website recently and they have a nice little four quarter graph with labeled axis-es...I mean axii... axiessss.......

[Shycat]

Oh yeah, what's a faq? :-* :-* :-*

[Dante]

Transparent is in the dictionary, but I still asked my princess pals what it meant to them. *Also, I looked at the Frederic Malle website recently and they have a nice little four quarter graph with labeled axis-es...I mean axii... axiessss.......

Axes.

HTH.

[Concord]

Sillage is the trail of scent you leave in the air. The amount of sillage a fragrance has is reflected on how much other people around you can smell it.

Actually, the way a perfume can be noticed by others around you is called volume or diffusion. I'ts not the same as sillage or trail. But most people here use the term sillage for how strong a perfume is (as supposed to scents that stay close to the skin), so I guess it doesn't matter.

[apekrul]

Think of cloying as "wearing 10 sprays of A*men on a hot, humid day when you're standing packed together on a bus".

[stuigi]

shycat- there is a list of frequently asked questions. I think you will find the answer there...

[teflondog]

[quote author=teflondog link=1136347689/0#2 date=1136350843]
Sillage is the trail of scent you leave in the air. The amount of sillage a fragrance has is reflected on how much other people around you can smell it.

Actually, the way a perfume can be noticed by others around you is called volume or diffusion. I'ts not the same as sillage or trail. But most people here use the term sillage for how strong a perfume is (as supposed to scents that stay close to the skin), so I guess it doesn't matter.[/quote]

Geez. You're so technical. :P

[Concord]

[/quote]
Geez. You're so technical. *:P
[/quote]

I know, I get so tired of myself sometimes.

[archinla]

responding to an "old" but relevant post, I know, but a Glossary of Terms would be very helpful at BaseNotes.

The term "sillage", for example is one I cannot find in any dictionary except a French one. There it means "trail" or "wake". But I don't know how helpful using this French word is when it's not a common phrase - (if it was it would be incorporated into the English dictionary) - or even an important factor in judging a perfume. I bet that you don't hear it if you speak to the people at the fragrance counter.

Also, the descriptions of scents sometimes tend to sound like the way wine afficionados talk when they taste wines. What ordinary person knows what tuberose smells like? Or "balsamic"? What on earth does that mean? How does a person eager to get into the world of fragrances learn the reference points?

I have no problem with sophisticated people talking in sophisticated ways about sophisticated things - but please don't keep us out of the club. There's no glossary here, although there are glossaries of varying quality elsewhere, if you dig around, But I would have thought that with the broad cross-section of people coming here, and their experience and expertise we might have an authoratative glossary or at least a "home-grown" reference resource for outside links. (Perhaps we do - but I can't find it by searching the FAQ's.)

many thanks