An Explanation of Fragrance Families

Fragrance is divided into basics types or families.  Once you figure out what notes or combination of notes appeal to you, you can narrow down the fragrances you sample to just a few, making perfume shopping infinitely easier.

Fresh or Citrus scents are those  with clean notes like citrus fruits, lavender, green, or marine. These are the fresh scents that we associate with healthy beauty.

Oriental scents are spicy with earthy notes like amber, resins, vanilla, musk, or patchouli. I’m partial to orientals – I love the richness of the amber or musky notes. Orientals appeal to men or women.

Woody or chypre fragrances are those with a wood or moss note, like a cedar, bergamot, or oak moss. A chypre fragrance is exotic, sexy.  This type of scent originated in the Mediterrean.

Fougère scents are a combination of the fresh, musks, woods, and mosses. These are most appealing in a masculine fragrance.

Floral is pretty self-explanitory. Floral fragrances carry notes from flower blossoms. These can include apple blossom, rose, violet, jasmine, lily of the valley, muguet, etc. They are traditionally feminine fragrances, but men’s fragrance also carries floral notes.

Floral Orientals carry a combination of sweet and spicy notes.

Floral Aldehydics are aromatics combined with floral notes.

Image credit: All Posters.com