Reading the description of a perfume you meet words such as woody, amber, chypre, fougere. They are not the names of materials but the names of groups, and knowing a few of the main groups is enough to guess at a scent before you try it.
Scent families are a way of grouping scents by their main character. Commonly met groups include citrus, floral, woody, herbal, spicy, green, sweet and resinous. A real scent rarely belongs to exactly one group; most sit between two or three.
The groups worth knowing first
- Citrus: bright, clean, fast to disperse. Often in the opening.
- Floral: the broadest of the groups, from heady white flowers to light powdery ones.
- Woody: dry, warm, a solid base. This group holds a scent in place for a long time.
- Herbal and spicy: bring in heat, leaf notes and a lightly medicinal feeling.
- Green: suggests crushed leaves, cut grass, plant stems. Makes a scent fresh without sweetness.
- Resinous and heavy sweet: deep, warm, thick; usually appearing in the base.
How to read a list of notes
Look for three things. First, which group is named in the base, because that is the part you will live with longest. Second, whether there is a sweet note, because this decides whether a scent feels light or heavy in a small room. Third, whether there is a green or smoky note, because those two make a scent less round and give it character.
At ZUNGZA our scents mostly stand in the woody, resinous and green area, and the sweet note is kept low. That is a choice following the forest direction we work in, not a judgement about the other groups.
A family name cannot tell you everything
Two scents both called woody can be very different, because cedar, sandalwood and smoked wood are three different experiences. So a family name should be used to narrow things down, not to conclude. Once you have narrowed the field, what remains is still to test.
A few questions you often send us
Which family suits a bedroom
No group is right for everybody. Many people find woody and light herbal groups easier to sleep with, but others find a soft floral suits them better. The way to check is to try it at a light level for a few nights before sleeping.
What do chypre and fougere mean
These are two classic structures in perfumery, each built on its own characteristic set of base materials. For a buyer, the useful approach is to treat them as the name of a way of building a scent, and still to test whether you like that way.
Is there really such a thing as a unisex scent
Attaching scents to gender is largely a market convention and it changes from one period to another. You do not have to follow that convention when choosing a scent for yourself.