fragrance terms and descriptions.

Have you ever passed by someone or something and caught a whiff of their  fragrance and then you go to a perfume store or you try describing the scent to someone and you kept drawing blanks?  It’s happened to me a couple of times. It so frustrating!  I still can’t seem to find the words to best describe what I smell.  

I  know a lot more than I did last week but I figured since we are on this journey together, my little knowledge is worth sharing. Besides, I promised I would do a post on perfumery terms. 

WARNING!

This might get very long and sometimes confusing but if you stick with me just a few more  minutes after you have rolled your eyes into your forehead or involuntarily scratched your head more than once, you’ll see the light at the end of the tunnel…no, you’re not dead, you just became enLIGHTened! Here goes…

Absolute:  Absolute is derived from a solvent extraction process. During this extraction process, plant materials are immersed in solvents like hexane to form a thick substance called concrete. The concrete is then mixed with alcohol to release the oil. The alcohol solvent is then removed by subjecting it to very low temperature distillation, after which remains the Absolute. Solvent extraction is used for plants that are too fragile for distillation or would not yield their essence easily. Delicate flowers like jasmine, narcissus, tuberose, rose and orange blossom are often rendered in absolute form. Absolute is the purest form of an essential oil and is a little closer to the scent you would get from smelling the flower.  

Accord: Accord is a combination of different essences (scents) to create a totally new and unique essence or fragrance, like mixing red and blue to make purple. Each essence loses its unique identity lending it to all others to form the accord which becomes an entity on its own, a base from which many fragrances can be created. For instance a chypre accord which may be used as a base for rich floral perfumes, could be built around bergamot, oakmoss and labdanum.

Aldehyde:  Although there are many aldehydes used in perfumery and they don’t all smell the same, often I hear people describe it as fatty, soapy, fizzy, fruity and sparkly. I'm not quite sure how it all fits since I haven’t had the opportunity to smell all the different types of aldehyde. However, based on my studies, aldehyde is a type of organic chemical, often used in perfumery. The chemical that gives cinnamon its unique smell and vanillin which is a major component in vanilla are both aldehydes. Of course those two smell nothing alike and cannot be describe as soapy or fruity. However, the aliphatic aldehydes would fit those descriptions perfectly. They have this citrusy or floral scent and sometimes, woody or pine scent. Although aldehydes were made popular by the ample amount featured in chanel No. 5, there is hardly any fragrance in existence without some amount of aldehyde in it.

I shall stop here today, one day, we shall get to Z!  Until then, let me know if there is any fragrance term you would like  to add even perfumista slangs!