Perfume 101

A practical guide to the perfume pyramid.

Start at the Bottom

 long-lasting notes form your fragrance's foundation

These notes last the longest on the skin, and are what you smell during your fragrance's dry down. Think of them as the building blocks of perfume. Having trouble getting your perfume to last? You're probably not using enough base notes.

 

Find Your Heart

middle notes flesh out your perfume's personality

Sometime called "modifiers" because they mingle and meld with your base notes before the dry down. This is where you'll find the most variety of notes - from the familiar to the rare. Most florals are in this category, but you'll find almost any type of aroma represented here.

 
Top It Off

light-weight notes make the first impression

 

The molecules in these notes are literally lighter, so they evaporate first (sometimes within seconds). This category contains most citrus notes, which happen to be some of the most universally appealing aromas - giving you that have-to-have-it feeling fresh out of the bottle.

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