Perfume fragrances were classified by Charles Piesse who was a
perfumer from the 19th century. Charles had actually tried to classify
each type of fragrance to a musical a musical chord. Unsurprisingly
his system failed but the terminology stuck on. The current perfume
fragrance pyramid was invented by William Poucher in the 1920’s. The
fragrance pyramid is based on the instability of the perfume
ingredients or how fast the fragrance fades away

The fragrance of a perfume is described as top note at the point when
it just gives you a whiff and then passes on. The heart notes then
follow where the fragrance actually has a chemical reaction with your
skin; and finally are the base notes where the true essence of the
fragrance is revealed when the highest molecular weight from the
ingredients begin to surface.

There different categories of scents to describe perfumes meant for
women and perfumes meant for men. Under the women’s category, we have
the most common scent, which is floral. This is in fact the largest
category and the primary ingredients are from flowers like rose,
jasmine, carnation, violet and orange blossom. Some of the perfumes
that come under this category are Paris and White Diamonds. Some of
the sub categories for floral fragrances are like floral green
(Bvlgari, Chanel 19); floral fruity (Baby Doll, Amarige) and floral
woody (L’Eau D’Issey, Romance)

The next category is oriental. This means the scent is made to create
warm, exotic impression because of its ingredients like balsams,
spices, resins and musk. Perfumes that fall under this category are
Royal Secret, Contradiction and Shalimar. Some of the sub categories
of oriental are oriental spicy (Opium); oriental citrusy (Candies);
floriental (Hugo Woman, Wings) and oriental gourmand (Angel, Casmir
and Wish)

The other categories of perfumes are chypre, citrus, fougere and
green. Chypre was first described by Francois Coty to describe the
aromas from the island of Cyprus. This fragrance is generally sweet,
soft and earthy with ingredients like oakmoss, patchouli, bergamot and
citruses. Some of the well-known perfumes under this category are
Paloma Picasso, Fendi and

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