Exploring the Fragrance Families: From Floral to Oriental, Which One is Right for You?

When you’re travelling in unknown or uncharted territory, the best way to accomplish your goals is to have a guide. When learning about the fragrance families and discovering the complex and vibrant world of fragrance, the fragrance wheel and families are those guides. It can help you understand what scents go well together and what type of scent would suit you best.It also explains the difference between fresh scents, floral notes, woody scents, top notes, bass notes and much more.

What are the Fragrance Families?

Stefano from Profumo Bros said “All scents are broken up into one of 4 families: Floral, Oriental, Woody, and Fresh Notes.” These families each have unique characteristics that make them separate and distinct from their counterparts, which makes choosing the perfect fragrance a process that involves learning about and experimenting with these different families.

Floral Fragrance Family

Nature provides the perfect framework and foundation upon which to build the fragrance families and the floral family uses the natural beauty and smell of flowers as its base. With top and base notes that range from white florals to fresh florals (a mix of citrusy and floral scents) all the way to musky florals (that have a more powerful and warmer smell), the floral family remains the most popular of all the fragrance families.

Oriental Fragrance Family

Oriental fragrances are extremely popular for both men and women, which is unusual for a fragrance family. This is because of the nature of oriental fragrances. They are heavy and exotic, with rich scents including vanilla mixed with spices such as cinnamon and other strong fragrances. They can also be very soft and aromatic, giving the oriental fragrancesthe ability to serve you well in a wide variety of situations and occasions.

Woody Fragrance Family

The woody fragrance family is more typically used for men’s fragrances, although woody fragrances can mix well with oriental and fresh scents. Moss, birch, sandalwood, cedar, and other musky notes can be found in this fragrance family, creating warm and inviting scents that can be used for both special occasions and everyday wear. Some of the rarest and most precious ingredients are used in the creation of woody scents, making some of the scents extremely luxurious.

Fresh Fragrance Family

Fresh fragrances are light andairy and they have a way of reminding us of the sun, being on or near the water and all things summer. Whether you like the smell of fresh-cut citrus, newly-cut grass or other fresh and airy scents, this fragrance family is for you. You will often see fresh fragrances mixed with some mild spices to create a more complex scent and to help them stick around longer. Mandarin orange blossoms, grapefruit, lime, and other fresh notes create beautiful scents and stronger notes from pineapple, berries and apples all join forces to create a light yet mesmerizing perfume.

How to Know Which One is Right for You

Finding the perfect scent is a process that starts with some basic knowledge of the scents and their properties. From there, you must be willing to go through the process of testing out different scents to understand and experience them for yourself. From there, choose the one that suits you best and enjoy the sensory experience that you get when wearing your favourite scent.