Fragrance families and the fragrance wheel
The language for classifying perfumes
Fisfis Academy · 13 min read ·
What you will learn
- Recognize the classic fragrance families and their typical materials.
- Tell fougère and chypre structures apart using example perfumes.
- Explain why neighboring families on the fragrance wheel blend into each other.
To talk about thousands of perfumes, you need a shared language. Fragrance families are that language: they group perfumes of similar character. One of the best-known systems is the Fragrance Wheel developed by Michael Edwards in the 1980s; neighboring families blend into one another.
The classic families
- Citrus (Hesperidic): Lemon, bergamot, orange. The ancestor of colognes.
- Floral: A single flower (soliflore) or a bouquet. The largest family.
- Fougère (fern): Built on the trio of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss; the foundation of classic men's fragrances.
- Chypre: A bergamot opening, a floral heart and a base of oakmoss, labdanum and patchouli. It takes its name from Chypre de Coty (1917).
- Woody: Cedar, sandalwood, vetiver, patchouli.
- Amber (Oriental): Resins, vanilla, spices; warm and rich.
- Leather: Smoky, leathery, sometimes animalic tones.
- Gourmand: Sweet, edible impressions: vanilla, caramel, coffee. A relatively new family that became popular in the 1990s.
The building blocks of two classic structures
- Lavender: Fougère: clean, aromatic, herbal.
- Tonka: Fougère: coumarinic, with the sweetness of hay and almond.
- Oakmoss: The shared base of both structures: damp forest floor.
- Bergamot: Chypre: a bright opening.
- Labdanum: Chypre: ambery, resinous depth.
- Patchouli: Chypre: woodiness with earthy, cocoa tones.
One representative from each family
- Jicky: An early example of the aromatic fougère line that is still on sale.
- Mitsouko Eau de Toilette: A chypre from 1919: a famous balance of peach, oakmoss and spice.
- Shalimar Eau de Parfum: The emblem of the amber (oriental) family: vanilla, resin and incense.
- Terre d'Hermès Hermès: A modern classic of the woody family with mineral and citrus touches.
- Angel: One of the founders of the gourmand family: caramel, chocolate and patchouli.
Key points
- Fragrance families are a shared language for talking about perfumes; Michael Edwards's Fragrance Wheel is one of the best-known systems.
- Fougère: lavender, coumarin and oakmoss. Chypre: bergamot, a floral heart, and an oakmoss–labdanum–patchouli base.
- Gourmand is a relatively new family, defined by sweet, edible impressions.
- There are no sharp borders between families; those that sit side by side on the wheel blend into each other.
Sources
- Michael Edwards, Fragrances of the World (annual guide), published since 1984.
- Luca Turin & Tania Sanchez, Perfumes: The A–Z Guide, Viking, 2008.
- Robert R. Calkin & J. Stephan Jellinek, Perfumery: Practice and Principles, Wiley, 1994.