What are perfume notes?
Also often presented in the form of a triangle or pyramid, showing the notes in an “order of appearance,” the language of “up-middle-down notes” provides a tangible, organized, and descriptive account of the intangible structure of the perfume. In a sense, this is a bit misleading: when you spray perfume, they all come together, and they all evaporate at their own rate, according to a specific vapor pressure defined by science. This means that each molecule has its own evaporation curve, and some will last only a few minutes, some for weeks, whether it’s on paper blotting paper or on a fur coat.
How do you tell the difference between middle and low?
One of the challenges for the perfumer is to blend from the first second until all the notes are blurred and finally gone. It’s like writing a long symphony, with all the instruments playing from the beginning, each slowly fading out and eventually leaving the stage one by one…
Upregulates represent the lighter and most transient high notes, often associated with freshness.
The middle note is the heart of a perfume, creating a connection between the top and bottom notes.
Introductory notes are like low frequencies in music; they vibrate very deeply, very slowly, and for a very long time.
They provide the basic structure. All of this is arbitrary and reductive because perfume is like architecture, where every element is essential and plays a role in the balance of the final product. What is true is that most of the features come from the middle and low notes, while the high notes are mainly used as an essential part of the first impression.
The importance of giving yourself enough time to discover before making a purchase
On this topic, it is essential to emphasize that mass consumption has changed the way perfumes are purchased: consumers often make their choices immediately, rushing into stores without time to fully discover at the time they are asked to buy. This has prompted perfumers to design products with many pleasing and satisfying top notes while sometimes ignoring the true and lasting characteristics of the middle and base notes. This is one of their most common complaints: “My perfume won’t last long”…
Smell like a connoisseur
Suppose you really want to get into notes and learn about the different stages. In that case, you need to smell one fragrance at a time and pay close attention to it throughout the evaporation process. Take a sniff a few seconds after the first spray (let the alcohol flash) so you can enjoy the top notes. They usually have a citrus flavor, a green flavor, and a little fruity. After about 15 minutes, the most volatile top notes should be gone, and you should see the original heart (or middle note) feeling fuller, fuller.
Sniff every 30 minutes for a few hours. You will slowly but surely observe more deep, dark notes and move into the main chord throughout the piece. Then, as time goes on, you’ll see more and more afternotes, but as they also disappear one by one, in the end, you may be left with some very long-lasting smells, like musk, vanilla, some wood, and so on. Interpreting each note requires patience, and perfumers often have years of training.
