The Art and Perception of Fragrance
“The magic of fragrance lies in the ancestral links between humans and nature and our age old interest in the sweet smelling gifts which express all the beauty in the world.” –Elizabeth Barille
Human Fragrance Perception
How we perceive scent is complex. It starts with a bundle of 10-20 million neurons about 5 cm2 at the top of our nasal cavity inside our nose; a network of sensitive nerves transmitting signals to the brain when, for example, the odor molecules of your favorite Peony scented candle wafts in the air. All of the subtlety of various notes of fragrance are identified in the olfactory cortex at the front of the brain and processed in the limbic brain, the emotional response and memory center. This is why certain aromas can be so easy to influence mood and trigger memorable moments of the past in your mind’s eye.
“Smell is a potent wizard that transports you across thousands of miles and all the years you have lived.'' –Helen Keller
Humans can identify an astounding 1 trillion different smells. This is due to the 300-400 different types of olfactory receptors and how each one in various combinations classify different odors. In the world of fragrance, this enormous spectrum of scent is typically categorized into ten to fifteen distinct categories. The exact categories and how they are organized differs between fragrance experts, but there are a few well respected takes on fragrance categorization that can help us refine our understanding of fragrance and improve our appreciation for it.
How Do Professional Perfumers Categorize Fragrance?
There are several incarnations of the perfume wheel, each unique with varying philosophies. One thing about fragrance is that the variance and disparity between unique scents makes fragrance inherently difficult to categorize, and the process of attempting to segment and make associations between types of aromas ends up being more art than science.
Michael Edwards’ Fragrance Wheel
One of the more popular graphic depictions of fragrance categorization is Michael Edwards’ Fragrance Wheel. Today, you can find it published in his coffee table book: “Fragrances of the World”.
Michael Edwards has been obsessed with fragrance since the 1960’s. In the 1980’s Michael created the Fragrance Wheel as a tool for consumers of perfume to identify fragrance families, so that perfumes could be recommended by sales associates and taste could be identified by consumers.
Michael’s Fragrance Wheel is composed of four primary fragrance families: Floral, Oriental, Woody, and Fresh; and each of these has several sub-families.
- Floral
- Floral
- Soft Floral
- Floral Oriental
- Oriental
- Soft Oriental
- Oriental
- Woody Oriental
- Woody
- Woods
- Mossy Woods
- Dry Woods
- Aromatic
- Fresh
- Citrus
- Fruity
- Green
- Water
Mandy Aftel’s Natural Perfume Wheel
Mandy Aftel, is a world renowned all-natural artisan perfumer and the author of four books on natural perfume. She describes how scent can be classified in her Aftelier Natural Perfume Wheel, a color-wheel inspired tool for identifying almost every different kind of fragrance used in natural perfumery. On this wheel Mandy presents thirteen categories and 25 subcategories of fragrance as a reference for professional perfumers and perfume enthusiasts alike.
- Animalic
- Transformative
- Floral
- Fruity
- Light
- Heavy
- Spicy
- Fresh
- Earthy
- Sharp
- Sweet
- Woody
- Soft
- Bright
- Earthy
- Rich
- Gourmand
- Rich
- Sweet
- Balsamic
- Vanilla
- Amber
- Light
- Citrus
- Orange
- Lemon
- Bright
- Agrestic
- Heavy
- Green
- Herbal
- Sharp
- Minty
- Bright
- Marine
- Seashore
- Smoky
- Heavy
The Science of Fragrance
The fragrance/perfume wheels above are excellent tools to build a more nuanced understanding of fragrance, but they are driven mostly by intuition and the perspectives of individual fragrance professionals. In order to further evaluate and understand fragrance, we can stand on the shoulders of scientists and researchers, who when compared to Micheal and Mandy’s contributions, create a more objective and scientifically rigorous perspective.
In the next blog post of this series we look at how we can use science, data, and technology to gain an even deeper understanding of fragrance, and in doing so a deeper understanding of which aromas we prefer as individuals.
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