The journey of finding and experimenting with perfumes can start at any point in life. One often starts driving on the road with deodorants and later realizes how important it is to opt for perfumes. Perfumes can be tricky, you might find yourself scratching your head a few times while understanding them, and it is obvious because we don’t take the roadmap along. A perfume roadmap starts with different fragrance families and after extraction and combination, we get them confined in that bottle.
Have you ever tried to examine the notes in the bottle laying on your dressing table? Or like others, you smell and pick the one you love? No, right. It seems quite easy to sniff thousands of bottles at perfumery and then picking one. But, the reality is known by all, it is tough. And, it becomes tougher when we are starting the journey online. However, in this blog, we are your guarding angels as we will be giving you all knowledge about fragrance families.
Moving forward, the first thing you need to do is take a notepad and pen. Start sniffing different herbs, flowers, fruits, and spices and write down the fragrances you like, because it will determine the fragrance family you fall into.
What Is Fragrance Wheel?
Let us take you back to the kindergarten days when you started learning about the concept of the color wheel in that not-so-boring art class. Similarly, the fragrance wheel works. It is a combination of different kinds of fragrances placed upon a wheel. One picks and mixes different fragrances and later pours it in that glamorous bottle.
The concept of the fragrance wheel was invented by American perfumer Paul Jellinek in 1949. Paul Jellinek mentioned about fragrance wheel in his book “ The Practice of Modern Perfumery”. With different inventions and adaptations, the wheel was later refined by Michael Edwards in 1992, and with his idea, the wheel works perfectly to date.
The fragrances are put on the perfume wheel according to their similarities and complementaries. It is divided into four major families and further subfamilies. According to Michael Edwards, Floral, Oriental, Woody, and Fresh are the major families and they are divided further into subfamilies.
Floral Fragrance Family
Floral is one of the most preferred perfume families. The sweetness of roses, lilies, and peonies fall under this family. They are highly popular among women and little less by men. The common notes of this family are peach, rose, jasmine, and orange blossom.
Sub- Families
- Floral
- Soft Floral
- Fruity
- Floral Oriental
Best Floral Natural Perfume - Bewitch EDP Floral Perfume for Women
Oriental Fragrance Family
Next on our list is the Oriental family. You can recognize this family type by its richness and blend. They are usually head and full with spicy, resin, and opulent notes. If you are into exotic and seductive scents then this one will work great on you. The popular notes of this scent family are Anise, Vanilla, and Myrrh.
Sub- Families
- Soft Oriental
- Oriental
- Woody Oriental
Best Oriental Perfume - Elanilla EDP vanilla perfume for women.
Woody Fragrance Family
Woody fragrances are categorized to add warmth. To stop them from getting too bitter they are often combined with floral or citrus notes. They are opulent in scent but obviously different from oriental as they are not made with spices. Due to the extra charm and warmth, they are perfect for evening parties. Some of the popular notes from this family are Vetiver, Patchouli, and Sandalwood.
Sub-Families
- Mossy Woods
- Woods
- Dry Woods
Best Woody Perfume - Boho Women EDP woody natural perfume, Bae Men EDP woody perfume.
Fresh Fragrance Family
A perfect summer-appropriate family that keeps you fresh all the time. It is the best family in the fragrance wheel that suits both men and women. It is quite vast yet refreshing and comes with popular notes like Grass, Water, Grapefruit, and Sage.
Sub- Families
- Aromatic Fresh
- Citrus Fresh
- Water Fresh
- Grass Fresh
Best Fresh Perfume - Bonjour Men EDP citrusy perfume
How To Combine Fragrance Families?
Once you understand what are the different types of perfume families and which one you like the most. You need to evaluate what to blend with what because some work appealing together and others might be a total waste. Choose the family you like and follow the below rules to make perfect blends.
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The Neighbor Fragrance Technique
The easiest and convenient technique is to move side by side on your fragrance subfamily. Sideways scents compliment each other beautifully.
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The Opposite Fragrance Technique
The next trick is to choose your favorite sub-family and then opting for something on the opposite side of it. The opposite technique also works great in perfume blending. For Example- The citrus family works perfectly with soft oriental.
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The Triangle Fragrance Technique
So, the last one to recommend is this one. Form a triangle inside the wheel and pair them together. If you like floral oriental then pair it with water and woody notes as they form a triangle.
Yes, we know all this is a lot to do but trust us, once you do it all then you will be sorted for life. After doing all this and finding the right perfume family for yourself you can get perfume for men and women from our natural perfume collection.