Blog About Perfume

Factice
A perfume bottle made for commercial display only — the contents are not actually perfume.

Fatty
Is the same name for the odour that suggests oil, lard, wax and so on. In small doses, these notes are reminiscent of the smell of human skin. They can therefore contribute to the erotic effect of a scent.

Femme(Feminine)
In the context of perfumery, femininity is a quality that is judged subjectively. Any perfume that underlines the womanly attributes of its wearer can be termed feminine, though much depends on the rapport between fragrance and user. Perfumes with floral accents are generally considered to be especially feminine. Of course, this does not prevent women from using scents that are considered to have a masculine character, but the majority uses those with feminine characteristics. In the past few years, masculine and feminine notes have come closer and closer together.

Fixative
A fixative is an ingredient added to perfume to make it last longer, similar to a preservative.

Fixing
Is a process that promotes the retention of the fragrance on the skin as long as possible. To achieve this, heavy, non-volatile substances are used which develop their full fragrance intensities only very slowly, and maintain them for longer periods. Substances are also used for this purpose which have no strong odours of their own, but have the ability to make other fragrances last longer.

Flanker
A fragrance that capitalizes on the success of a master brand. For instance, J Lo Glow was followed by the flanker scents Miami Glow and Love at First Glow. Many flankers are released as limited editions. Some flanker scents are variations on the original fragrance (e.g. they might share certain notes), others share nothing more than the name.

Flat
A flat fragrance is dull and uninteresting.

Floral
Floral is a fragrance scent that resembles flowers, and is usually described as smooth or natural.Over half of the brand named perfumes on the market today are characterized as floral. They contain well-defined flower notes (lily of the valley, for example, as in Diorissimo by Christian Dior), or a whole bouquet of floral effects, as in Quelques Fleurs by Houbigant. Actually all perfumes contain floral notes in some quantity.

Floral-fruity
Are those perfumes that have a noticeably fruity element, especially in the top note, as an accessory to the main theme, which is always floral. Excesses of fruitiness are to be avoided as they would suggest food-flavour rather than perfume.

Flowery
Flowery is a fragrance with flower or flower petal notes.

Forest Blends
Forest blend perfumes have earthy, woodsy, natural notes.

Formula
The formula of a perfume gives full details of its components-quality and quantity wise-and is used like a recipe for preparing the mixture. To formulate a perfume can take many, many years of experiments. Formulas are jealously-guarded trade secrets.

Fougere
Is the name of a combination of fresh herbaceous lavender notes on a mossy foundation. Fougere notes occur in many fantasy fragrances-especially in masculine perfumes.

Fougère
One of the fragrance families named after the French word for fern. Fougères center on an herbaceous accord that might include notes like lavender, coumarin, oakmoss, woods, and bergamot.

Fragrance
The word “Fragrance” is often used interchangeably with perfume, but they’re not quite the same thing. “Fragrance” is the scent of the perfume. Where as “perfume” is the product itself.

Fragrance Blotters
Are narrow strips of absorbent paper about 15 centimetres long with which scent samples are taken and smelled. On smelling strips, the evaporation of fragrance materials and perfume oils can be observed in the different phases they go through. Final judgement of a perfume must always be made on the skin, however.

Fragrance Components(Ingredients)
All the materials which the perfumers put together to form a perfume composition are known as fragrance components. These are uniform chemical substances, natural products and simple or complex mixtures - the so-called bases and specialities

Fragrance Material Industry
The fragrance material industry is a branch of the chemical industry. This industry includes the producers of natural and synthetic fragrance materials and perfume oils. The fragrance material industry is a supplier to the manufacturers of perfumes, cosmetics and other products of this nature.

Fragrance Materials, Natural
Are products of plant and animal origin, extracted by different processes. Some examples are essential oils, absolutes, concretes, resins, balsams and tinctures.

Fragrance Organ
Is the term for the working area of the perfumer, in which the fragrance materials he uses in his work are arranged around him in tiers, like the pipes of an organ around an organist.

Frangipani
A tropical flower, also known as West Indian Jasmine (although botanically speaking it is not a member of the jasmine family) and plumeria, and is frequently used to make leis.

Frankincense
A gum resin from a tree (genus Boswellia) found in Arabia and Eastern Africa. It is harvested by making an incision in the bark; the milky juice leaks out and is left to harden over a period of months before it is collected. Also called Olibanum.

Fresh
Fresh is a term often used to describe citrus or green notes, found in light perfumes. In relation to the effect of a perfume, is a subjective feeling that can be caused by different fragrance impressions. In European regions, freshness is generally associated with lemon, lavender and green notes, light floral components: light and clear elements, mostly. In other regions, North America for example, sweet and powdery perfumes are also considered as fresh.

Fruity
Fruity is a term used to describe a fragrance that has fruit scents, but not citrus fruits. It’s usually a kind of sweet-sour scent, like apples, strawberries, pineapples or bananas. Their sensual role in perfumery is only to produce nuances. Although single fruit odors do sometimes become fashionable, in such products as shampoos for instance, strong fruit notes could give perfumes the effect of being “edible”.

Full-bodied
Full-bodied refers to a fragrance that’s rich and has depth.

Fungal
Fungal is used to describe a fragrance that has notes of mushrooms, fungus, or mold, like oakmoss.

Glossary of Perfume Terminology (G-J) 

Tags: Definitions, Glossary, Terminology