The Aroma Families or Groups 

This page will help you understand aroma groups or "Families".  The best way to start making a perfume is to decide what sort of perfume you want to make. Select a base, then select aroma additives from one or more of the aroma families located at the bottom of the perfume base page.  Select additives for top, middle and base notes.  Most perfumers will agree on 5 or 6 perfume families (aromatic, citrus, fern, floral, oriental).  We have extended the families to include many more familiar aroma groups.

Read the descriptions of each family.  Click on a perfume family to see its additives. Select one or more additives that will give your perfume that quality. Let us say you have decided to make a floral perfume. You can start with a pre-made floral base or start from scratch, adding various floral additives to the perfumers alcohol. Either way, you can easily make a floral perfume from picking the family of aroma additives you think sound good and you want your perfume to reflect.

All perfumes have many different additives. I suggest starting with a middle note as the perfumes main fragrance, focus or type. Take rose, for example. Think about what sort of rose perfume you want, a rich, warm, balsam vanilla type rose with deep woody base notes. Pick those qualities from the aroma additives in families below.

Think about the 3 phases of a perfume, the top note, the middle note and the base note. Try to give your perfume all 3 notes.  All of our aroma additives have a note designation within their description. You should keep this in mind when purchasing a new additive. The middle note is the heart of your perfume. After the top note fades this is what you will smell next in your perfume. The middle will blend, giving way to the base note, which is the finish to your perfume. This is usually a animal, wood or balsam note.  The base notes also help fix all the notes to the skin.

Smelling strips will come in handy and help guide you on how much of an additive you will want to use. The more additives you have the more fun it becomes. One new aroma additive can inspire a whole new perfume, and the more experimenting you can do. Building a library of additives is called building a perfume organ. The correlation between perfume and music is inescapable. They both float invisibly through the air, invoking memories and stirring our senses.

 AnimalUsed in extremely low concentration, animal notes give perfumes a warm, sensuous, exotic note. They add body, richness and depth as well as great fixative qualities.

 Aromatic  Basil, mint, lavender, and peppermint. All the herbal, fresh, clean, uplifting notes. These notes are commonly used in men's fragrances and top notes.            

 Balsam Vanilla, balsams and benzion are the main aromas in this family. Their sweet and natural fragrance is often used in warm, rich feminine perfumes.

 Chypre  Is based on a woody, mossy, floral accord, which can include leathery or fruity notes.  Chypre perfumes have a rich, classic lingering scent. The perfume chypre was created by Francois Coty in 1917 and named after the Mediterranean island of Cypress and inspired Coty's perfume of the same name.

 Citrus The citrus oils of bergamot, lemon, grapefruit and mandarin smell just like the rinds. Fresh, green, lime, galbanum, tart bright and clean. This group is comprised of mostly top notes.

 Floral  Fresh cut flowers. Soft floral aldahydes and fresh powder notes. The heavy florals gardenia, tuberose, ylang ylang and lilly. The spicy floral notes are carnation, jasmine, neroli, orange blossom. A large majority many perfumes fall into this family.

 Fruit  Fruity notes in fragrances are currant and very popular. Most of them are obtained synthetically, with melon, peach, apple, cherry, apricot and berry being the base. The addition of wood and citrus are common in perfumes.

 Oriental  The oriental family is comprised of resins, vanillas, musk’s, animal and narcotic notes. Sweet spices and orange flowers. Soft oriental florals can have Incense, amber, powder and woody notes. Patchouli, sandalwood, teak and exotic dried spices. 

 Wood Mossy woods, oakmoss, vetiver, earthy wood, sandalwood, patchouli, warm smooth notes.Some aromatic woods are cedar, juniper and pine. Rich warm woods are good in all perfumes they create a great base and longevity on the skin. 

 Spice Warm notes like clove oil, cinnamon, pepper, thyme. They are warming in character and add richness. 

Herbal A note that is natural cool, leafy, minty, aromatic lavender, chamomile, clary sage, rosemary. Herb oils tend to be sharp and green and diffusive.

 Green The odor of fresh cut grass leaves. Green notes add lift and vibrancy to a fragrancecomposition and appear in most combinations to add a natural quality.

 Gourmand Dessert like sweet chocolate. Creamy fruity aromas you would normally think of as dessert. This is a fairly new group but gaining in popularity.

 Freshlight airy, mostly citrus and floral, a bright morning daytime quality. Green fruit, water,air and sun-like scents.