Perfume is Music for our Nose Ц What All Those "Note" References Mean

Articles on Music | Topics: music, musical

by Bruce Monroe

Did you know that there is music occurring in your nose? Well, there is, only instead of music you hear with your ears, it is music for your olfactory senses. You're probably wondering what the heck all this means. Well, in the world of perfume and fragrance manufacturing, the varying scents that make up a fragrance or perfume are categorized into different categories called "notes." In music, notes are varying levels of tones; and in the perfume world, notes are varying degrees of smells.

In regards to perfumes and fragrances, these notes have three levels: the top note, the middle note and the base note. Each note provides an essential, unique character that makes for a one of a kind scent. If you have ever heard anyone say that they have to make a good first impression, in perfume terms, the top note does this job. The top note of a fragrance or perfume gives us an initial impression of the scent. Because the scent of these top notes only last for a short time, usually ten to thirty minutes, they must capture the olfactory senses with that good first impression. They are usually light scents that will stimulate the senses in preparation for that fragrant middle note. Some of the most common top notes in perfumes and fragrances are citrus scents like grapefruit, lemon and orange. Other popular top notes are the aromatic eucalyptus and cool mint.

The middle notes give a body to the perfume or fragrance. The middle notes are also called the "heart" of the fragrance. You can usually smell these middle notes right when you apply the perfume to your skin. However, it can take several minutes for your body to warm the scent and "wake" it up. The middle notes identify the type of perfume or fragrance family the scent belongs to like the floral, spicy or oriental family. Some of the types of scents common in the middle note category are rose, cinnamon, ylang-ylang, chamomile and lavender.

The base notes provide the foundation for a perfume or fragrance. These scents last the longest and provide that "lingering" smell we look for in a perfume. Because the top notes tend to evaporate quickly, the base notes fix onto the top notes to allow some of the scent to stay with the base notes. The most popular choice in base notes is vanilla. Other base notes commonly used are musk, sandalwood, cinnamon, pine and other woodsy type of scents.

аHistorical Quote

Rock music should be gross: that’s the fun of it. It gets up and drops its trousers.

—Bruce Dickinson (b. 1958)

Each perfume or fragrance is unique and their top, middle and base notes all differ. For example, in some fragrances cinnamon could serve as the base note while in others, it would be a middle note. It all depends on the direction the perfume or fragrance manufacturer wants to go with the scent. And the reason for this is tied greatly into the various emotions and even a certain style that various scents can invoke within a person.

In regards to the perfume notes, there is also a category called the "single note." Perfumes and fragrances that are deemed single note scents have just one source in which to draw its smell. There are no varying levels of the top, middle and base notes to contend with. Basically, when a fragrance is a single note scent that means the essential oils that form a fragrance comes from one particular flower or source. Lavender and vanilla are two of the most popular single note fragrances on the market these days. And for those fragrances applied to the body as an aromatherapy tool, most of these will be single note fragrances.

In many shops and boutiques where you can mix your own fragrances, those individual essential oils you end up "test smelling" are single note scents. From those individual single note smells, you can choose to mix your own blend of single note fragrances to create a totally new scent. These shops and boutiques are very popular these days among teenage girls and young women seeking something fun and unique.

Music for the nose Е top, middle and base notes define fragrances and perfumes. After this little crash course in the differences between these levels of smell, can you detect them in your own favorite scents you have at home?

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Please note: All personal opinions expressed in the "Perfume is Music for our Nose Ц What All Those "Note" References Mean" article belong to the contributing author and are not necessarily shared by MusicInstrumentsCds.com.

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