Perfume is the result of a queer mixture of fragrant essential oils, aroma compounds, fixers and solvents intended to provide the human beings, animals and certain objects, a pleasant odor. Like music, perfumes also have three notes which unravel gradually, with the top note offering the immediate effect and then getting into the deeper middle notes, and finally the base notes emerging. These three notes are crafted carefully bearing in mind the evaporation process of the perfume. To further elaborate on the subject, the scents emanating from the top notes are sensed immediately on application of a perfume. They consist of small, light molecules that evaporate fast. They form a user's first impression of a perfume and thus are very important from a marketing perspective. The middle notes represent the scent of a perfume that comes out just prior to the top notes dissipating. The middle note compounds form the nucleus or main body of a perfume. The base notes denote the scent of a perfume that appears immediately after the departure of the middle notes.

The base and middle notes combine to form the main theme of a perfume. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a perfume. Compounds of this class of scents are typically rich and deep and are usually not sensed until 30 minutes after application. All manufactures of perfumes usually publish perfume notes and they typically ilustrate the fragrance pyramid, with the components shown in imaginative and abstract terms. Perfume analysts will tell you that grouping perfumes can never be totally objective. Many fragrances invariably contain aspects of different families. It is interesting to know that traditional categorisation of fragrances were:

The single floral fragrances that are dominated by a scent from one particular flower. Floral Bouquet which contain the combination of several flowers in a scent. Ambery fragrance which denotes a large fragrance class featuring the sweet somewhat animal scents of ambergris, often combined with vanilla, flowers and woods and further enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins. Woody is known as fragrances that are predominantly woody scents, like agarwood, sandalwood and cedar. Patchouli, with its camphor smell, is commonly found in these perfumes. Leather connotes a family of fragrances which features the scents of honey, tobacco, wood and even wood tars in its middle or base notes and a scent that alludes to leather. Chypre which means Cyprus in French includes fragrances built on a similar accord consisting of bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli, and labdanum. Fougère which means Fern in French is constructed on a base of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss. Many male fragrances are believed to belong to this family of fragrances.

During the middle of last century, as a result of developments in perfume technology as well as the natural evolvement of styles and tastes, certain new categories have emerged to reflect modern varieties of scents. Bright Floral category combines the traditional single floral and floral bouquet. Green is a lighter and more modern interpretation of the earlier Chypre type. Oceanic or Ozone is the latest category in the perfume industry; this is a very clean, modern smell leading to many androgynous perfumes. Citrus or Fruity belongs to an old fragrance family that until recently consisted mainly of eau de colognes due to the low tenacity of citrus scents. But developments of newer fragrance compounds have led to the creation of primarily citrus fragrances. Gourmand fragrance scents with dessert-like qualities. These often contain notes like vanilla and tonka bean, as well as synthetic components designed to resemble food flavors. Many modern perfumes contain synthetic odorants, as an alternate source, to provide fragrances which are not naturally available. Synthetic orchid scents are usually not obtained directly from the plant itself but are instead synthetically created to match the fragrant compounds.

Quality Fragrance lines:

Below is a representative sample fragrance ingredients

• Flavors - several and all flavors, vanilla extracts, juice blends
  
• Fruits - strawberry, pineapple, coconut, banana, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, grape, apple, raspberry, cranberry, boysenberry, apple-strawberry, peach, blueberry, cherry, apricot, prune, etc
  
• Citrus fruits - grapefruit, orange, lime, lemon (extract or emulsion)
  
• Tropical fruits - passion fruit, mango, papaya, guava, guanabana
  
• Coffee - mocha, cappuccino, espresso, vanilla, hazelnut, praline
  
• Vegetable - carrot, zucchini, tomato, potato
  
• Dairy - milk, sour cream, yogurt, butter
  
• Cordial - amaretto, macademia