Fragrance families and the effect scent has on your emotions

Smell and your emotions

Scent is processed through the olfactory bulb located inside your nose and then runs up and along the base of the brain. Our smell receptors are directly connected to the limbic part of the brain where emotions and memories are stored. This part of your brain can trigger powerful memories and sometimes evoke strong emotions to a certain fragrance.

‘Researchers have found that our ability to recall a specific scent surpasses even our ability to recall what we have seen.’ Dr Trygg Engen, Brown University. 

Fragrance terminology

Notes

Similar to music these are used to describe the individual building blocks of scent. Individual fragrances like Lemon, Lavender or Cedarwood.

Accords

These are balanced blends of fragrance notes which lose their individual identity to create a completely new and unified odour impression.

Substantively

The relative strength and durability of fragrance performance over time.

Stability

This refers to how long a scent lasts, either in the bottle or when it’s exposed to elements like heat, light or air.

Fragrance Families 

Citrus - Orange oil, Grapefruit Oil

Aromatic - Lavender oil

Piney - Pine oil

Green - Galbanum oil, Hexenol-3-Cis

Aldehydic - Aldehyde C10

Spicy - Clove oil, Cinnamon oil 

Fruity - Apple, Peach

Floral – Rose, Jasmine, Geranium

Mossy - Oakmoss

Woody - Patchouli oil, Sandalwood oil, Iso E super

Balsamic - Benjoin Resinoid, Vanilla bean

Animalic - Indole

Musky – Galaxolide

Whatever your product needs to meet growing consumer demand, our fragrance experts are here to help. Our team at Aromatic Ingredients will work directly with your brand to create products that are perfect for your application, manage your product development, and manufacture or combine existing ingredients for your formulation.