There are many different perfumes on the market and they all have a distinctive scent. Perfumes are classified according to the notes that are present in the fragrance. A perfume classification table from the Fragrance Wheel helps define what notes are in a fragrance and what type of scent produces those notes. There are five different notes that can be present in a perfume.

Floral notes include florals, soft florals, and water.

Oriental notes include floral oriental, mild oriental, and oriental.

Woody notes include oriental woody, mossy woods and dry woods.

The fresh notes consist of citrus, greens, and water.

Fougere is in the middle of the wheel and is typically what you will smell in men’s fragrances.

The fragrance wheel is a fairly new way of classifying perfume scents and is widely used in retail stores and within the fragrance industry. The main reason to use the fragrance wheel for perfume scent grading is to simplify grading standards and help show the relationship between each scent separately.

The classification of perfume aromas provides the starting point for describing a perfume. When you’re trying to describe something that you can only smell using the written word, there has to be some common medium to help explain what something smells like. By using the fragrance wheel as a guide for classifying perfume scents, you have a common starting point that helps you accurately describe the scent of a perfume.

In addition to the fragrance wheel, there are other ways to define the scent classification of perfumes. Many perfumes overlap in more than one fragrance family. The scent classifications of traditional perfumes have been expanded in recent years to accommodate modern scents.

Traditional perfume scent classifications include:

• Unique floral scents that come from flowers.
• Bouquets of a variety of flowers.
• Amber scents include scents such as vanilla with scents of animals, flowers and woods.
• Woody fragrances are rustic and consist of woody scents.
• Leather is made up of honey, tobacco, and wood tar.
• Cyprus includes aromas of oak moss, patchoilu and labdanum.
• Fougere is made up of lavender, coumarin, and oakmoss.

Modern fragrances include:

• Bright floral that combines a single floral with floral bouquets.
• Green that is lighter and more modern.
• Oceanic / ozone is clean and modern
• Citrus or fruity has a low citrus aroma