Isolating notes

[yaderhey]

I've been sensing a few common notes in the colognes I like. Several of them contain Cardamom, Tonka, Bergamot and Vetiver.

Is there a way I can smell these ingredients in an isolated sort of way so I can confirm which of these I actually like.

Does a place like Whole Foods sell these as essential oils or something? I can't be the only person who's ever wondered about this stuff ...

[tehtimmeh]

Yes Whole Foods carries them. They might not have all of the ones you have listed. Tonka is really just a vanilla note, so you should already be familiar with that one.

Some online stores also sell little essential oil samplers that can help you get an idea of what you are smelling. The more familiar you become with them, the easier it is to pick out the notes.

[maxman]

I've looked into this before.
If you are lucky, you can find samplers of the more common EO's around.
Some sellers on ebay offer them, but I can't speak to the quality. Buyer beware as always.
It can be a little difficult when you get to an "accord" (a mixture of 2 frags that then make a 3rd frag.) They make them so you can't tell what the two original fragrances were. At least a good accord will be like that.
EO's are a great way to sample different scents and enough to get your nose trained.
Don't worry too much about things like an "absolute". "accord" or a "synthetic".

You'll drive yourself batty.

I'm a fan of learning about the fragrance wheel and associated groupings.
It will help you as well.

[StylinLA]

I've heard many can be found at whole foods too.

The Le Labo Boutique used to sell a kit with about 50 or more small vials of the main fragrance ingredients. But it was like $150 or something. It came in a nifty little aluminum case. They let me sniff a couple of them. I'm not into at that level myself. With sampling and purchases, over time you start to recognize the notes you like.

I can't isolate and tell you what cardamom smells like exactly, but I know it's in a lot of scents I like. Plus, like tehtimmeh said, some are just variants on a smell - vanilla, tonka, vanilla bean all variants of vanilla. As you read notes profiles, and sample, you start to figure those out.

BTW, the Fragantica web site does a more consistent job of listing notes than Basenotes.

One note of caution, it is good to start noticing the notes you like consistently. But, it's how that note is combined in a specific scent that really is the "art" of all this.

[maxman]

I've heard many can be found at whole foods too.

The Le Labo Boutique used to sell a kit with about 50 or more small vials of the main fragrance ingredients. But it was like $150 or something. It came in a nifty little aluminum case. They let me sniff a couple of them. I'm not into at that level myself. With sampling and purchases, over time you start to recognize the notes you like.

I can't isolate and tell you what cardamom smells like exactly, but I know it's in a lot of scents I like. Plus, like tehtimmeh said, some are just variants on a smell - vanilla, tonka, vanilla bean all variants of vanilla. As you read notes profiles, and sample, you start to figure those out.

BTW, the Fragantica web site does a more consistent job of listing notes than Basenotes.

One note of caution, it is good to start noticing the notes you like consistently. But, it's how that note is combined in a specific scent that really is the "art" of all this.

I favour fragrantica over basenotes. Their database is very good.

[The Knize]

No need to by bottles of essential oils, at least for me. Just smell from the sample vials everytime you are at a store that has them.

[yaderhey]

Well, that was interesting. Stopped by Whole Foods over lunch and sniffed the essential oils of Bergamot and Vetiver. Both were sorta nauseating, at least in this concentrated version. I do think I preferred the smell of Vetiver, though. They didn't have Cardamom, which I think may be the note that I like best (but not sure, since I haven't smelled it on its own).

[tehtimmeh]

One note of caution, it is good to start noticing the notes you like consistently. But, it's how that note is combined in a specific scent that really is the "art" of all this.

Extremely important advice here. Sometimes you can't pick out exactly what you like in a frag because two or more ingredients combined can create a scent that doesn't really smell like it's individual notes. It is an art. For example, perfumers can make tobacco and leather notes using a variety of ingredients and they may never actually use real tobacco plant. Not to mention - of course there's no such thing as liquid leather!

[Alraz]

The simple answer is NO but smelling the pure essential oils helps to train the nose. The reason is that the receptors that detect odorants are not exclusive for individual molecules. In addition, essential oils are blends of many odorants that can be found in various essential oils. To complicate things further, scents often contain several essential oils mixed together. Finally, the part of the brain that detects smells also controls memory. This is why it is so frequent that people associate smells with places, events or periods of their lives. This is believed have been used as a defense mechanism.

Al raz.

[maxman]

Extremely important advice here. Sometimes you can't pick out exactly what you like in a frag because two or more ingredients combined can create a scent that doesn't really smell like it's individual notes. It is an art. For example, perfumers can make tobacco and leather notes using a variety of ingredients and they may never actually use real tobacco plant. Not to mention - of course there's no such thing as liquid leather!

The simple answer is NO but smelling the pure essential oils helps to train the nose. The reason is that the receptors that detect odorants are not exclusive for individual molecules. In addition, essential oils are blends of many odorants that can be found in various essential oils. To complicate things further, scents often contain several essential oils mixed together. Finally, the part of the brain that detects smells also controls memory. This is why it is so frequent that people associate smells with places, events or periods of their lives. This is believed have been used as a defense mechanism.

Al raz.

More commonly known in the fragrance world as an accord.
The idea is to create a fragrance that is unique. Once you have a solid accord, it's almost like you have a secret ingredient.
This is very important to the art of making a fragrance.
Leather is very raw and animal. Alone it can be offensive and almost fecal.
But blended properly, it can be quite sensual.

Bvlgari black has notes of leather and rubber at the base. I find it unpleasant, and can certainly smell the rubber.
Now it doesn't have rubber in it, but whatever they are mixing certainly smells like that to me.

It really is an art. A very profitable art if you're good at it.

[Quintar]

Well, that was interesting. Stopped by Whole Foods over lunch and sniffed the essential oils of Bergamot and Vetiver. Both were sorta nauseating, at least in this concentrated version. I do think I preferred the smell of Vetiver, though. They didn't have Cardamom, which I think may be the note that I like best (but not sure, since I haven't smelled it on its own).

cardamom is a spice, if you want to know what cardamom, cinnamon, vanilla, clove, nutmeg, etc smell like then its much easier to head over to the spice aisle than trying to find cardamom oil. also smelling the oils out of the bottle doesn't work well sometimes, you have to put it on some paper and let it air out. Bergamot is an orange, so if it didn't smell orangey then the oil may have gone bad. pick up some earl grey tea if you want to smell bergamot...

[StylinLA]

Yad, you may be an analytical sort who wants to isolate some of these notes to see what you like. But be aware, smelling cardamom solo may indeed help you recognize it in men's frags, or give an idea of what it contributes, but you may not like the smell solo.

I smelled the ambergris vial in that Le Labo note sampler and while it wasn't THE most vial smell ever, I would never conceive of putting it in a perfume. Sort of sweet and sour spoiled kind of smell. How the hell someone ever came up with that idea...

"Look, theres some whale puke...jeesh, smells horid. Hey, I know...let's put it in perfume."

[The Nid Hog]

Also, I think that the extraction method and the particular element of the scent that's being utilized has a significant effect on the way the fragrance turns out. Also, some notes seem to engage your senses (or are engaged by your senses) in a qualitatively different way than others. For example, it seems to me that scents like lavender and bergamot smell distinct from one another and I register them as different scents. But I feel like my olfactory system engages them in the same way. On the other hand there are scents--here I'm thinking of oud, coumarin and maybe civet--that not only have a distinct scent but are actually sensed in a slightly different way. It seems to me that one of the things that makes them seem more exotic. So, while they might have a similar origin, I feel like there's a big difference in the way I encounter or sense vanilla and coumarin. That's at least my impression.

[jakespoppy]

I've smelled the EO's in the Whole Foods store, and if colognes and EdT's smelled like those, I wouldn't wear any fragrance. Joking...sort of. I try hard to figure out what notes are in fragrances, and to pick out what I like and don't like, and I do think I've gotten to a beginning level of picking some things out. But I never smell a lot of individual notes in a single fragrance, usually about three at most. And I'm surprised at how many times I can't tell notes that I think I will recognize are in a scent when they are listed on the notes list. But it's still fun to try.