Base vs Mid vs Top notes

[deruitem]

I am kind of new to the fragrance world. Not that I dont own a lot and not that I have not tried my fair share. I mean new to more than just smelling a bunch until I like something.

I have seen a lot of descriptions that have the catogories base, mid and top notes. Can someone tell me what the differences are?

I suspect it is kind of like describing the flavor of burbon or coffee but I am not sure

[hedonist222]

Perfumers generally compose their perfumers around an idea or a passion or muse or a tale and then translate it into a perfume that also unfolds.

The tops notes generally last from 3 to 3 minutes. The mid notes last anywhere from the first 5 minutes to at least 2 hours. Then the base notes till the perfume fades away. The notes evaporate off the skin.

Some perfumes are very complex. You'll smell the note levels clearly during the transition.

[Luc]

This could be an awesome wiki article...

[Dennard]

http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthr...ping-fragrance

This thread had some pretty good ideas on this topic.

[StylinLA]

The science of scent is a bit of over my head, but roughly speaking, each kind of "note" has a certain duration for which it can be smelled. When you first spray on a scent, most all the elements are present, but as your wear the scent for awhile, the notes with shorter durations "wear off" and you are left with base notes.

A lot of fragrances are top loaded with citrus for example. But citrus, like lime for example, has a short duration. Not really sure of the logic of this, but it is the way perfumery has evolved. One of the reasons many of us here so strongly encourage getting samples to test wear is that at in store test, you are getting a load of the full set of notes, but in practice wearing the scent, tose top notes will dissapear and you are left with mid and base notes. People new to fragrance and wet shavers in particular need to be aware of this since the love of citrus scents seems to be prominent with men here. And the citrus you smell on the test strip in the store will not be there all day long if you wear it. No citrus scents last all day.

I have a scent called Virgin Island Water. It opens up with the best lime I have ever smelled. But in a half hour or less, that has faded, and coconut and florals take over. It's a nice scent, but if a lime lover smelled it in store, they would go gaga. But taking it home and wearing it, would be quite disappointed if the lime was why they bought it.

if you get into fragrances, in time through reading and testing, you kind of start to be able to recognize many of the notes when you spray on a scent. Without thinking about it, your brain can kind of start to distinguish which parts of the scent are going to fade away, and which will hang in. I'm not as good at as many, but can kind of get a sense from an inital blast. Of a scent. It's always good to look up the notes profiles of scents that interest you and cross reference them with your experience testing them.

[nole1]

[deruitem]

Good info and thank you!

[babydials]

As the scent warms on you some scents start to burn off. For example, citrus scents (especially grapefruit) and pepper are largely top notes, half an hour later they are gone. Some parts of a scent will last for an hour or so, those are the mid-notes (ginger, oris root, cinnamon). Some scents will stay for hours, those are your base notes, such as amber (why Creeds always get too sweet on me in the end), sandalwood (woods in general), benzoin, labdanum, and oakmoss. As more and more artificial ingredients go into perfume this has changed a bit.

[Denver Mike]

Well as I mentioned in another post, I failed high school chemistry, so I have to ask. According to the knowledge that we have - these top notes are strictly top notes because they do not last longer than x amount of minutes/hours.

So it would be impossible to create a fragrance that drys down and smells like lemon, mandarin, bergamot or lavendar?

[facetime]

Great visual Nole.

[BillC]

Well as I mentioned in another post, I failed high school chemistry, so I have to ask. According to the knowledge that we have - these top notes are strictly top notes because they do not last longer than x amount of minutes/hours.

So it would be impossible to create a fragrance that drys down and smells like lemon, mandarin, bergamot or lavendar?

Impossible is a tricky word. Smell works because molecules enter your nose and trigger sensors there - so when you smell your perfume a molecule that was part of what you sprayed on your body has floated through the air and into your nose. A perfume is a collection of a great number of different molecules - think of a pan full of balls. Heat is like shaking the pan - all of the molecules begin to move. Eventually some of the balls/molecules bounce out of the pan and into the air. Some of the balls/molecules are kind of sticky, some aren't. The smallest, lightest, least sticky balls/molecules tend to bounce out and into the air first. The ease of knocking a certain kind of molecule out of the pan is called volatility. The note pyramid shows the relative volatility of common fragrance producing molecules.

So is a long lasting citrus basenote impossible? There's at least two ways to manipulate this. Perfumers use "fixatives", chemicals that are relatively non-volatile and increase the "stickiness" of other chemical (imagine adding heavy balls covered with velcro loops into a pan with small light balls covered with velcro hooks.) So if you can find a fixative that 'holds' the note you want to last more than the other notes then you can stretch that note out. The other option is creating a synthetic molecule that triggers the same sensation in your nose but is heavier/stickier than the molecule you'd been using to create that sensation before.

These relative volatilities are what make scents that 'evolve' possible. It's also why you can refine alcohol out of watery mixtures to create distilled spirits - alcohol has a higher volatility than water so it 'boils' off first and can be captured and condensed.

[babydials]

So it would be impossible to create a fragrance that drys down and smells like lemon, mandarin, bergamot or lavendar?

If using all natural ingredients, pretty much. But lemon and bergamot seem to last longer than grapefruit or tangerine.

[StylinLA]

Well as I mentioned in another post, I failed high school chemistry, so I have to ask. According to the knowledge that we have - these top notes are strictly top notes because they do not last longer than x amount of minutes/hours.

So it would be impossible to create a fragrance that drys down and smells like lemon, mandarin, bergamot or lavendar?

As BillC said, impossible is a tricky word (and who knew BillC was Mr. Science. Nice write up Bill). Yes, you can create a scent that drys down to citrus. I have Trumpers Lime. You spray it on, and it "drys down" to lime. Total duration of the scent- appx 30 minutes (and you kick your self in the ass for not heeding your own advice to sample wear first).

My guess is Denver Mike, you're a citrus lover, seeking the holy grail long lasting citrus. Every other month, a citrus lover shows up here or in Basenotes. Many scents are suggested, but in my expeience there are no long lasting citrus scents. I cannot explain as well as BillC attempted, but the citrus scent molecules just do not last as long. There is no way to make it a "base note." If I understand this correctly, all of the notes are there when you apply the scent. As the top notes scent molecules run out of gas, you're left with the mid and base notes.

That being said, if you are a citrus dude, some of the neroli scents have a bit of legs to them. Neroli is citrus like. TF Neroli Portofino lasts pretty well that I can tell.

[Lamb Root]

That being said, if you are a citrus dude, some of the neroli scents have a bit of legs to them. Neroli is citrus like. TF Neroli Portofino lasts pretty well that I can tell.

This is true. Neroli does last. L'eau de l'Hermine lasts 8 ours on me and if you don't mind musk try by all mens. Simmilar thing with Eau de Tarocco, only that one lasts for about 5 hours. + lostmarc'h isn't expensive

[BillC]

(and who knew BillC was Mr. Science. Nice write up Bill)..

Hopefully my employer :-)