These are the bright, volatile, sparkling top-note materials.
Fresh, elegant, tea-like, slightly floral, softly bitter citrus.
Examples: bergamot oil, bergamot mint nuances.
Sharp, clean, acidic, sparkling, aldehydic citrus.
Examples: lemon oil, lemon peel effects.
Sweet, juicy, cheerful, round citrus.
Examples: sweet orange oil, blood orange facets.
More tart, bitter, sulfuric, brisk, modern citrus.
Examples: lime oil, grapefruit oil.
Dry, pithy, zesty, peel-like bitterness.
Examples: orange peel, bitter orange peel.
Arctander-style thinking often separates materials from the bitter orange tree because they smell very different depending on blossom, leaf, or peel. This is a very useful classification in real perfumery.
Fresh floral citrus blossom, green, radiant, airy.
Examples: neroli oil.
Richer, warmer, sweeter, more indolic and honeyed than neroli.
Examples: orange flower absolute.
Green, twiggy, leafy, bitter-citrus, floral-herbal.
Examples: petitgrain bigarade.
Cool, clean, lifted, often used in colognes, fougères, and aromatic structures.
Fresh, aromatic, herbal-floral, clean, coumarinic-friendly.
Examples: lavender oil, lavandin.
Camphoraceous, brisk, medicinal, aromatic-green.
Examples: rosemary oil.
Aromatic, herbal, tea-like, slightly tobacco-like, diffusive.
Examples: clary sage oil, sage oil.
Pungent, hot, medicinal, kitchen-herb, powerful.
Examples: thyme oil, marjoram oil.
Green, spicy, anisic, aromatic, culinary.
Examples: basil oil, tarragon.
These are stemmy, leafy, sappy, crushed-leaf, raw plant impressions.
Crushed leaf, cut stem, cool sap, fresh chlorophyll.
Examples: violet leaf, leafy absolute effects.
Sharp green with bitterness and resin bite.
Examples: galbanum-like materials.
Green apple/pear/plum skin effect, tart and juicy.
Examples: certain fruit peels, cassis-like greenery.
Halfway between green and aromatic.
Examples: angelica herb, parsley-seed type nuances.
This is the broadest artistic area. Arctander’s natural-material mindset tends to separate flowers by their odor personality, not just by botany.
Rosy, fresh, honeyed, lemony, spicy, waxy, velvety.
Examples: rose otto, rose absolute.
Rose otto usually feels brighter and fresher; rose absolute often feels darker, waxier, fuller.
Rich floral, indolic, narcotic, fruity, tea-like, animalic.
Examples: jasmine absolute, jasmine sambac types.
Radiant floral-citrus blossom with green honeyed nuances.
Examples: neroli, orange flower absolute.
Creamy, solar, banana-like, spicy, narcotic tropical floral.
Examples: ylang ylang.
Very few true naturals smell exactly like muguet, but some naturals support that fresh dewy floral area.
Examples: rose-geranium-lily-like bridge materials.
Powdery floral, cool, cosmetic, soft, woody-floral.
Examples: violet flower traces, orris-related zones.
Powdery, rooty, cool, luxurious, violet-woody, buttery.
Examples: orris butter.
This is both floral and rooty, which is why orris often belongs in more than one family.
Green-floral, heady, waxy, pollen-like, sometimes leathery.
Examples: narcissus absolute.
Rosy, minty, green, metallic, leafy floral.
Examples: geranium oil.
Geranium sits between floral and aromatic, which is very Arctander-like in practice.
These can be juicy, winey, berry-like, dried-fruit-like, or liqueur-like.
Dark, tart, sulfuric-green, fruity.
Examples: blackcurrant-bud type effects.
Apple, pear, quince, plum, apricot nuances.
Examples: osmanthus-apricot zones, dried-fruit balsamics.
Mango, banana, pineapple-like facets.
Examples: ylang or osmanthus-related overlaps.
Sweet dark-fruity, winey, balsamic.
Examples: certain balsams and floral absolutes.
Warm, piquant, kitchen-spice, incense-spice, or peppery effects.
Dry, terpenic, sharp, lively.
Examples: black pepper oil.
Soft, sweet, comforting, pastry-like spice.
Examples: cardamom, nutmeg.
Hot, biting, fiery, phenolic.
Examples: cinnamon bark, clove bud.
Sparkling, lemony-spicy, root-like warmth.
Examples: ginger oil.
Dryness, structure, elegance, persistence.
Dry, pencil-shaving, clean, slightly smoky or dusty.
Examples: cedarwood Virginia.
Creamy, soft, milky, warm, sacred, persistent.
Examples: sandalwood.
Dry root-wood, smoky-earthy, elegant, mineral.
Examples: vetiver.
Floral-linalool woods, light aromatic woods.
Examples: rosewood-type materials.
Tarred, smoky, tea-like, leathery wood.
Examples: guaiacwood.
These smell like roots, soil, cold cellars, carrots, damp earth, or powdered underground structures.
Powdery, earthy, carrot-like, violet-cosmetic.
Examples: orris butter.
Dry, fibrous, bitter-earthy, smoky-root.
Examples: vetiver oil.
Animalic-rooty, oily-hair, earthy.
Examples: costus-related historical naturals.
Green, earthy, musky, rooty-spicy.
Examples: angelica root or seed types.
Shaded, damp, inky, barky, humic, classical chypre territory.
Inky, damp, salty, foresty, bitter-green, leathery.
Examples: oakmoss absolute.
Dry-damp, barky, mineral, lichenic forest nuance.
Examples: tree moss.
Soil, decayed leaves, shaded woods.
Examples: patchouli-oakmoss overlaps.
Patchouli is so distinctive that it deserves its own branch in a practical perfumer’s chart.
Dry, woody, cool, elegant patchouli.
Humus, cellar, damp soil.
Cocoa-dark, rich, smooth patchouli.
Minty, cool, slightly medicinal top.
Examples: patchouli oil across qualities and fractions.
Warm, thick, sticky, glowing, rounded base materials. These are central to Arctander’s natural-material world. The book is widely described as covering origin, production, processing, odor type, and application of these natural raw materials.Â
Vanillic, sweet, balsamic, powdery, almondy-soft.
Examples: benzoin resinoid.
Ambered, leathery, resinous, dry-sweet, deep.
Examples: labdanum absolute.
Sweet balsamic, cinnamon-like, vanillic, smoky, leathery.
Examples: peru balsam, tolu balsam, styrax.
Resinous, soft incense, sweet-bitter balsam.
Examples: opoponax.
Dryer and more spiritual than the sweeter balsams.
Lemony, terpenic, dry, airy incense, mineral smoke.
Examples: frankincense oil.
Bitter, medicinal, dusty, sacred, dark resin.
Examples: myrrh oil.
Peppery, citrus-resin, bright incense bridge.
Examples: elemi.
Soft, edible, comforting, often base-note rich.
Creamy, sweet, balsamic, dark, soft, mouthwatering.
Examples: vanilla absolute.
Hay-like, almondy, warm, tobacco-like sweetness.
Examples: tonka bean absolute.
Beehive, pollen, wax, nectar.
Examples: beeswax absolute, certain florals.
Dry-sweet warmth, barn-hay, cured-leaf nuance.
Examples: tonka and tobacco overlaps.
Arctander’s era still treated natural animalic materials as part of real perfumery classification.
Warm skin, fur, sensual, diffusive.
Examples: ambrette seed family in natural perfumery contexts.
Tarred leather, fur, smoky-animalic warmth.
Examples: castoreum materials.
Fecal in concentration, warm-skin in dilution, erotic diffusion.
Examples: civet historical materials.
Honey-wax, warm skin, pollenic richness.
Examples: beeswax absolute.
Dry cultivated plant materials with elegant bitterness or sweetness.
Cured leaf, honeyed, leathery, dry-sweet, smoky.
Dry leafy, aromatic, slightly smoky, tannic.
Sun-dried grass, warm straw, almond-hay sweetness.
Examples: tonka-adjacent naturals.
These may sit between spice, balsam, and gourmand.
Soft almond, marzipan, powder.
Warm oily seed nuance.
Fruity-musky, winey, soft skin.
Examples: ambrette-related natural zones.
Cooling, penetrating, sharp, often top-note useful in aromatic effects.
Sharp, fresh, medicinal.
Cool, penetrating, crystalline.
Forest-clean, resin-fresh, antiseptic.
These are distinct from general woods.
Cold forest, terpenic, resinous-green.
Resin-rich, Christmas-tree, bright forest.
Dry gin-like conifer, woody-aromatic.
Not a huge traditional natural family, but useful as a practical bucket for odor resemblance.
Sea breeze through moss and rock.
Stone, cold church, dusty mineral incense.
Dewy, cool, transparent plant-water effect.