The Complete Fragrance Glossary: Every Term Explained

Fragrance has a language of its own, and once you speak it, shopping and reading reviews gets far easier. Here are the terms that actually matter, in plain English.

The essentials

Notes. The individual scents in a fragrance, grouped as top (the first impression), heart (the core), and base (what lingers). Our notes guide breaks this down in full.

Accord. A blend of several notes that reads as one smell, the way individual notes form a chord. Amber and marine are accords, not single ingredients.

Sillage. Pronounced see-yazh. The scented trail you leave behind as you move. High sillage fills a room; low sillage stays close.

Projection. How far the fragrance radiates from your skin, measured as the bubble around you rather than the trail behind you.

Longevity. How many hours the fragrance lasts on your skin before fading.

Drydown. The final stage, once the top and heart have burned off and the base notes settle. Often the truest character of a scent.

Buying and collecting

Concentration. The strength of the fragrance oils, from light eau de cologne to rich parfum. See our concentrations guide.

Flanker. A spin-off of an existing fragrance, usually sharing the name with a twist, such as an Intense or Sport version.

Decant. A small amount of a fragrance transferred into a travel vial, often used to sample before buying full size.

Blind buy. Purchasing a fragrance without smelling it first. Rewarding when it works, expensive when it does not, which is exactly why sampling matters.

Batch. A production run. Formulas can vary slightly between batches over the years.

Community slang

Beast mode. A fragrance with enormous projection and longevity.

Scrubber. A scent so unpleasant on your skin that you want to scrub it off.

Nose-blind (olfactory fatigue). When you stop smelling your own fragrance because your nose has adjusted to it. Others still smell it clearly.

Compliment monster. A reliably crowd-pleasing scent that earns compliments.

Know the language, and every fragrance description suddenly makes sense. Next, learn the scent families and find yours in the full collection.