Fragrance
Top Notes, Heart Notes, Base Notes: The Only Guide You Need
Every fragrance is a timed release. Molecules evaporate at different speeds, and perfumers stack them so the scent changes in a controlled way. Read the pyramid and you can predict the wear before you buy.
Top notes: the first fifteen minutes
Small, light molecules. Citrus, herbs, light spices, aquatic accords. These sell the bottle at the counter and are gone before you reach the office. Judging a fragrance in the first two minutes is the most common beginner mistake.
Heart notes: hours one to four
Florals, aromatics, warm spices. This is the character of the fragrance and the part most people around you will experience. Geranium, lavender, iris and clary sage all live here.
Base notes: hours four to twelve
Heavy, slow molecules — woods, resins, musks, amber. They also act as fixatives, physically slowing the evaporation of everything above them. A fragrance with a weak base is a fragrance with a short life.
Test it properly
- Spray on skin, not paper. Paper skips the heat and oil that shape the dry-down.
- Wait four hours before deciding.
- Test one fragrance at a time. Your nose fatigues fast.
- Test in the weather you will wear it in.
Once you can read a pyramid you stop buying blind, and you stop paying for bottles that vanish before lunch.
About the author
Arjun Mehra writes BodyAccel's fragrance and grooming coverage. Every product mentioned here has been worn for at least two weeks before publication.
Scent that speaks before you do.
PheraLab makes pheromone-infused Eau de Parfum built for Indian weather. Two scents, from ₹999.
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