glossary

Perfume glossary

56 perfumery terms — click any term for the in-depth article.

Gulf tradition

Oud

Resinous wood from the Aquilaria tree, also called agarwood. Cornerstone of Gulf perfumery. Profile depends on origin: Hindi is animalic-leathery, Cambodian is sweet-resinous, Laotian is balsamic, Tunisian is dried-fruit and woody.

Bakhoor

Scented wood chips soaked in fragrance oils then dried, burned over charcoal or an electric burner. Fills homes and majlis with aromatic smoke. Distinct from incense sticks — Gulf tradition.

Attar

Traditional alcohol-free perfume oil, often distilled from flowers or resins. Concentrated — a drop behind the ear lasts all day. Common Gulf gift item. Sometimes called ittr or otto.

Mukhallat

Arabic for 'blend' — a hand-composed perfume oil mixing multiple traditional ingredients: oud, rose, saffron, musk, amber. Every Gulf house has a signature mukhallat.

Dehn al-oud

Pure distilled oud oil — the purest, most concentrated form of oud available. A few drops last 24+ hours. Prices range from affordable Laotian to five-figure Hindi cambodian.

Majlis scenting

Gulf tradition of scenting formal reception rooms with bakhoor burners before guests arrive. The burner is also passed for clothing perfuming on entry. Common in Saudi, UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman.

Layering

Applying multiple fragrances in sequence (usually oil + spray, or two sprays) to create a personalized combination. Common Gulf technique: attar first, then a Western spray on top.

Taif

Mountain city in western Saudi Arabia, elevation ~1,800 m, famous for growing damask rose distilled into prized rose oil. See also: rose of Taif.

Ingredients

Rose of Taif

Damask rose grown in the mountains of Taif, Saudi Arabia. Distilled into prized rose oil — sharper, more honeyed, less syrupy than Bulgarian rose. A status ingredient in Gulf perfumery.

Saffron

Dried stigmas of Crocus sativus. Leathery, honeyed, slightly smoky. Central to Arab-house perfumery — often paired with rose and oud for the classic Mukhallat accord.

Musk

Originally sourced from the musk deer; modern perfumery uses synthetic musks (white musks, cosmone) for ethical + supply reasons. Warm, skin-like, sensual. Often a base note that adds longevity.

Amber

A compound olfactive accord built from labdanum, benzoin, vanilla, and other warm resins. Smells warm, powdery, slightly sweet. Not to be confused with grey amber (ambergris) which is a different substance.

Ambergris

Waxy substance from sperm whales, aged by ocean exposure. Prized for salty-sweet-animalic note that adds depth and glow. Rare and expensive — mostly replaced by synthetics (ambroxan, ambroxide).

Bergamot

Citrus peel oil from the bergamot orange, grown mostly in Calabria, Italy. Bright, slightly floral, a bit bitter. The most common top-note in perfumery.

Iso E Super

Synthetic molecule smelling of cedar and velvety amber. Nearly odorless in isolation but amplifies and smooths everything around it — a backbone of modern perfumery. Escentric Molecules 02 showcases it solo.

Ambroxan

Synthetic substitute for ambergris. Warm, clean, skin-like, with a salty-woody dry-down. Used lavishly in modern masculines — Creed's Aventus and Dior's Sauvage rely on it.

Vetiver

Grass root distilled into oil: earthy, smoky, slightly citrusy. Haitian vetiver is smoother and fresher; Javanese is more rustic and grounded.

Patchouli

Leaves from the mint family, dried and aged. Earthy, camphorous, slightly chocolatey. A staple chypre base; Indonesian origin is sweeter, Indian more herbaceous.

Sandalwood

Creamy, milky, soft woody base note. Mysore sandalwood (India) is the prized variety but sustainability restrictions have pushed most perfumery to Australian sandalwood or synthetics.

Frankincense / Olibanum

Resin from Boswellia trees, harvested mostly in Oman, Somalia, Yemen. Smoky, citrusy, slightly peppery. Sacred to many religions; central to Arabian incense tradition.

Myrrh

Resin from Commiphora trees, historically from the Horn of Africa. Balsamic, medicinal, slightly bitter, smoky. Pairs with frankincense in classic liturgical accords.

Mijmara UX

Family tint (Mijmara UX)

Each perfume detail page on Mijmara softly tints its background with the color associated with the perfume's scent family. A visual shorthand — you can tell a woody Oriental from a fresh Citrus at a glance.

Pyramid (Mijmara PDP)

The three-column 'Fragrance Pyramid' on each PDP displays top / heart / base notes. When the data is missing or single-tier only, we render an unlabeled 'Notes' block instead — transparency over pretty lie.

Accord orb (Mijmara PDP)

Soft-plume radial-gradient discs representing each dominant accord. Size reflects prominence in the composition; color is pulled from the accord's canonical hue in our database.

Performance

Concentration

Percentage of fragrance oil in a perfume. Higher concentration = longer lasting and more intense. Parfum (20–40%) > Eau de Parfum (15–20%) > Eau de Toilette (5–15%) > Eau de Cologne (2–5%).

Longevity

How long a fragrance remains detectable on skin. Light citrus freshies may fade in 2–4 hours; oud-heavy orientals can last 12+ hours. Influenced by concentration, skin type, humidity.

Sillage

The scented trail a perfume leaves behind you as you move. From intimate (only noticeable at close range) to enormous (fills a room). Distinct from longevity — a perfume can last long without projecting far.

Projection

How far a perfume reaches outward from the skin in the first hour. Strong projection = the person nearby smells it without leaning in.

Dry-down

The final stage of a fragrance, typically 4+ hours after application. Top and mid notes have evaporated and the base notes (woods, musks, amber, resins) dominate.

Process & industry

Enfleurage

Ancient extraction method: petals placed on odorless fat, fat absorbs scent over days, then washed with alcohol to yield absolute. Near-obsolete commercially — rare specialty.

Absolute

Highly concentrated aromatic oil extracted via solvent, then processed to remove waxes. Absolutes of rose, jasmine, tuberose are the highest-fidelity floral ingredients.

Headspace technology

Captures volatile molecules from living flowers or unusual materials (e.g., a specific tomato leaf in a specific forest) using adsorbent tubes. The output feeds perfumery with reconstructed scents that don't yield oil via distillation.

IFRA standards

International Fragrance Association sets allergen + toxicity limits for perfumery ingredients. IFRA restrictions on oakmoss (for chypres) and certain musks reshaped many classic formulas in the 2000s–2010s.

Batch variation

Natural ingredients (rose absolute, oud, ambergris) vary year-to-year based on weather + harvest. The same perfume can smell slightly different across bottles produced in different years.

Vintage perfume

Pre-reformulation bottles of a perfume, often favored by collectors for richer natural ingredients (pre-IFRA oakmoss, real musk, higher concentrations). Authentication is tricky — provenance matters.

Reformulation

Adjusting a perfume's formula, typically driven by IFRA restrictions, ingredient supply issues, or cost reduction. Can significantly change a beloved classic's character — a common complaint in fragrance communities.

Skin chemistry

Individual variation in pH, oil content, and diet that causes the same perfume to smell different on different people. A fragrance that sings on one person may flop on another.

Maceration

Resting a freshly-compounded perfume for weeks or months before bottling so the ingredients marry. Home maceration — letting a new bottle sit unsealed for a few weeks — can smooth rough edges.

Structure

Fragrance pyramid

Three-tier structure describing how a perfume evolves: top notes (first impression, volatile — citrus, herbs), middle/heart notes (15 min–1 hr — florals, spices), base notes (hours later — woods, musks, resins).

Note

A single olfactive ingredient in a perfume (e.g., rose, cedar, bergamot). Notes combine to form accords, which combine to form the finished fragrance.

Accord

A blend of multiple notes perceived as a single scent impression — like a chord in music. Common accords: woody, oriental, floral, gourmand, aquatic.

Scent family

The broad olfactive category a perfume belongs to. Edwards' Wheel classifies 14 families: Floral, Soft Floral, Floral Oriental, Soft Oriental, Oriental, Woody Oriental, Mossy Woods, Dry Woods, Aromatic, Citrus, Water, Green, Fruity, Fougère.

Top notes

The first impression — volatile, fades within 15–30 minutes. Citrus peels, light herbs, aldehydes, green notes dominate. Sell the perfume on first spray but rarely define it.

Heart / middle notes

The main character of a fragrance, blooming 15 min–2 hr after application. Florals, spices, fruits typically live here.

Base notes

The long-lasting foundation, becoming dominant 3+ hours in and remaining for hours. Woods, musks, resins, amber, oud. Define a perfume's lasting impression.

Accord vs. note

A note is a single ingredient; an accord is a designed blend of notes perceived as one. A rose note is rose oil; a rose accord might combine rose absolute, geraniol, damascone, and ionones.