Understanding Fragrance Families

How are aftershaves and soap fragrances classified? The most common way is by categories known as fragrance families, which are groupings that share common scent notes or even similar themes like aquatic or woody, or even holidays, seasons, activities or places. Sometimes these families have further subtypes which based on the different styles or variations show how a theme might be interpreted in similar yet slightly different ways.

With no industry-wide authority to standardize or enforce the categories not everyone agrees on how fragrance categories are defined. The most popular model was put forward in 1983 by Michael Edwards, the famous fragrance expert, which he called the Fragrance Wheel. He envisioned four major families, Floral, Oriental (also known as Amber), Woody, and Fresh, each with 3-4 subtypes.

Here are the major scent notes in each family of the Fragrance Wheel.

Fougère is another family which is often used to describe fragrances, which in French means “Fern”. The family was created by French perfumer Paul Parquet of house Houbigant who in 1882 introduced the fragrance Fougère Royale, which is considered the prototype and progenitor of all modern Fougère fragrances. Parquet was looking to capture the essence of the forest and blended herbal and woody notes with a powdery, sweet base to create a fresh, green, and earthy scent. He was the first to incorporate coumarin, which became a defining scent note of Fougère fragrances. Today, Fougère fragrances continue to be fresh, aromatic and green and are generally expected to include lavender, coumarin, and oakmoss, but often include citrus notes, herbaceous notes, and tonka bean. Modern examples of Fougère fragrances include Martin de Candre’s “Fougère” shave soap, Bleu De Chanel, Dior Sauvage, and Paco Rabanne Pour Homme. Most Barbershop fragrances are either Fougères or closely related, with classic examples including Barrister & Mann’s Seville, Proraso Green, and PAA’s Gondolier.

Chypre, French for “Cyprus”, is another fragrance family which is a close cousin of Fougère and sometimes classified as a Fougère subtype. The fragrance is thought to date back to antiquity. Its defining characteristic is the use of labdanum which is native to Cyprus. Labdanum is the sticky resin of the Rockrose plant (Cistus Ladanifer), which is renowned for its deep, warm, complex, and sensual aroma. The modern Chypre fragrance profile was redefined in 1917 by Francois Coty with the launch of a perfume simply named “Chypre”, which included a citrus top note of bergamot and lemon with oakmoss, labdanum and patchouli in the base, and became the archetype for later modern Chypre fragrances. Modern examples of Chypre scents include Barrister & Mann’s Le Grand Chypre, Razorock’s The Dead Sea, and Epsilon’s Blue Mediterranean.

Other families are sometimes used to describe fragrances which don’t fit the classic categories mentioned above. Some examples include:

Gourmand: edible profiles with key notes including vanilla, chocolate, caramel, honey, almond, coffee, tobacco, or even prepared dishes or desserts. Examples include Ariana & Evan’s Baklava, Tom Fords’ Tabacco Vanille, or PAA’s Cane.

Holiday: typically scent themes relating to Christmas or other major holidays. Scent notes include Pine, Sandalwood, Clove, Cinnamon, ginger and others. Examples include Catie’s Bubbles Christmas Forest, Dr. Jon’s Christmas Eve, and Stirling’s Candy Cane.

Seasonal: these fragrances try to evoke a time of year. Fall scents tend to have notes of wet leaves, pumpkin, woods, and spices. Summer scents focus on floral and grassy notes. Examples include Stirling’s Autumn Glory, B&M Season of the Witch, PAA Ciderhouse 5, Stirling’s Margarita’s in the Arctic, and Seaforth Sea Spiced Lime.

On ShaveSplash, all of these families and subtypes are used to categorize aftershaves and shave soaps to give a sense of their notes and themes.