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UniversityPerfumes.com - F.A.Q.

What are fragrance families?

Fragrance families are categories that describe the scent of a perfume or cologne. Although there are many fragrance families, no family will completely describe a perfume as there are too many characteristics of each scent to be narrowed down by one family. But it is a start. Also, many perfumes can fall under multiple fragrance families. UniversityPerfumes.com has categorized fragrances based on our interpretation of where they should be listed. These categorizations may or may not agree with other fragrance web sites

What are the different fragrance families?

Floral:

A combination of fragrance of several flowers, especially in the heart of a perfume or cologne. For this website, we have also combined the Floral Aldehyde group. Aldehydes are synthetic notes, first created specifically for Chanel No. 5 in 1921. They are pure and fresh, similar to the smell of clean linens hanging outside all day to dry. Aldehydes are typically combined with floral notes. We have also included the Floral Fruity fragrance group, which consists of fragrances with non-citrus fruits like apricot, raspberry, lychee, apple, peach, cassis (black currant), mango, and passion fruit. Florals and Fruits have often been combined together in fragrances since the 1990's.

Fresh:

We have combined a few different sub categories into this large category. The Fresh family includes sub families like Chypre. This means Cyprus in French, and includes fragrances made with bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli, and labdanum. The Green family consists of scents that smell like fresh cut grass and cucumber. The Aquatic, Oceanic and Ozonic family includes fragrances that are accented by marine notes.

Aromatic:

Aromatic perfumes and colognes are typically made with rosemary, thyme, sage, and lavender. These notes are then often complimented with citrus or spicy notes. Because they tend to smell more masculine, many men's fragrances fall into this category.

Oriental:

This fragrance family also known as the "amber" family, possesses distinctive warmth and sensual characteristics. Oriental fragrances are often rich and spicy, often including musk, vanilla and precious woods.

Citrus:

This family includes perfumes and colognes that are primarily composed of citrus scents such as lemon, orange, bergamot, grapefruit and tangerine.

Woody:

Woods are used in most fragrances as their base notes. However, when woods are also present in the middle notes or "heart" of a perfume or cologne, they are more dominant. Woody fragrances can include sandalwood, patchouli,. cedar, vetiver, rosewood, agarwood, juniper, birch and pine.

What if I am looking for a perfume or cologne that is not on this web site?

University Perfumes is happy to make special orders for items not currently in stock. Simply email us your request at info@universityperfumes.com. We will let you know if we are able to find your fragrance, and what the price will be.