Note Library

Bergamot

A small, bitter orange grown mostly in Calabria. Its peel oil is bright, floral and a little peppery, and it opens more perfumes than any other note.

Bitter Orange

The Seville orange. Its peel is darker and drier than sweet orange, and the same tree gives neroli and orange blossom.

Blood Orange

A red-fleshed orange: orange with a berry-like, slightly jammy tartness.

Citron

The ancient, knobbly ancestor of the lemon, pressed from its thick peel: dry and zesty, less sweet than lemon.

Citrus

No one fruit named: a mix of peel oils for a bright, sparkling opening.

Clementine

A small, sweet mandarin cross: soft, juicy and hardly bitter at all.

Grapefruit

Tart and faintly bitter-sulphurous; its key molecule (nootkatone) also smells a little of fresh wood.

Green Mandarin

Mandarin picked before it ripens: sharper and leafier than the sweet, candied ripe fruit.

Lemon

Cold-pressed from the peel: sharp, clean and quick to leave.

Lime

Greener and more bitter than lemon, with a sherbet fizz. Pressed, it is fresh; distilled, it turns candied.

Orange

Sweet orange peel: juicy, round and cheerful rather than sharp.

Petitgrain

Distilled from the leaves and green twigs of the bitter orange tree rather than its fruit: citrus gone green and woody, with a faint bitterness.

Tangerine

Close to mandarin: sweet and juicy, with a little tartness.

Yuzu

A Japanese citrus that smells like grapefruit, mandarin and lime at once, with a floral lift.

Artemisia

A family of bitter, silvery herbs: dry, green and camphorous, with a medicinal edge.

Basil

Sweet, green and touched with anise, like the fresh leaves.

Chamomile

Apple-like, herbal and hay-sweet, like the tea.

Clary Sage

A sage that smells musky, tea-like and a little boozy, softer and warmer than kitchen sage.

Davana

An Indian artemisia that smells fruity, boozy and apricot-like. As an attar it is distilled into a base oil, often sandalwood.

Eucalyptus

Camphorous and cooling, like a chest rub; blue gum is the classic medicinal species.

Herbal Notes

A general herbal accord: dry, green, a little bitter, with no one herb named.

Hops

The flowers that make beer bitter: green, resinous and a little cheesy.

Juniper Berry

The berry-like cones that flavour gin: resinous, peppery and piney.

Lavender

Herbal, clean and slightly camphorous with a floral sweetness; the heart of the fougère. Lavender from Provence is the finer, sweeter kind.

Lemon Verbena

Intensely lemony leaves with a green, herbal sweetness: citrus without the fruit.

Marjoram

Soft, warm and herbal; gentler and sweeter than oregano.

Mint

Cool and sharp. Peppermint is the cold, menthol one and spearmint the sweeter, softer one; both touch the nerve that feels cold, so mint is felt as much as smelled.

Myrtle

A Mediterranean shrub: fresh and camphorous, somewhere between eucalyptus and bay.

Oregano

Pungent, dry and savoury: the pizza herb.

Rosemary

Sharp, camphorous and woody-green, like a sprig crushed between the fingers.

Sage

Common sage (salvia): dry, herbal and a little camphorous.

Thyme

Warm, dry and slightly medicinal, with a spicy herbal bite.

Wormwood

The artemisia that flavours absinthe: intensely bitter, green and faintly minty.

Yarrow

A field herb with a bitter, camphorous green smell and a hint of spice.

Crushed Leaves

Leaves torn or crushed: a sharp, sappy green.

Fig Leaf

The leaves of the fig tree rather than its fruit: green, milky and faintly coconut.

Galbanum

A resin from a Persian plant related to fennel: piercingly green, bitter and earthy, like snapping a thick stem. A little goes a very long way.

Grass

Freshly cut or wild grass: sappy, green and sunny.

Green Notes

The general smell of cut leaves and stems, with no one plant named.

Green Wheat

Unripe wheat in the field: grassy, green and a little milky.

Hay

Dried grass, sweet and warm. The sweetness is coumarin, the same molecule as in tonka.

Ivy

A dark, bitter green, earthier and less sappy than grass.

Poplar Bud

The sticky spring buds of the poplar: resinous, honeyed and green, sold as balm of Gilead.

Raspberry Leaf

The soft, hay-like, tea-green leaves of the raspberry cane.

Rhubarb

Tart, sappy and green, with a pink sharpness.

Sugar Cane

Grassy, green and sweet, like chewing the raw cane.

Sweet Vernalgrass

A meadow grass whose coumarin gives fresh-cut hay its sweetness.

Sweetgrass

A prairie grass that smells of vanilla and hay, from coumarin. As bison grass it flavours Polish vodka.

Tomato Leaf

The sharp, pungent green that tomato plants leave on your fingers.

Violet Leaf

Cucumber-green and metallic-watery, nothing like the violet flower.

Watercress

Peppery, wet and green, like the salad leaf.

Alpine Sandwort

A small white flower of mountain scree. It names a clean, cool, high-meadow impression rather than an oil.

Azure Bluet

A tiny pale-blue wildflower. Here it stands for something delicate and airy rather than an extract.

Bluebell

Green, dewy woodland flowers, close to hyacinth.

Carnation

Spicy and floral, with a clove note running through it.

Champaca

A relative of magnolia from India: rich, tea-like, with an apricot note.

Chrysanthemum

Bitter-green, herbal and earthy: more leaf than petal.

Clear Orchid

An orchid made transparent: an airy floral note rather than a flower oil.

Freesia

Light, peppery and fresh, with a fruity edge.

Gardenia

A creamy white flower with a green, mushroomy edge. It gives almost no oil, so it is nearly always rebuilt from other materials.

Geranium

Rosy, green and a little minty. The leaves give a rose smell at a fraction of rose's price.

Goldenrod

Yellow late-summer flowers: herbal, honeyed and faintly medicinal.

Green Tea Flowers

The blossom of the tea bush: soft, green and faintly honeyed.

Heliotrope

Powdery and sweet, smelling of almond, vanilla and cherry pie.

Honeysuckle

Nectar-sweet, green and honeyed.

Jasmine

Heady, sweet and a little animalic (from indole, which also occurs in bodies). Sambac is the Arabian jasmine, greener and fruitier: the jasmine of jasmine tea.

Lily

Big lilies: spicy-sweet, with a green stem.

Lily of the Valley

Fresh, green, dewy bell-flowers. Nothing can be extracted from them, so the note is always built from molecules.

Magnolia

Creamy and lemony, a cool, fresh floral.

Marigold

The essential oil of tagetes (Mexican marigold): pungent, fruity-green and a little apple-like.

Mimosa

Soft yellow blossoms: powdery, with almond and honey.

Mountain Wildflowers

An impression of a high meadow in bloom: light, grassy and floral.

Nectar

The sweet liquid inside a flower: honeyed floral sweetness.

Neroli

Distilled from the same flowers as orange blossom: fresher, greener and more citrusy.

Orange Blossom

The flower of the bitter orange, extracted: honeyed, sweet and heady, richer than neroli.

Orris

What perfume calls iris comes from the root, aged for years before it is extracted: powdery, cool, earthy and buttery, with a violet edge. Orris butter is among the costliest materials in perfumery.

Osmanthus

A tiny Chinese flower that smells of apricot, leather and tea.

Passionflower

The flower of the passion-fruit vine: light and green-floral, usually built as an accord.

Plum Blossom

Delicate, almondy and faintly fruity.

Pollen

Dusty, honeyed and a little powdery.

Rose

The queen of florals: honeyed, fruity and a little spicy. Rose de Mai from Grasse is honeyed and fresh; Damask rose from Bulgaria or Turkey is rich and fruity; Taif rose from Saudi Arabia is spicy and intense. An absolute is extracted with solvents and is richer than the distilled oil.

Snowdrops

Delicate early-spring flowers: green, honeyed and cold.

Tiare Flower

The Tahitian gardenia, steeped in coconut oil for monoï: creamy and tropical.

Tobacco Flower

The flower of the tobacco plant, which opens at night: sweet, heavy and white-floral, not smoky.

Tuberose

A creamy, buttery, narcotic white flower, almost rubbery up close.

Violet

Sweet, powdery and candy-like, from ionones, the same molecules found in orris.

Waterlily

A watery, lightly fresh floral.

White Lotus

Aquatic, soft and powdery-sweet.

Yellow Flowers

A general sunny floral: honeyed and bright, with no one flower named.

Ylang Ylang

A tropical yellow flower: creamy, sweet like banana, with a little spice.

Apple

Crisp, juicy apple: green apple is sharp and tart, red apple sweeter and rounder. Apples give no oil, so it is always rebuilt from other materials.

Apricot

Soft, velvety stone fruit close to peach, jammy when preserved.

Banana

Sweet and creamy, with a slightly green, pear-drop edge.

Blackberry

A dark, tart berry, jammy when cooked.

Blueberry

Soft, sweet-tart and a little powdery.

Cassis

Blackcurrant: fruity and tart, with a pungent green edge from the buds.

Cherry

Red, sweet and almondy (the almond is benzaldehyde, which cherries share). Black cherry is darker and deeper.

Cranberry

Tart, bright and red.

Dates

Sticky, caramel-sweet dried fruit.

Dried Fruits

The concentrated, jammy sweetness of dried fruit: raisin, fig, prune.

Fig

The fruit: soft, milky and jammy-sweet.

Goldenberry

The Cape gooseberry: tart and tropical, a little like a sweet tomato.

Green Apple

Sharper and more tart than red apple, with a green snap.

Guava

Tropical and sweet, with a musky, green edge.

Japanese Plum

The loquat: sweet, apricot- and plum-like, with a floral edge.

Litchi

Lychee: rosy, juicy and sweet.

Mango

Juicy and tropical, a little resinous. Green mango is sharper and more resinous still.

Maninka

The fruit of a West African savannah tree: rendered in perfume as a juicy, nectar-sweet tropical fruit.

Passionfruit

Maracuja: sharp, sweet-sour and tropical.

Peach

Soft, velvety and sweet, with a creamy skin note.

Pear

Juicy, watery and sweet.

Plum

Dark, juicy and sweet-tart, with a slightly almond stone.

Quince

A hard, fragrant fruit between apple and pear, with a floral, honeyed perfume.

Raspberry

Bright and tart, with a violet-like sweetness.

Red Berries

A general accord of red berries: tart, bright and sweet.

Scorched Pineapple

Pineapple charred until it caramelises: smoky, sweet and tropical.

Strawberry

Sweet, jammy and red.

Allspice

One dried berry that smells like clove, cinnamon and nutmeg together.

Anise

Sweet licorice, as in aniseed and pastis.

Black Pepper

Dry, peppery heat with a fresh, woody lift.

Caraway

The rye-bread seed: warm and earthy, with a hint of anise.

Cardamom

Fresh, citrusy and camphorous, with a warm spice underneath.

Cassia

The bark of Chinese cinnamon: hotter, rougher and sweeter than true cinnamon. (Not cassie, the acacia flower.)

Chilli

Hot chilli: more idea than smell, since heat is felt rather than smelled. The Carolina Reaper is among the hottest chillies grown.

Cinnamon

Warm, sweet bark spice. Ceylon cinnamon is the lighter, more delicate kind.

Clove

Hot, sweet and almost medicinal, like the dentist's office or mulled wine.

Coriander

The seed: warm, spicy and a little citrusy and floral.

Cumin

Warm and earthy, with a sweaty, animal side that is hard to miss.

Fenugreek

Smells of maple syrup and curry at once.

Ginger

Fresh, zesty and warm-spicy. Fresh root is lemony; icy ginger leans cool and sparkling.

Nutmeg

Warm, sweet and woody, with a slightly soapy edge.

Pink Pepper

Baie rose: not a true pepper but a berry. Rosy, fresh and lightly peppery.

Saffron

The dried threads of a crocus: leathery, metallic, honeyed and warm.

Spices

A general warm spice accord, with no one spice named.

Turmeric

Earthy, warm and a little woody-bitter.

Wasabi

Sharp, nose-clearing heat with a green edge.

Water Pepper

A wetland plant (smartweed) with a peppery, green bite.

Almond

Sweet and marzipan-like, from benzaldehyde. Burnt almond is toasted and nutty.

Baked Apple

Apple cooked soft with sugar and spice; a tarte tatin accord caramelises it.

Balsamic Vinegar

Sweet-sour and dark, like reduced grape must.

Barley

Toasty, nutty grain.

Beeswax

Honeyed, waxy and a little animalic, like an old candle.

Black Walnut

Walnut hull and wood: bitter, green and a little woody.

Bread

Warm, yeasty crust and crumb.

Brown Sugar

Molasses-rich sugar: deep and warm.

Butter

Rich, creamy and a little salty-sweet.

Butterscotch

Brown sugar cooked with butter: rich and caramel-sweet.

Cacao

The bean before it is chocolate: dry, bitter, earthy and powdery.

Caramel

Burnt sugar: sweet, rich and slightly bitter.

Carob Pods

The pods of the carob tree: sweet and earthy, like a dry, fruity cocoa.

Chantilly Cream

Sweetened whipped cream, often with vanilla.

Chocolate

Cocoa made into chocolate: bitter-sweet, creamy and rich. White chocolate is the cocoa butter with milk and sugar and no cocoa solids.

Chocolate Cake

Amandină is the Romanian one: a chocolate sponge soaked in chocolate syrup, layered with chocolate buttercream and glazed. Dark, sweet, moist and a little boozy.

Cocoa Butter

The fat of the cacao bean: soft, creamy and faintly chocolatey.

Cocoa Pod

The cocoa fruit itself, before its beans are fermented and roasted: a pale, tart-sweet, fruity pulp with the bitterness of cocoa underneath.

Condensed Milk

Cooked, sweetened milk: thick and caramel-sweet.

Coumarin

The molecule behind tonka and hay: sweet, almondy and warm. One of the first synthetics in modern perfumery.

Edamame

Young green soybeans still in the pod, steamed: beany, green, a little sweet and nutty.

Halva

The sesame sweet: nutty, sweet and a little dusty.

Hazelnut

Toasted and buttery, as in praline.

Holy Bread

Ataraxia's sacramental bread: the plain, warm smell of bread, lifted into something ritual.

Honey

Sweet, waxy and floral, with an animal edge in larger amounts. Black honey is darker and more bitter.

Honeycomb

Honey with the wax still in it: waxy, sweet and warm.

Icing

Powdered sugar: dry, sweet and powdery.

Malt

Sprouted, roasted grain: sweet, bready and a little like beer.

Maple

Maple syrup: sweet, woody and caramel.

Milk

Soft, creamy and lactonic, sometimes a little sour.

Molasses

The dark syrup left when sugar is refined: bitter-sweet and smoky.

Murumuru Butter

The fat of an Amazonian palm seed: soft, waxy and faintly nutty.

Oat

Soft, milky and cereal-sweet, like porridge.

Pistachio

Soft, green and nutty-sweet, a little milky.

Potato

Earthy, starchy and plain.

Raisin Cookies

Baked biscuit sweetness with dried fruit in it.

Rice

Steamed rice: soft, milky and a little powdery.

Seed Cake

A caraway-seeded cake (the one Bilbo offers his dwarves): buttery, warm and a little spicy.

Sugar

Plain sweetness, sometimes a little burnt.

Tobacco

Cured tobacco leaf: sweet, honeyed, hay-like and warm, not smoke. Blond tobacco is lighter and more honeyed; an absolute is the richest extract.

Toffee

Chewy, dark caramel.

Tonka

The seed of a South American tree. Coumarin gives it a smell of hay, almond, vanilla and tobacco.

Vanilla

The cured pod of an orchid: sweet, creamy and warm. Bourbon (from Madagascar) is the classic kind; an absolute is the richest extract.

Wheat

Dry grain and bread flour: warm, hay-like and cereal-sweet.

Absinthe

The anise-and-wormwood spirit: green, herbal and licorice-sweet.

Amaretto

The almond liqueur: sweet, marzipan and boozy.

Coffee

Roasted beans: bitter, toasty and warm. Coffee CO2 is extracted with carbon dioxide and smells closer to the fresh bean.

Cognac

Aged grape brandy: fruity, woody and warm from the cask.

Cola

The soft drink: sweet, citrusy and spiced, with vanilla and cinnamon.

Green Tea

Unoxidised tea: grassy, fresh and faintly bitter.

Herbal Tea

An infusion of herbs: soft, green and warm.

Jasmine Tea

Green tea scented with jasmine sambac blossoms.

Lapsang Souchong

Chinese black tea dried over pine fires: smoky, like a campfire in a cup.

Liquor

A general boozy note, with no one spirit named.

Masala Chai

Black tea brewed with milk and spices: cardamom, ginger, cinnamon, clove.

Maté

The South American herbal brew: grassy, smoky and a little like hay.

Moroccan Tea

Green tea steeped with fresh mint and sugar, as it is poured in Morocco.

Oolong Tea

Half-oxidised tea: floral, toasty and a little fruity.

Root Beer

Not beer: a sweet soft drink flavoured with sassafras or sarsaparilla root, wintergreen and vanilla. Minty, medicinal and creamy at once.

Rum

Sugar-cane spirit: sweet, boozy and molasses-dark. Rhum agricole is distilled from fresh cane juice and smells grassier.

Soda Bubbles

The fizz of soda: sparkling, sweet and light.

Sparkling Water

Carbonated water: a cold, fizzing freshness rather than a smell.

Tea

Dried tea leaves: dry, astringent and a little smoky-sweet. Black tea is the fully oxidised kind.

Amber Oud

Oud set in a warm, sweet amber accord.

Amberwood

Modern woody-amber molecules: dry, warm, diffusive and sometimes sharp.

Amyris

West Indian 'sandalwood', though unrelated: soft, woody and a little balsamic.

Bark

Tree bark: dry, woody and a little bitter.

Birch

Birch wood and bark: clean, green and lightly smoky.

Cashmeran

A synthetic molecule: soft, musky and woody, like warm cashmere.

Cedarwood

Dry, pencil-shaving wood. Atlas cedar is sweeter and more balsamic; Virginia cedar is the pencil. A tincture is wood steeped in alcohol.

Cypriol

Nagarmotha: the root of a sedge. Smoky, woody and leathery, close to vetiver and oud.

Edelwood Oil

A wood oil Pineward names in Gristmill, beside cedar planks, sawdust and smouldering logs; the house does not say what tree it comes from.

Guaiac Wood

A South American wood: smoky, sweet and a little like tar and roses.

Mahogany

A dense, dark red wood: dry and faintly spicy.

Moldy Cedarwood

Cedar gone damp and mouldy: Tombstone's Sweet Coffin, the wood of a coffin in wet ground.

Oak

Dry, tannic wood, like the inside of a barrel.

Oud

Agarwood: the dark, resin-soaked heartwood of the aquilaria tree, formed when it is infected by a mould. Deep, woody, leathery and animalic, and each region's oud smells different: Cambodian sweet and fruity, Indian (Assam) barnyard-heavy, Malaysian and Thai in between.

Patchouli

The leaves of an Asian mint relative: earthy, damp, dark and a little chocolatey. Aceh, in Indonesia, gives a prized dark kind.

Petrified Driftwood

Wood that the sea has worn and time turned to stone: salty, dry and mineral.

Pineboard

A sawn pine plank: resinous and sweet-woody.

Sandalwood

Creamy, milky and softly woody. Mysore sandalwood from India is the legendary, now very rare kind; Australian sandalwood is lighter and greener.

Sawdust

Freshly cut wood: dry, sweet and dusty.

Teak Wood

A dense, oily tropical wood: dry, leathery and warm.

Vetiver

The root of a tropical grass: earthy, smoky, woody and a little nutty. Haitian vetiver is the cleaner kind; Bourbon vetiver, from Réunion, the smokier.

Willow Bark

Bitter, green and faintly medicinal: the bark aspirin was first found in.

Woody Notes

A general dry wood accord, with no one tree named.

Black Hemlock

A mountain hemlock: soft, resinous needles.

Cedar Leaf

Thuja: the leaves of the western red cedar. Sharp, green and camphorous.

Cypress

Dry, green and woody, with a smoky, resinous edge.

Fir

Soft, sweet and balsamic: the Christmas-tree smell. Balsam fir is the sweetest; silver and noble firs are fresher. Momi is the Japanese fir.

Juniper

The shrubby conifer itself: sharp, dry needles with a gin-like tang.

Larch Cones

Small, woody cones: resinous and dry.

Nootka

The Nootka cypress, or Alaska yellow cedar: dry, clean and woody, with a grapefruit note.

Pine

Resinous, sharp and fresh, like a forest after rain. Scotch pine is the classic; mugo is the low mountain pine.

Pine Needles

The needles themselves: green, sharp and fresh. Dried or frozen, they are drier or colder; ponderosa needles have a vanilla-butterscotch edge.

Snoqualmie Forest Evergreens

Pineward's name for the conifers of Washington State's Snoqualmie forest: damp, green and resinous.

Spruce

Sharp, green and a little citrusy: the smell of spruce tips.

Tamarack

The American larch: soft, sweet and resinous.

Amber

Not a material but an accord: labdanum, benzoin and vanilla, warm, sweet and resinous. It has nothing to do with the fossil. White amber is lighter and more musky; mineral ambers are drier.

Balsam

A general balsamic note: warm, sweet, resinous.

Benzoin

A resin that smells of vanilla, caramel and cinnamon. Siam benzoin, from Laos and Thailand, is the sweetest.

Dragon's Blood

A deep red resin: sweet, woody and a little powdery.

Elemi

A resin with a lemony, peppery, fresh smell, the lightest of the incenses.

Frankincense

Olibanum: the resin of a desert tree. Lemony, peppery and smoky, like a church.

Incense

The smoke of burning resins: frankincense, myrrh, church and temple.

Labdanum

A gum from the rockrose shrub, once combed from the beards of goats: dark, leathery, ambery and animalic. The heart of the amber accord.

Myrrh

A resin: bitter, medicinal, mushroomy and warm. Sweet myrrh is opoponax.

Opoponax

Sweet myrrh: warm, sweet, powdery-balsamic, softer than myrrh.

Peru Balsam

A balsam that smells of vanilla, cinnamon and warm resin.

Ponderosa Resin

The sap of the ponderosa pine: sweet and resinous, with a vanilla note.

Propolis

The resinous glue bees seal their hives with: balsamic, honeyed and medicinal.

Resins

A general resinous accord, warm and balmy, with no one resin named.

Rum Resin

A resinous note with a sweet, boozy, rum-like warmth.

Sandarac

A resin from a North African cypress, used in old varnishes: dry, resinous and a little fresh.

Sawn Resin

Resin freshly cut through with the wood: sharp, sappy and balsamic.

Styrax

A balsam: leathery, smoky and a little like cinnamon and plastic.

Tolu Balsam

A balsam, sweeter and lighter than Peru balsam: vanilla and toffee.

Turpentine

Distilled from pine resin: sharp, solvent-like and piney, the smell of an artist's studio.

Ambergris

A waxy substance from the sperm whale, aged by the sea for years: salty, sweet, marine and skin-like. Nearly always synthetic now.

Ambrette

A hibiscus seed that smells musky, pear-like and winey: the plant-world's musk.

Animal Notes

A general animalic accord: warm, dirty and skin-like.

Botanical Musk

Musk from plants rather than molecules or animals, such as ambrette seed.

Castoreum

Once taken from the beaver, now reconstructed: leathery, smoky and animal.

Civet

Once from the civet cat, now synthetic: faecal on its own, warm and radiant in a trace.

Costus

A root whose oil smells like unwashed hair and animal fur: dirty, warm and waxy.

Goat Hair

The smell of goat: warm, sweaty and animal. A tincture is the hair steeped in alcohol, most famously in Haxan.

Hyrax

Africa stone: the fossilised droppings of the rock hyrax. Animalic, leathery and a little like tobacco.

Lanolin

The fat of sheep's wool: waxy, soft and faintly animal.

Leather

Tanned hide: smoky, birch-tarry, a little sweet.

Musk

Once taken from musk deer, now made from molecules: soft, clean, skin-like warmth. White musk is the laundered, cleanest kind; Tonkin musk names the old deer musk.

Sheep Wool

Warm wool: lanolin, animal and a little sweet.

Skin

The warm, slightly salty smell of skin, built from musks.

Suede

Soft, powdery leather: lighter and cleaner than leather.

Cedarmoss

Moss from Moroccan cedars: a gentler, woodier cousin of oakmoss.

Concrete

Cement and dust: dry, chalky and urban; wet, it smells of rain on a pavement.

Damp Vegetation

Wet leaves and undergrowth: green, rotting-sweet and earthy.

Dust

Dry, powdery and a little sweet, like a room nobody has opened.

Lichen

Crusty growths on rock and bark: dry, earthy and mineral.

Mineral Accord

Stone, chalk and flint: dry, cool and mineral.

Moss

Damp green moss on stone and bark.

Mushroom

Damp, earthy and umami. Morel is nutty and smoky; oyster mushroom is softer.

Oakmoss

A lichen that grows on oaks: damp, earthy, inky and green. The base of the chypre, now limited by safety rules.

Peat

Decayed moss: smoky, earthy and damp, as in Islay whisky.

Petrichor

The smell of rain on dry ground: geosmin and the oils stone holds.

Sand

Warm, dry and mineral; sun-burnt sand is hot and salty.

Soil

Earth: damp, rooty and dark, from geosmin, the molecule of wet earth. A tincture is earth steeped in alcohol.

Spikenard

Jatamansi, a Himalayan root: earthy, musty and woody, between valerian, patchouli and old leather.

Swamp Water

Still, dark water: green, muddy and a little rotten.

Treemoss

A lichen from pine and fir: darker, smokier and more resinous than oakmoss.

Wet Stone

Rain on rock: cold, mineral and clean.

Airy Note

A light, diffusive note that gives air and space rather than a smell.

Aquatic Notes

Clean water, built from molecules such as Calone: fresh, cool and faintly melon-like.

Clear Skies

An impression of open, cloudless sky: airy, cool and clean.

Cold Night Air

An impression of cold air after dark: sharp, clean and empty.

Dead Water

Tombstone's water gone still and stale: the dark, unmoving water round a sunken coffin.

Marine Accord

The sea: salty, windy and fresh.

Ozone

The smell of air after a storm: sharp, clean and metallic.

Rain Notes

Falling rain: wet, cool and fresh.

Sea Salt

Dry salt crystals and spray: mineral, salty and skin-like.

Sea Water

Salt water: fresh, mineral and a little green.

Seaweed

Kelp and bladderwrack: salty, iodine-green and a little fishy. Irish sea moss is a red seaweed.

Solar Notes

The warmth of sun on skin and sand: salty, floral and a little like sunscreen.

Steam

Warm water vapour: soft, damp and clean.

Ash

What is left after the fire: cold, dry and grey.

Birch Tar

Tar distilled from birch bark: smoky, leathery and medicinal; it tans Russian leather.

Fire

Open flame: hot, dry, crackling smoke.

Gasoline

Petrol: sharp, volatile and chemical.

Palo Santo

A South American wood burned like incense: citrusy, minty and resinous. Smoked, it becomes sweet smoke.

Pine Tar

Tar from pine wood: dark, smoky and resinous, the smell of old ships and baseball bats.

Smoke

Burning wood and leaves: dry, bitter and warm.

Smouldering Logs

Wood burning slowly without flame: soft, sweet smoke.

Aged Parchment

Old animal-skin paper: dry, dusty, a little leathery.

Blush

The powdery smell of makeup blush.

Candle Wax

Paraffin and beeswax: warm, waxy and faintly smoky.

CO2 Extracts

Materials extracted with carbon dioxide under pressure instead of heat or solvents, so they smell closer to the raw plant. Named as a note, it says how, not what.

Decayed Rose

A rose past its best: jammy, earthy and a little rotten.

Dried Blood

Metallic and iron-rich: the smell of blood gone dry.

Dusty Antiques

An antique shop: old wood, dust, polish and metal.

Dusty Sofa

An old upholstered chair: dust, fabric and the people who sat in it.

Eye Pencil

The waxy, woody smell of a cosmetic pencil.

Gold

Ataraxia names it and does not say what it is made of: an impression of warmth and richness.

Instant Film

The chemical smell of a freshly developing Polaroid.

Lip Gloss

Sweet, fruity and waxy.

Lipstick

Waxy, powdery and floral, like the inside of a lipstick tube: violet and rose.

Makeup Palette

Pressed powders and waxes: a vanity drawer.

Mousse de Saxe

A classic base from around 1900: geranium, licorice, vanilla and a smoky leather molecule. Sweet, powdery and animalic, the smell of old Carons.

Old Books

Library shelves: dust, paper, glue and leather, sweetened by decaying lignin.

Oriental Notes

The old name for the amber family: warm, sweet, spicy and resinous. The industry now calls it 'amber'.

Paper

Clean paper: dry, woody and faintly sweet.

Porcelain

Smooth, cool and clean: a feeling more than a smell.

Rotten Flesh

Decay, named as a note for its darkness rather than recreated in full.

Salty Tears

Salt and skin: a mineral, slightly bodily note.

Spinal Fluid

Ataraxia's conceptual note: clear, cold, clinical, bodily.

Velvet

Soft, powdery, rich texture made into smell.

Westfarthing Leaf

Pipe-weed from the Shire, after Tolkien: Pineward's tobacco, named for the Hobbits' best.