The study of perfume raw materials
One of the most important steps in teaching perfumery is to study and remember the smells of fragrance substances. Each perfume ingredient has its own, very specific smell.
Each perfume ingredient has its own, very specific smell.
To make it easier to understand the structure and various notes of perfume compositions, all perfume substances are grouped by type of smell and degree of volatility (evaporation rate) into olfactory families (citrus, flower, wood and other, see slide «Сlassification of fragrances»)
The ingredients of one family reproduce one particular kind of note. Since the amount of perfumery substances is huge, the initial familiarization is with the most commonly used substances. A beginner perfumer needs to study and remember the smells of typical representatives of each family (see section «Olfactory training»).
The perfumery organ is a professional perfumer’s desktop semicircular or straight with shelves in several rows, on which containers with natural and synthetic perfume substances are placed.
The perfumer's palette is all the fragrant substances used by the perfumer in their work, grouped by the commonality of odors into olfactory families. Substances of the same family reproduce one specific type of note.