The Four Fragrance Families, and How to Pick Yours

The wheel, briefly

The modern fragrance wheel groups scent into four families, each bleeding into the next:

• Fresh — citrus, green, aquatic, aromatic. Bergamot, fig leaf, cut herbs. Bright, clean, daylight scents.
• Floral — rose, jasmine, neroli, white tea. From transparent and dewy to lush and heady.
• Amber — the family perfumery used to call “oriental.” Vanilla, amber, resins, warm spice. Enveloping and warm.
• Woody — sandalwood, cedar, vetiver, oud. Dry, grounded, long-wearing.

Finding yours without a department store

Think about the scents you reach for in other forms. If you love the smell of tomato vines, gin, or morning air, you're Fresh. If it's peonies and clean linen, Floral. If it's vanilla, whiskey, and worn leather, Amber. If it's campfire, cedar closets, and old libraries, Woody. Your instincts in the kitchen and outdoors are more reliable than ten paper blotters.

Scent on skin vs. scent in air

Body oil is the quietest way to wear fragrance. Worn in an oil base at a three percent inclusion, scent stays skin-close — a discovery for the person standing near you, not an announcement to the room. Richer bases hold fragrance longer, which is why the same scent wears deeper in our Midnight formula than in Bare.

One scent, your formula

We built the collection around the wheel deliberately: one scent per family, each available in all three of our oil formulas. Pick the family first, then match the formula to your skin. The scent is identical across formulas — only the base changes.