How to read a fragrance

Most people judge a fragrance in the first thirty seconds. That is the one part of it they will barely wear. Here is how to read the rest.

Why the bottles carry numbers

Tonya trained at a perfumer's organ in Grasse, surrounded by more than two hundred raw materials. One of the first things taught there is blind smelling: to smell without knowing what you are smelling, with no names, no labels and no expectations.

Names create bias. When you know something is a rose, you are no longer experiencing it, you are filtering it through everything you already believe a rose should smell like. She arrived in Grasse with a list of notes she was sure she liked and notes she was sure she did not, and discovered that many of the materials she thought she disliked were ones she loved.

So the bottles carry numbers. It removes the preconception and leaves you free to explore. What follows is the structure underneath, for anyone who wants to understand what they are smelling rather than simply like it.

The four families

Every fragrance in the world can be placed on a single wheel. There are four families: Fresh, Floral, Amber and Woody. Each divides into sub-families, and the wheel is arranged so that neighbours share notes and layer naturally, while families opposite one another contrast. A fine fragrance rarely lives in one segment. It moves across several as it evolves on the skin.

The two lower wheels show where every note in STORIES Nº.01 and STORIES Nº.02 sits. Read them together and you can see why two fragrances from the same house, sharing bergamot, cedarwood, sandalwood and tonka bean, feel so different. STORIES Nº.01 lives in the Fresh family and settles into the woods. STORIES Nº.02 begins in the same place and then moves the other way, into amber and the darker, drier woods.

The three tiers

An Eau de Parfum is composed in three tiers, and we call the module the Scent Pyramid.

The Opening is what you meet at the bottle. It is made of the lightest, most volatile materials, citrus and green notes mostly, and it is gone within minutes. The Heart is what emerges as the Opening fades and it is where you spend your day. The Dry down is what remains: the heaviest materials, the woods, resins and musks, still on your wrist the next morning.

This is why testing a fragrance on a paper strip in a shop tells you so little. You are smelling the introduction.

STORIES Nº.01

Fresh and luminous · Citrus · Fresh · Woody

STORIES Nº.01 opens luminous — bergamot and grapefruit catching the light, softened by green fig and the dewy coolness of cyclamen. Beneath the brightness, a magnificent heart unfolds: deep, warm cedarwood embellished with jasmine, powdery heliotrope and the quiet sophistication of English tea, all wrapped in the honeyed glow of orange blossom. As it settles, the fragrance reveals its soul — precious amber, vibrant sandalwood, earthy vetiver and the soft sweetness of tonka. The uplifting story of sorrow transformed into beauty, of the dark yielding to the light.

STORIES Nº.02

Bold and enveloping · Warm · Spiced · Woody

STORIES Nº.02 opens warm and spiced — bergamot lifting into Bulgarian rose, the heat of ginger and cardamom softened by a cool breath of green tea. From that radiant opening an opulent heart unfolds: vibrant cedarwood and patchouli, honeyed tobacco smouldering at its centre, sprinkled with tonka bean and the resinous depth of opoponax. As it settles, the fragrance reveals its soul — enchanting amber, rich musk, creamy sandalwood and the slow sweetness of vanilla. An invitation to walk among the flowers and recover what has been lost.

How to test a fragrance properly

Prepare the skin. Fragrance molecules need something to hold onto. On dry skin there is no anchor, so they evaporate and the scent disappears far faster. Cleanse, then work the lotion in while the skin is still warm. Hydrated skin lets the fragrance bind, evolve slowly and last.

Mist, don't rub. Apply to pulse points and leave it. Rubbing generates heat, which breaks the molecules apart and disrupts the Dry down.

Give it an hour. Then go about your day. What you notice at lunchtime is the fragrance. What you noticed at the counter was the introduction.

Wear it through a season. The 30ml is made for exactly this: a size to live with and know properly, and refillable when it is done.

Explore the Eau de Parfum

THE SCIENCE, SOUL & STORY OF FRAGRANCE