A must-have in any perfumer’s arsenal, sandalwood forms the base note of countless fragrance compositions. Its milky, suave facets make for a deliciously blendable fixative that has inspired perfumers for millennia. It’s a woody and ambery note with a pervasive warmth that is both velvety-smooth and decadently creamy. Sandalwood’s mystical scent is found everywhere in perfumery. It’s luxurious, milky, tangy, and caramel-sweet aroma infuses a fragrance with deep, exotic accents. Sandalwood can also appear bright and bone-dry, and display its arid, woody side in a gorgeous and austere perfume. Sandalwood’s depth of tone and smooth, polished texture adds elegance, refinement, and mystery to any perfume - it can mimic vanilla’s deliciously sweet, butter-fat heaviness, or fade into cedar’s sharp and bitter feel. It’s also a fantastic and evocative scent on it’s own as well as in a blended fragrance. Sandalwood’s tastefully exotic lusciousness is wearable year-round by either sex, and you could spend a lifetime sampling all the different ways it can be used in perfumery.

Calabrian Bergamot

A surprising aphrodisiac, ambergris has been used as a quasi-love potion in fine perfumery for millennia. Its beguilingly erotic effect is matched by its ability to act as a unique fixative: giving volume and amplification to a fragrance, and softening or binding the delicate balance of aromas after a considered process of maceration in 96% alcohol. Nowadays, ambergris is often replaced by synthetic products (such as Ambroxan, Ambrox or Orcanox) due to its exceptionally high price tag and relative unreliability in terms of production, sourcing and accessibility.

Grapefruit’s juicy, zesty, and tart effervescence instantly refreshes any fragrance. It’s lip-smacking energy is a staple of both men’s and women’s perfumes, and it pairs well with nearly any other note in a scent, but is best blended with cedar, lilies, roses, oranges, limes, black or pink pepper and lotus flower. Grapefruit is naturally exuberant and will always leap out at first spray, inviting the wearer to experience its enthusiastic and playful personality. It’s also one of the most versatile notes in perfumery, and appropriate to wear in any season as a standalone scent or blended into citrus or floral fragrances.