The fragrance of ginger is distinctly fresh and spicy, offering a sparkling top note to complex accords. Used across both men’s and women’s scents, ginger is an unmistakably zesty note that evokes a sort of olfactory duality: bitingly light and lemony, yet deeply pungent and peppery.

Mint’s bracing, fresh, and sweet spice energizes perfume with its healthy, palate-cleansing bite. It’s snowy cool edge sharpens sweeter citrus notes, and provides an excellent contrast for heated spices like cardamom, pepper, and coriander. Mint is similar to lavender’s fresh, breathtakingly clean scent, but stays very cool and isn’t as soapy or herbal as lavender can be. It’s sharp, green, mentholated energy is a perfect accent to winter’s chill, and offers sweet relief from heavy and humid summers.

This spicy top note adds a layered vibrancy to complex accords. As a first impression, cardamom feels fresh and airy, but soon shifts to reveal a warmth that is both sweet and woody. Often likened to the aromatic effects of citrus notes, cardamom can be revitalizing with its zestful kick. Cardamom is particularly well suited to woody, chypre and ambery fragrance families.

Playing the leading role in mysterious, sensual fragrances, mandarin orange commands attention with its subtly sweet, fruity, and citrusy scent that has a lingering floral undertone. Mandarin orange opens the compositions to announce a seductive gourmand fragrance or a vivacious citrus-led, aromatic-tinged cologne. When it comes to spicy fragrances, you’ll often find it in the company of nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove.