Lavender is one of the oldest, and most common perfume ingredients in the world. It’s gentlemanly, scrubbed, soapy/powdery feel is a staple of men’s colognes. Lavender has a slightly spicy edge as well, which makes it a universally blendable note in perfume. It can add a clean edge to aromatic or animalic scents, and deepen zesty citrus notes with its subtle, herbal facets. But most of all, lavender is associated with fresh, clean, pure, old-school elegance. It’s well-heeled sophistication is appropriate for any time of year, and it makes an excellent choice for either sex to wear casually or formally.

An intoxicatingly sweet scent of many facets: velvety, smoky, balsamic and whisperingly reminiscent of tobacco. Tonka bean is an excellent fixative, extending its milky-smooth facets to mix and meld notes in complex accords. A powerful, sensual scent that is often likened to vanilla. Tonka beans are tiny, shriveled, black seeds from the Tonka tree found in Central and South America. Their slightly sweet, vanillic, and smoky hay scent adds a spicy, gourmand edge to a fragrance. Tonka beans work best in spicy and sweet scents featuring similar notes: clove, vanilla, heliotrope, bitter almonds, labdanum, cinnamon, etc. Their vanilla and hay-like scent is ideal for fall or winter, but usually blends well enough to wear any time you need a little sweet, warm spice to liven up the citrus or wood notes in a fragrance.

Best paired with violet or intoxicating mimosa, iris is a somewhat subtle, soft and sensual note. A high-brow note reserved for only the finest accords perfumery has to offer, iris is renowned for its steep price tag. In fact, iris could well be the priciest ingredient in a perfumer’s arsenal. And for good reason: its floral, powdery facets lend an unmatched elegance and air to fragrances. Iris imbues a scent with gorgeous melancholy- its “wet sidewalk in the rain” scent imparts a sense of nostalgia and depth to a floral perfume. The aroma of iris is similar to violets, only not as sweet - it’s full-bodied, powdery, and plush with a slightly mineral/metallic accent. Iris is at its best in demure, thoughtful florals where its mesmerizing intimacy is featured alongside violet, peony, rose, jasmine, and soft spicy notes.

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.