Purple Suede

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.

Oud is a very popular essence among the Persian Gulf countries. Across Arabia, men and women are known to dote over the raw material—admiring the lavish fragrance for all its warmth and complexity. In fact, oud is so popular in Arabian fragrances that there exists several subfamilies of oud (such as fruit oud, leather oud, rose oud—and the list goes on!). Agarwood, or oud, is the most expensive note in a perfumer’s palette. It has been valued for thousands of years and is considered one of the most luxurious ingredients in the world of perfumery. Oud is derived from the dark resin of the Agar tree, which grows in very rare conditions. Although its popularity skyrocketed in the past decade, oud has been known and used by various ancient civilizations in esoteric ceremonies and meditation practices for hundreds of years. Perfect for cold weather, oud has a distinctively woody, slightly animalic, and rich scent. Oud’s warmth adds whole new brevity and depth when combined with floral or spicy notes.

A dynamic ingredient with facets ranging from musky and woody to sweet and warm, cashmeran is the Pandora’s Box of perfume ingredients. Best known for its ability to “expand” floral notes, cashmeran serves as a malleable product in the hands of perfumers—melting into floral notes with its warmth and sensuality to create vibrantly layered accords.

Inspired by the traditional accords of Ancient Arabian perfumers, the amber accord exalts ambery fragrances rooted in sweet notes of vanilla or cistus labdanum. Amber accords may oscillate between powdery fresh scents and sweet, enveloping notes. An almost animalistic warmth meets sensuality in a bold and tenacious accord. For those who love sweet and spicy scents. The amber note is an accord made from benzoin, vanilla, labdanum, styrax, and other sweetly resinous single notes. It’s not quite sweet, and not quite spicy, but something in between. Amber gives perfume a warm, sweet, sensual feel that fans of both spicy and gourmand styles will love.