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| Stages of Fragrances |  Fragrance has its own stages since it’s not stable in certain period of time. Fragrance varies and develops over time like music flow. We can compare fragrance perception to music composition. Spread on the skin, perfume opens its top notes like crescendo in music, then slips into the middle notes part, revealing its nature and lasting for hours. Final note of the fragrance is base note.
Here is more detailed description of each stage:
1. Top note you smell when you first perceive a perfume. It is also called the "initial impact". This stage continues for approximately 5-12 minutes. After this period of time passes you will be gently pulled into next stage.
2. Middle note (heart of the scent). This stage comes in a couple of minutes after the first one and is also called the "bouquet". This scent is a mixture of smells in fact: a perfume smell and your skin unique smell. It takes about 10-20 minutes for this stage to reveal itself.
3. Base note is also called ''fond" (French, bottom). The last, final note develops mildly from the middle note and appears when the fragrance is dried. This last note is the main one because its fragrance will stay on your skin for hours.
These three stages of fragrance take place thanks to the evaporation process. The perfume components are placed from the light ones to the heavy according to their volatility. The list volatile are placed from fresh scents to the warmer ones. That’s why top notes are always fresh and light, citrus, fruity or green. A couple of flower notes are picked up for the bouquet of the middle notes. The base notes are woody as usual: moss, patchouli, animal and balsamic notes: coumarin and vanillin.
The binding elements bring the ingredients together and lead them from the top notes to the base notes. If a perfume is good, the changing of the notes is imperceptible and soft.
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