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Glossary

Reviewed July 18, 20269 min read

Fragrance has its own vocabulary, and Orrique uses these words throughout the app. This is a plain-language guide to the terms you will see. It is meant for people, not perfumers, so the definitions are practical rather than technical.

Read this when a word in the app (or in another help article) is unfamiliar, or when you are new to fragrance and want the basics in one place.

These are general perfumery words you will meet across the app and the wider fragrance world.

Term What it means Where you see it in Orrique
Accord A blend of several notes that the nose reads as one smell, the way many ingredients make a single sauce. A scent’s main accords appear as small chips on its detail page.
Concentration How strong a fragrance is mixed, which affects how it wears. From lighter to stronger: Cologne (EDC), Eau de Toilette (EDT), Eau de Parfum (EDP), and Parfum or Extrait. (“Eau de” is said roughly “oh-duh”; “Extrait” is “ex-tray”.) Record it when you add or edit a scent.
Decant A smaller amount of a fragrance moved from a full bottle into a small vial or atomizer, often to sample it or carry it with you. Mark a bottle as a decant in its container details.
Dry-down How a fragrance changes and settles over the hours after you spray it, as the lighter notes fade and the deeper ones come forward. A live wear session in the diary follows the dry-down in real time.
Dupe A fragrance that smells close to another, often a cheaper alternative to a well-known scent. Orrique can show dupe matches and let you mark one scent as a dupe of another. See Discover and Dupes.
Fragrance family A broad group that describes a scent’s overall character, such as floral, woody, fresh, amber, or gourmand. Orrique calculates it from a scent’s notes on your device, and you can override it in the editor. Families drive a lot of what you see, including the grouping in your collection, the signature color, and the layering suggestions. See the calculated family.
Longevity How long a fragrance lasts on your skin or clothes. Rate it (often in hours) when you log or rate a wear; it feeds your performance averages.
Note A single smell within a fragrance, like bergamot, rose, or vanilla. Notes are usually grouped into top, heart, and base. Throughout the app; the full note dictionary is in Notes and the Note Glossary.
Note pyramid The way a fragrance’s notes are arranged into three stages: top notes (the first impression), heart or middle notes (the body of the scent), and base notes (what lingers). A scent’s detail page shows its pyramid.
Projection How far a fragrance travels off your skin, or how much of a “bubble” it creates around you. Rate it on a wear, alongside longevity and sillage.
Sillage The scented trail a fragrance leaves behind as you move (said roughly “see-yazh”). Rate it on a wear, alongside longevity and projection.
Tester A bottle meant for trying a fragrance, often a plain or unboxed version. Mark a container as a tester in its bottle details.
Top, heart, and base notes The three layers of the note pyramid. Top notes are what you smell first and fade fastest; heart notes are the main character; base notes last the longest. The pyramid on a scent’s detail page.
Top notesHeart notesBase notesFirst minutes, brightest and lightestThe core of the scent, hours inWhat lingers longest on skin
A scent opens with its top notes, settles into its heart, and dries down to its base.
How a fragrance is built (top, heart, base)

A fragrance is layered so it unfolds over time rather than smelling the same all day.

  • Top notes are the first impression. They are the lightest molecules, so they are the loudest at first and the quickest to fade, usually within the first half hour. Citrus and fresh herbs often live here.
  • Heart notes (also called middle notes) are the main character of the scent. They take over once the top notes settle and carry the fragrance through the middle hours. Florals and spices often sit in the heart.
  • Base notes are what lingers. They are the heaviest molecules, so they appear last and stay the longest, sometimes well into the next day. Woods, amber, musk, and vanilla are common base notes.

The shift from top to base over the hours is the dry-down, which a live wear session in the diary lets you follow in real time.

These are words that mean something specific inside Orrique. A Pro label appears only when the feature or its deeper capability needs Orrique Pro.

Term What it means Where you see it
Aura The soft, colored glow Orrique shows behind a scent or a screen, drawn from its signature color and family. It calms down or turns off when you turn on Reduce Motion or Reduce Transparency. Detail headers, collection cards, and across the app.
Base (scent base) A scented product you wear under a fragrance, such as a body oil, lotion, or mist. Bases live apart from your fragrance collection and never count toward your collection stats. The Layering Room and a scent’s formulas. See Formulas, Scent Bases, and the Layering Room.
Cost per wear Pro A scent’s price divided by how many times you have worn it, so a bottle you reach for often becomes “cheaper” over time. Part of Wear Patterns in the Scent Atlas.
Fingerprint A visual summary of your collection’s overall character across the scent families. The Scent Atlas and Scent Wrapped.
Formula A saved layering combination, for example a base under one or more fragrances. You can log or track a formula as a wear. The Layering Room. See Formulas, Scent Bases, and the Layering Room.
Gap Finder An insight that points out gaps in your collection, such as a family or a season you have little to wear. The gap rows are free; Pro adds the written read. The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.
Layering Wearing more than one scented thing at once (a base plus a fragrance, or two fragrances) to create something new. The Layering Room helps you find pairings.
Layering Room The screen that suggests pairings and helps you build and save a two-layer formula. Pro adds larger stacks and the written pairing read. Opened from a scent or from the Layering area.
Lens A way of looking at your Scent Atlas. Each lens reorganizes the same collection around a different question, for example your families, your value, or what you reach for most. The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.
Live wear session A wear you track live as it develops, so you can follow the dry-down in real time and note how it changes hour by hour. Started from the diary when you log a wear. See The Diary and Logging a Wear.
Read Bottle The camera feature that reads a fragrance’s details from a photo of the bottle or box when you add a scent. The first 3 scans are free; unlimited scanning needs Pro. The add-a-scent flow. See Read Bottle.
Scent Atlas The home of your insights: a set of lenses, charts, and patterns that show your collection from many angles. Several lenses are free; Value and selected advanced insights need Pro. Its own area in the app. See Scent Atlas and Insights.
Scent Twin Recommendations for scents that match the taste Orrique learns from your collection and wears. Discover.
Scent Wrapped A free year-in-review style recap of how you wore fragrance, built from your diary. The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.
Shelf A physical place in your home where bottles live, modeled in Orrique as a browsable wardrobe so you can arrange and find your scents the way they sit in real life. The Shelves area and a bottle’s location.
Shelfie A photo layout of a shelf, a quick way to picture or share the bottles grouped on one shelf. The Shelves area.
Signature color The color Orrique gives each scent, based on its notes and family. The same character drives the auras and visuals you see around the app. (The eight smell families and their colors are listed in Notes and the Note Glossary.) Detail pages, cards, and auras.
Status Whether a scent is one you Own, have Tried, or have on your Wishlist. Set when adding a scent, changeable later.
Wear A single recorded use of a fragrance in your diary. The diary. See The Diary and Logging a Wear.
Wear Patterns Pro An insight that shows what you reach for and when, including cost per wear and your most-worn scents. The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.
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