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Glossary

iPhone, iPad, MacBeginner10 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.

TermWhat it meansWhere you see it in Orrique
AccordA 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.
ConcentrationHow 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.
DecantA 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-downHow 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.
DupeA 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 familyA broad group that describes a scent’s overall character, such as floral, woody, fresh, amber, or gourmand.Families drive a lot of what you see, including the signature color and the layering suggestions.
LongevityHow 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.
NoteA 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 pyramidThe 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.
ProjectionHow 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.
SillageThe scented trail a fragrance leaves behind as you move (said roughly “see-yazh”).Rate it on a wear, alongside longevity and projection.
TesterA 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 notesThe 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 notes Heart notes Base notes First minutes, brightest and lightest The core of the scent, hours in What 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. The Plan column shows whether a feature is free or needs Orrique Pro.

TermWhat it meansWhere you see itPlan
AuraThe 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.Free
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.Free
Cost per wearA 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.Pro
FingerprintA visual summary of your collection’s overall character across the scent families.The Scent Atlas and Scent Wrapped.Free
FormulaA 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.Free
Gap FinderAn insight that points out gaps in your collection, such as a family or a season you have little to wear.The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.Pro
LayeringWearing 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.Free
Layering RoomThe screen that suggests pairings and helps you build and save a formula. The plain pairing list is free; the AI read of a pairing needs Pro and Apple Intelligence hardware.Opened from a scent or from the Layering area.Free Pro
LensA 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.Free
Live wear sessionA 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.Free
Read BottleThe 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 AI Features.Free Pro
Scent AtlasThe home of your insights: a set of lenses, charts, and patterns that show your collection from many angles.Its own area in the app. See Scent Atlas and Insights.Free Pro
Scent TwinRecommendations for scents that match the taste Orrique learns from your collection and wears.Discover.Free
Scent WrappedA year-in-review style recap of how you wore fragrance, built from your diary.The Scent Atlas. See Scent Atlas and Insights.Pro
ShelfA 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.Free
ShelfieA photo layout of a shelf, a quick way to picture or share the bottles grouped on one shelf.The Shelves area.Free
Signature colorThe 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.Free
StatusWhether a scent is one you Own, have Tried, or have on your Wishlist.Set when adding a scent, changeable later.Free
WearA single recorded use of a fragrance in your diary.The diary. See The Diary and Logging a Wear.Free
Wear PatternsAn 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.Pro
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