If you've ever dived into the fragrant world of perfumery, you've probably come across terms like "ingredients," "accords" and "notes." They sound fancy, right? Almost like an exclusive club of noses (or chefs) exchanging secrets. But what do these terms really mean? Let’s clarify them with a little help from our favourite creamy comfort food, the béchamel sauce.

Yes, you read that right. Perfumes and béchamel sauce? Stick with me, this will make scents (and sense) soon.

Ingredients: the building blocks

Perfume ingredients are the raw materials, the essential elements you need to get started. In the kitchen, to whip up a silky béchamel, you’d need butter, flour, and milk. These are your basics, the foundation of the sauce. Perfumers can choose between thousands of ingredients that can range from naturals like rose essence or tonka bean absolute to synthetic molecules like Iso E Super or Ambroxan.

Just like high-quality flour can make or break your béchamel, premium ingredients elevate a perfume from ordinary to extraordinary. But remember, an ingredient on its own isn’t the final product. Smelling a single raw material like geraniol (a key molecule of the scent of rose) is often too intense and not always particularly enjoyable in itself. A 'final' perfume composition will generally contain between 40 to more than 100 different ingredients, making the creation of a perfume a lot complexer than a béchamel. 

Accords: the harmonies

Now, let’s move on to accords. If ingredients are the raw materials, accords are the magical combinations that create something greater than the sum of their parts. In béchamel, the combination of butter, flour, and milk creates a creamy, cohesive sauce. You don’t taste the butter separately or the flour as a distinct entity; they’ve melded into something new and harmonious.

In perfumery, accords are carefully crafted blends of ingredients that mimic a particular scent—like an “amber accord”, which is traditionally composed of benzoin, labdanum and vanilla. Similarly, a perfumer might mix various synthetic molecules and natural oils to create the illusion of “fresh-cut grass” or “salted caramel.” Just as a good béchamel is the base for countless recipes, a well-made accord is the foundation of a perfume’s character.

Notes: the storyline

Finally, we have notes, and here it becomes tricky. Brands and perfumers use a list of terms called "notes" to describe how a perfume unfolds over time—like the storyline of a novel or the sequence of flavours in a dish.

Some notes can actually refer to ingredients and accords that are used in the composition of the perfume. When using natural ingredients, perfumers will often highlight this by adding their origin (like Atlas cedarwood or Laos oud) or extraction method (like rose absolute or patchouli essence). They might list the names of some synthetic ingredients that have become known and loved by a wider audience, like Ambroxan or Aldehydes. Sometimes, they will add the word "accord" to make clear they've used a combination of ingredients to create a specific smell. But in most cases, they will opt for names of materials we know and can imagine how they smell, like cherry or leather, even though none of those materials are actually used in the perfume. 

Notes are often categorised as top, middle (or heart), and base, like the beginning, middle and end of every great story. The top notes are the first impression, bright and fleeting, like citrus. The heart notes are the main event, floral, spicy or herbal elements that give the perfume its character. The base notes linger the longest. They are deep, rich scents like vanilla, woods or musk that stay with you for hours. It’s like a multi-course meal for your nose.

So notes are not the same as ingredients. Rather, they are descriptions crafted by perfumers or marketers to convey how the perfume is expected to smell and appeal to potential customers. If a perfumer would describe béchamel sauce by using notes, it could be something like this: buttery cream, biscuit, hazelnut, nutmeg, bay leaf. Just like this description is not your shopping list of ingredients you will need to create béchamel, the notes of a perfume don’t necessarily reflect the actual ingredients in the formula. Instead, they represent the overall impression of the fragrance over time.

Why is this relevant?

Since a perfume's notes are not the same as the ingredients needed to make a dish, but rather a simplified description of a perfume's story, two perfumes that share similar notes can still smell completely different. Notes are certainly relevant and necessary to understand the character of a perfume, but don't be fixated on them or immediately write off a perfume because it contains a note you think you don't like. You might just overlook your new favourite scent.

Bonus tip: smell like a chef

If this blog has left you craving both perfume and food, why not explore gourmand fragrances? These are perfumes inspired by edible delights—think vanilla, chocolate, coffee, or even cupcakes. It’s like wearing dessert, minus the calories.

Happy sniffing (and maybe cooking), dear fragrance lover!