Has Perfume become Samey? - by Brian Buchanan

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Has Perfume become Samey?<br>What do the stats tell us?<br>Dec 19, 2024

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There is a fascinating graphic on Linkedin. It charts the frequency of different notes used in perfume releases. The data, which covers 1980 — 2024, has been culled from the Parfumo database, which is a useful resource for “stats nerds” like Fitz Chao Li - the creator of the graphic, and nerds for perfume history like me.<br>The chart can be divided into three sections. The top section forms the most commonly used notes. These make up the bulk of perfumes released at that time. Middle ranking notes tend to be modifiers, which rise and fall as trends come and go. The bottom section is the grace notes and novelties that are sometimes used to ring the changes.

The video is courtesy of Fitz Chao Li whose strap line is Data & Fragrance. You can find him at www.linkedin.com/in/fitz-li/

The graphic moves quickly and there is a lot going on, so I have taken screenshots to help examine it and draw out some trends.<br>It begins with bergamot in second place. Even though it’s rarely the star of the show, bergamot’s citrus, woody and orange notes blend with a whole host of different materials, making it a useful modifier. It has always been popular with perfumers and is always in the top five.<br>Bergamot rose to first place in 1984, but this was only one change out of many. Every note was in flux, showing that in the early 1980’s a variety of perfumes were being made.

It was a time of rampant creativity, with a whole range of classics appearing: Antaeus, Obsession, Poison, Paris, Sables, Coco, Knowing, Fahrenheit, the list goes on.<br>And then in 1988, Cool Water reset the compass. After that, things in the top half of the graph settle down, suggesting consensus. While jasmine and musk lead the way into the aquatic 90’s, there is still volatility as different supporting notes are tried out for size.

Jasmine is ubiquitous in perfumery and is rarely out of the top five, although it does see some ups and downs before dropping away to seventh place. Recent ethical concerns about the wages and conditions of the workers who pick the flowers in Egypt won’t help jasmine’s popularity, but perfumers have long known how to evoke jasmine with aroma-chems; a method that is also much cheaper than using the flower.<br>By the late 1990’s, the modifiers and minor notes are moving round a lot, but the top six core notes are fairly consistent. sandalwood goes from fourth to oscillate in second and first place with musk.

Sandalwood has always been popular. It has a long history of use in India, where it originated, and has been used in the home and the temple since antiquity. The comparatively recent rise of modern perfumery, which was naturally attracted to this rich, milky-sweet and complex note, lead to overharvesting of the sandalwood tree, and the source of the oil disappearing. When this happened, attention was urgently given to replacements, and synthetic substitutes for the rare and pricey Mysore oil. Thanks to the efforts of these supply side workers, sandalwood -in a variety of forms- has remained among the top five notes in the perfumer’s palette.<br>By the year 2000 the popularity of musk becomes clear, along with more stability in the top and mid sections of the graph. Despite that, there is still volatility in the bottom half, with cardamom, vetiver and lavender showing large variations.

The start of the twenty first century saw the consolidation of two long term trends.<br>First of all musk reigns supreme. White musk is actually a class of molecules and not a single thing, and their odors are quite different to the animalic smell of Musk Tonkin. These molecules, which are core of laundry perfumes, have been popular over the years, but they really came into their own as the aquatic age took hold in the 90’s. Like Castor and Pollux, musk and jasmine orbit around each other in the top two places, but in the late 90’s, jasmine began to drop back. It should be noted that being produced by the mega-ton, musks are far cheaper than a synthetic jasmine accord will ever be.<br>Musk is not the sort of note people go into a shop and ask for, but it is one of those fillers -like Iso E Super- that adds a great deal to the ambience of a scent. It is probably musk’s usefulness to the perfumer that accounts for its popularity, rather than public demand for a note which is often hidden away in the mix.<br>As well as the rise of musk, there is the terminal decline of muguet or Lily of the Valley. By the mid 2000’s it was down to 14th place, but things have got worse since. Once being a part of the classic floral bouquet, now that grande dame perfumery has gone out of style muguet has died a death. It cannot be extracted and is hard to recreate. Even Coty was not able to get it right; his Muguet des bois was composed by his right hand man Henri Robert. No wonder it’s not popular with...