Scent Notes - The Key to Beautiful Home Fragrance

Beautiful home fragrance has the power to transform your living space. With an affordable luxury such as a highly scented candle or reed diffuser, you can easily turn your home ‘into a spa-like sanctuary’, remarks Glamour magazine. And thanks to the presence of scent notes – the building blocks of wonderful fragrances – your chosen aroma will develop and change over time. As a result, home fragrance also has the power to take you on a delightful sensory journey.

When you light one of our handmade candles, for example, the scent notes (which are drawn from sources such as flowers, fruits, herbs and woods) begin to reveal themselves. Understanding the key role they play in home fragrance means you’ll always choose the perfect candle or related product.

Scent notes are essentially ‘layers’ or groups of scents – different aromas that work together to give home fragrance variety, interest and depth. Scents are like music in this respect: you need a range of notes to create a pleasing effect. If a fragranced candle, say, only had a single scent note, the aroma would be rather flat and boring instead of multi-dimensional and captivating.

One group of scent notes takes centre-stage then steps aside, allowing the next group to shine, which helps to keep the fragrance fresh and exciting. And to add to the excitement, each group enjoys a different amount of time in the spotlight. As luxury home fragrance experts, we’re passionate about designing the perfect scent note combinations and ensuring the transitions between the groups are seamless to create a sense of balance and harmony.

Sounds fascinating, doesn’t it? So let’s explore this subject in more detail, in particular the three distinct groups of scent notes: top notes, middle notes and base notes. They’re often given a visual representation in the form of a fragrance pyramid, which helps to give you a clear idea of the lifespan of each group. The fleeting top notes form the pyramid’s apex. The middle notes, which last longer, form the larger central layer. And the base notes, the longest-lasting group, form the largest layer of all – the pyramid’s foundations.

You notice the top notes first – they’re the fresh, vibrant, attention-grabbing scents that draw you in. Top notes therefore have the important job of helping you form your first impression of a home fragrance product and paving the way for the other scent notes. They’re often composed of reinvigorating citrus aromas or other fruit scents. Take our Uplifting candle, for instance: light it and you’ll be greeted by the glorious combination of orange, tangerine, mandarin and bergamot. So refreshing!

The top notes account for about 20-40% of the fragrance blend. They dissipate more rapidly than the other scents because they’re composed of the lightest scent particles. After blossoming for up to 15 minutes, the top notes fade.

As the top notes recede, the middle notes come to the fore. They’re the beating heart of a fragrance, accounting for around 50-75% of the blend. In contrast to top notes, middle notes are mellow and well-rounded. They often have floral, herbal or earthy aromas. Our Uplifting candle’s zingy top notes are followed by softer, more relaxing middle notes: sandalwood and two complementary plants, patchouli and vetiver. The latter has long been linked to reducing anxiety.

Middle notes act as a bridge between the assertive top notes and smooth base notes. They last for between 20 minutes and an hour; the base notes join them and ultimately take over.

Your lasting impression of a home fragrance product is determined by its base notes. These rich, smooth aromas have the heaviest scent particles, giving them particularly impressive longevity. They only make up around 5-10% of the blend but you’ll notice them for about six hours. Base notes are warm, musky, woody aromas that underpin the other scent notes and deepen the fragrance. After our Uplifting candle’s top notes and middle notes have faded, you’ll be enveloped in wonderfully reassuring amber and musk scents.