A Guide to Fragrance Families

Fragrance families give us a way to describe the character of a scent. Words such as floral, woody, and citrus can help you recognize a familiar preference before looking more closely at individual notes.

A fragrance may draw on several families. Those combinations are often what distinguish one composition from another.

How families overlap

There is no single universal fragrance wheel. Different perfumers and fragrance houses organize families somewhat differently, but the underlying idea is consistent: scents with related characteristics are grouped together so they are easier to describe and compare.

A fragrance can belong comfortably to more than one family. No. 05, for example, can be both floral and woody. No. 04 can read as herbal and woody. Those overlaps are often where a fragrance becomes interesting.

Floral

Floral fragrances are built around the impression of flowers. Rose, jasmine, orange blossom, lavender, violet, and many other notes can sit within this family, although each has a very different personality.

“Floral” does not automatically mean powdery or sweet. A floral fragrance can be green, airy, creamy, spicy, citrus-bright, or grounded by woods and amber.

Woody

Woody fragrances draw from notes such as cedar, sandalwood, guaiacwood, vetiver, or the broader impression of dry timber and resinous warmth.

Woods often provide structure and depth. They can feel dry and architectural or smooth and creamy depending on what surrounds them.

Herbal and aromatic

Herbal or aromatic profiles commonly feature notes associated with leaves, stems, culinary herbs, and aromatic plants—sage, rosemary, eucalyptus, basil, thyme, juniper, or lavender in its more herbaceous direction.

These fragrances often read as crisp or fresh rather than sweet, although woods, citrus, or spice can add warmth beneath them.

Citrus

Citrus includes familiar impressions such as lemon, orange, bergamot, grapefruit, lime, and mandarin. These materials are often used near the opening of a fragrance because many citrus aromatics are relatively volatile.

In a candle, citrus can feel bright and immediate on its own or provide lift to florals, herbs, woods, and amber.

Fruity

Fruity fragrances extend beyond citrus into berries, currants, stone fruit, orchard fruit, tropical fruit, and more abstract fruit accords.

They can range from tart and green to deep and jammy. No. 07, for example, sits comfortably in a fruity-floral space rather than reading as a straightforward dessert scent.

Warm, amber, and spicy

Amber is a fragrance concept rather than a single raw material. In modern fragrance language, it generally refers to a warm, enveloping effect built from materials such as resins, vanilla-like notes, musks, woods, and spices.

Spicy fragrances may lean warm—cinnamon, clove, nutmeg—or cool and sparkling through materials such as cardamom, pepper, coriander, and ginger.

Finding your preferred direction

If you know you dislike very sweet scents but enjoy dry woods and herbs, herbal and woody families offer a useful place to begin. If you love bright citrus but want something more grounded, look for a citrus fragrance paired with woods or aromatics.

As you become familiar with the families you enjoy, comparing new fragrances becomes easier.

Our guide to the seven Highland & Hive fragrances brings these descriptions into the collection, with individual notes and comparisons to help you choose.