Anatomy of a perfume: what 2,023 scent pyramids reveal

Everywhere you read that a perfume is built in three stages: top, heart, base. That is true, but it is an image. We wanted to know what this image looks like when confronted with real data.

So we analysed the 2,023 scent pyramids recorded in the OLFACT catalogue, i.e. 15,514 pairings between a perfume and a note, spread over 454 different materials. What follows does not come from a textbook: it is what the compositions say about themselves.

A note on method. These figures describe our catalogue, not world perfumery. A catalogue always reflects listing choices. We systematically state the sample size so that you can judge the weight of each observation.

Verification (October 2026). Some of the catalogue’s pyramids are taken from unofficial sources (not from the house). We therefore redid the main calculations on the pyramids published by the houses themselves alone (762 pages): bergamot, lemon and grapefruit remain at 100% in the top (mandarin: 99%), white musk is 93% in the base, sandalwood 92%, vanilla 89%, jasmine 93% in the heart. The laws below hold; only the number of notes differs slightly, as we see in the first one.

First law: there is no standard format

Across the 762 pyramids published by the houses, the median perfume has 8 notes (7 across the whole catalogue, as it stood when this analysis was published). The mean is 8.4, which reflects a handful of very loaded compositions pulling the figure upwards.

The gap is considerable: from one note for the most pared-back compositions to 23 notes for the most profuse. The record is shared by three Zoologist creations — Chameleon, Moth and Civet — a house for which this is clearly a stance.

Above all, remember this: if a page announces 20 notes, it is not a mark of quality, it is a compositional stance. Many perfumes you love have five.

Second law: the top is almost always a citrus

Here is the clearest fact of the whole analysis. Some notes never appear anywhere but at the top:

Note	Perfumes	In the top
Bergamot	863	100%
Mandarin	267	100%
Lemon	244	100%
Grapefruit	144	100%
Orange	97	98%
Aldehydes	60	97%
Pear	77	96%

Of 863 perfumes containing bergamot, not a single one places it as a base note. This is not just a writing convention: it is also physics.

Citrus aroma molecules are light and highly volatile. They evaporate within a few minutes to half an hour on contact with skin. A perfumer can hardly build an eight-hour trail on lemon — the material will have vanished. It therefore serves what it does best: hitting the mark, straight away.

That is also why the first spray of a perfume so often resembles another. You do not yet smell the perfume: you smell its introduction.

Practical consequence: never judge a perfume on its first minute. You are judging the part that is about to disappear.

Third law: the base is made of heavy materials — and there are few of them

At the other end of the pyramid, the logic reverses exactly:

Note	Perfumes	In the base
White musk	1,026	94%
Oakmoss	119	94%
Sandalwood	589	92%
Vanilla	702	92%
Amber	649	89%
Tonka bean	329	88%
Ambergris	77	86%

Same causes, opposite effects: these materials are heavy, barely volatile, tenacious. They do not assert themselves on the first spray, but they are still there in the evening.

The figure that struck us most is that of white musk: 1,026 of the 2,060 perfumes analysed, i.e. one bottle in two. It is, by a long way, the most widespread material in the catalogue — and probably the one the general public would be least able to name.

White musk smells of almost nothing on its own. Its role is not to stand out: it fixes the other materials, rounds off the edges, extends longevity and gives that “clean skin” effect that makes a perfume wearable. It is the binder of the dish, not the ingredient of the recipe.

Practical consequence: if you find that “all modern perfumes smell a bit alike at the end of the day”, you are right, and you have identified musk.

Fourth law: the heart belongs to flowers

Between the two, a territory clearly occupied by florals:

• Jasmine — 532 perfumes, 94% in the heart
• Rose — 646 perfumes, 85% in the heart

These materials have an intermediate volatility. They take over when the citrus fades, and hold until the base settles in. Hence their position: they are what gives the perfume its character — the part you would recognise on someone else in the street.

Note that rose is an exception to the rule of purity: it appears in the top in 13% of cases. Rose is a material rich enough to be worked at several places in the pyramid.

Fifth law: pepper is a citrus in disguise

A small curiosity, but a revealing one: pepper appears in 334 perfumes, and 80% of the time as a top note.

We instinctively group it with the warm spices, hence with the base. The compositions say the opposite: pepper serves as an opening accelerator. It brings bite where bergamot alone would be too well-behaved. It is a role of contrast, not warmth.

What this changes when you test a perfume

From these five observations follows a simple method.

1. Spray and wait. The first ten minutes tell you about the top, i.e. the part that will no longer be there in an hour.
2. Come back after half an hour, then a little later. This is the heart — the real character of the perfume.
3. Smell it the next morning on your clothing. What remains is the base. It is also what those around you will lastingly associate with you.

This is exactly the reading over time that we display on every OLFACT page, as a timeline: the pyramid is not decoration there, it is a chronology.

One last thing, about note lists

A pyramid is not a recipe. It says nothing of proportions, the quality of the materials, or the perfumer’s craft. Two perfumes can list exactly the same seven notes and have nothing to do with each other in use.

The pyramid tells you what a perfume is made of. It does not tell you what it is worth. For that, there is still only one reliable method: wear it.

To go further, explore the catalogue’s scent notes, or compare two compositions side by side in our comparator.