{"id":8924,"date":"2024-03-19T11:57:46","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T11:57:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/masterparfums.com\/?p=8924"},"modified":"2026-10-28T14:20:49","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T14:20:49","slug":"floral-olfactory-family","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/masterparfums.com\/en\/floral-olfactory-family\/","title":{"rendered":"What Is the Floral Olfactory Family?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This year, 20 March marks the start of spring. What is less well known is that the following day is World Perfume Day<\/a>! A perfect pairing, because spring marks the return of many flowers\u2014and is there any olfactory family<\/a> more celebrated in perfumery than that of floral fragrances? To kick off the season in style, Master Parfums takes you on a discovery of this olfactory family that seems impossible to dethrone.<\/p>\n\n\n

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The Floral Olfactory Family, the Queen of Perfumery<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Hesperidic<\/a>, floral, foug\u00e8re<\/a>, chypre, woody, amber-oriental and leather: these are the seven olfactory families established by the Soci\u00e9t\u00e9 Fran\u00e7aise des Parfumeurs<\/a>. Although this classification, devised at the beginning of the 20th century by perfumers, has evolved over the eras and with the developments of perfumery, distinguishing fragrances according to their olfactory characteristics revolutionised the sector, making it possible to navigate more easily a market overflowing with creativity and ever more competitive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If there is one perfume family that continues to make a splash decade after decade, it is the floral family<\/a>. It has sometimes suffered from being perceived as a little has-been, and has never stopped fighting back by continually reinventing itself, to the point of becoming timeless. Since flowers have historically long been seen as the embodiment of femininity in its purest state, it is unsurprising that the family celebrating them dominates the women’s perfume market<\/a>. But no matter\u2014flowers also make their way into masculine perfumes and gender-neutral perfumes. After all, why arbitrarily deprive ourselves of an olfactory richness like the one the floral family has to offer?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients and Facets in Abundance<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Flower species number in the hundreds of thousands\u2014so it is difficult to name all the notes<\/a> that populate the floral perfume family! We can, however, highlight those that often play the leading role.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You have no doubt guessed it: the top prize goes hands down to the rose, that delicate flower, the ultimate symbol of love, capable of taking on a thousand faces. Orange blossom<\/a> also demonstrates astonishing versatility, as do its fellow white flowers jasmine<\/a> and tuberose<\/a>, by turns delicate and carnal. In the powdery register, violet, iris<\/a>, heliotrope or mimosa<\/a> often make eyes at us; ylang-ylang, frangipani and tiar\u00e9 are the best allies of perfumers venturing into solar<\/a> territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A fragrance in which one flower in particular is treated as the main character of the work is called a soliflore, and conversely, we speak of a “bouquet” when a whole host of flowers make their way into a perfume. Within each olfactory family, we also distinguish facets<\/a>, a kind of olfactory sub-category that refines the identity of a perfume, because a fragrance is rarely purely floral, purely woody or 100% gourmand!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of the facets that dress up the floral family are\u2026<\/h3>\n\n\n\n