Wearing cologne is a natural act to many men and each day they apply it with care to extend an aromatic invitation to all they encounter. The fragrance industry is always coming out with new fragrances, which may peak and quickly become yesterday's fragrance, replaced by the newest, latest and greatest scent. Fragrances all belong to one of five family groupings: floral, Oriental, woody, fresh and fougere.
The Fragrance Wheel
Devised originally in 1983 by Michael Edwards, a fragrance industry consultant, this wheel lists all of the basic fragrance family groupings. At the center of the wheel is the fougere group, pronounced foo-jeer. This grouping of fragrances contains elements of all of the other four groupings and is then by definition its own family with both distinctions and commonality. Each of the other four groups occupies equidistant places around the perimeter of the wheel beginning with floral, then Oriental, woody and finally fresh. Each of these families has subheadings, which further describe their scents. Men's cologne uses combinations of all of the groups, with the exception of limited fragrances from the floral segment, which primarily accent women's perfume.
Floral
This family contains three sub-headings, which are floral, soft floral and floral Oriental. The sub-heading of floral contains the fragrances of fresh flowers, such as gardenia, jasmine, honeysuckle, lilac and orchid. Soft floral contains aldehydes, such as cinnanaldehyde, which gives the color and aroma to cinnamon. It also contains soft notes or powders such as, Russian rose, Moroccan jasmine and amber powder. Floral Oriental contains orange blossoms and sweet spices.
Oriental
The subheadings are soft Oriental, Oriental and woody Oriental. Soft Oriental is all about incense and amber, whereas the Oriental sub-head features Oriental resins, musks and vanilla. The woody Oriental group contains aromatic woods such as sandalwood and patchouli.
Woody
The sub-heads are wood, mossy woods and dry woods. This family's wood subhead contains aromatic woods such as frankincense, myrrh and cedar. The mossy woods use fragrances such as oak moss and the dry woods actually have fragrances such as tobacco and leather.
Fresh
Citrus, fruity, green and water comprise this group. Citrus features lemon, lime and orange oils. Fruity is as it sounds, having fragrances such as tangerine, raspberry, banana and strawberry. Green smells like leaves and grass, whereas water uses a chemical called calone. This compound is described as a fragrance that smells like a strong sea breeze that has a slight floral scent added to it.
Cologne
Each men's cologne combines various elements from any or all families, including limited floral, to create its distinctive aroma. There are close to 3,000 fragrances that can combine to create that special cologne that everyone is wearing. Another thing that is unique about colognes is that they smell slightly different on each man who wears them due to everyone's different body chemistry.
