Let's talk about scents, baby.

Let's talk about scents, baby, let's talk about you and me.

Ever attended at a dinner party and been highly impressed by your great uncle Gary's extensive knowledge on wine notes? Similar to tasting notes in wine, candles have perfume or fragrance notes. In fragrances the notes describe the different scents experienced. Separated into three groups, notes can be classed as top, middle and base notes. Notes are classed based on their evaporation time.

The presence of a particular base note may alter the perception of some top notes. To help paint the picture, remember in kindergarten when you would paint with blue and yellow, your picture would appear one way, but you where then told if out mixed them together it would be completely different? The same may occur in fragrances. You may not necessarily smell each note separately, pretty cool, hey?

Top notes

A top note refers to the scents immediately perceived in a candle/perfume. They consist of light molecules that evaporate quickly. This is what we call your first impression.

Middle notes

Otherwise known as heart notes, middle notes are the scent in a candle or fragrance that arise just before the top notes evaporate. Frequently a middle note is referred to as a mellow or rounded compound.

Base Notes

The base and middle notes are partners in crime. They work together to create the character of a fragrance. While they do work with the middle notes, they shine brightest as the final recognisable note. Base notes bring depth and solidity to a candle. The compounds are often used to boost the strength of the lighter note classes. Heavy and slow evaporating molecules are typically deep and rich.