What are perfume notes? A beginner's guide to top, heart and base notes
Perfume notes are the individual scents that are blended together to make a fragrance. Once you understand them, choosing a perfume gets much easier, because you can read a list of notes and know roughly what it will smell like before you buy.
The three layers of a perfume
A perfume is not one smell. It is built in three layers that appear one after the other as the fragrance dries on your skin. These layers are called the top, heart and base notes.
Top notes: the first impression
These are the light, bright scents you smell the moment you spray. Think citrus, mint and fresh fruit. They are lively but fade quickly, usually within 15 to 30 minutes. Onlyou No. 8162 opens with bergamot and mint, which is exactly what a top note feels like.
Heart notes: the character
Once the top notes settle, the heart notes come through. These are the main personality of the perfume and last a few hours. Flowers, spices and rich fruits usually sit here. Onlyou No. 898 has peony, rose and magnolia at its heart, which gives it that full, lush floral feel.
Base notes: the lasting trail
The base notes are the heavy, deep scents that appear last and linger the longest, sometimes for many hours. Woods, amber, vanilla, musk and oud live here. Onlyou No. 8252 rests on oud, leather and amberwood, which is why it stays on your skin all evening.
Why a perfume smells different over time
This is the part that surprises most beginners. A perfume does not smell the same at minute one and hour five. It moves from the top notes to the heart and finally to the base. That is why you should never judge a scent in the first few seconds. Give it half an hour to settle and you will smell the real fragrance.
Scent families to know
Notes are grouped into families, and knowing your favourite family makes shopping simple. The main ones are fresh (citrus and water notes), floral (rose, jasmine, peony), woody (cedar, sandalwood), amber and oriental (vanilla, spice, oud) and gourmand (caramel, praline, sweet notes). If you know you like woody and amber scents, you can look for those words in any product description.
How to use notes to pick a perfume
Start by thinking about what you already like. Do you enjoy the smell of vanilla, fresh citrus or wood? Look for those notes in the description. Then think about when you will wear it. Lighter, fresher notes suit hot days, and warmer base notes suit the evening, which we cover in our guide to fresh vs warm perfumes for the South African climate. The notes at the base also tell you how long a scent will last, as we explain in our guide to the best long-lasting perfumes under R100.
Try a few without overspending
The best way to learn what you like is to try different scents. Because every 30ml bottle is the same low price, you can build a bundle and explore several families at once. Each bottle is R90, delivery is R90 nationwide and free over R300, and most orders arrive in 3 to 5 days.