Every Akbari perfume comes with a published notes pyramid: top, heart and base. At first glance it is a list of fruits, flowers and woods, but it is actually the most direct description of how a fragrance will smell in the first minutes, after an hour and at the end of the day. This guide explains what each level of the pyramid means and walks through the six note families you will find in our catalogue, naming the Akbari fragrances in which each one appears.
Top, heart and base notes: what the pyramid means
The notes pyramid describes the order in which the ingredients of a perfume reveal themselves on skin. Top notes are the first impression: the lightest molecules, usually citrus, fresh fruit or spices, which you smell immediately after spraying and which fade first. Heart (or middle) notes unfold as the top begins to soften. They give the fragrance its character and are most often floral or gourmand accords: rose, iris, lavender, vanilla, cocoa. Base notes are the heaviest and stay on skin the longest: amber, musk, sandalwood, patchouli, tonka bean. They decide how the perfume smells at the end of the day and what trail it leaves behind you. The practical rule is simple. If you want a fragrance you will love straight from the tester, look at the top notes. If you want a fragrance to live with all day, read the base. When the same note appears at two levels of the pyramid, it is the leading theme of the composition.
Fruity notes: blackcurrant, raspberry, pear and lychee
Fruity notes make a fragrance juicy and cheerful. Blackcurrant is slightly tart and green, raspberry is sweet and bright, pear is transparent and fresh, and lychee adds an exotic, almost floral sweetness. In the Akbari catalogue fruit usually sits at the top of the pyramid, but sometimes it moves down into the base, which is an unusual and interesting choice. GEYSHA opens with lily of the valley and raspberry, continues with pear and musk and closes on patchouli, sandalwood and blackcurrant, so the fruit is present from the first minute to the last. RUBY ROUGE is our fruitiest scent: raspberry, passion fruit, pineapple and blackcurrant on top, peach blossom and lily of the valley in the heart. SEXY TUXEDO starts with raspberry alone and leads it towards jasmine, tuberose and vanilla. VOYAGE pairs raspberry with peony and elderflower, while BLERTA opens with pear, mandarin and bergamot and hides lychee in its sweet base. Fruity fragrances are easy to wear by day and a safe gift when you do not know the recipient's taste in detail.
Floral notes: lily of the valley, rose, iris and lavender
Floral notes are the heart of classic perfumery and in most compositions they sit exactly there, in the middle of the pyramid. Lily of the valley is delicate, green and clean, rose is rich and slightly honeyed, iris is powdery and cool, and lavender is aromatic and herbal, often used to lend elegance to masculine and unisex fragrances alike. At Akbari, lily of the valley leads GEYSHA and sits in the heart of RUBY ROUGE. You will find rose in the heart of THE MILLIONAIRE, next to cinnamon and chocolate, and as black rose in BLERTA. Iris and lavender travel together in several of our amber fragrances: AMBER MARINE, BALUCHI WOOD and AQUA DI DUBAI all have lavender and iris in the heart, while MOON PARTY pairs iris with freesia. Lavender also appears in POKER FACE and ELAY as part of a fresher, aromatic accord. If the person you are choosing for prefers a clean, understated perfume, a floral heart over a musky or woody base is the safest direction.
Sweet and gourmand notes: chocolate, caramel, vanilla and tonka
Gourmand notes are the ones that remind you of something edible: chocolate, caramel, vanilla, praline, coffee, almond. They create warmth and a sense of comfort, which is why they are most popular in autumn and winter and for evening occasions. Vanilla is the most common sweet note in our catalogue. It is the theme of BADAWI, where vanilla orchid, vanilla absolute and Brazilian tonka follow one another, and of SAMIRA, where Bourbon vanilla is wrapped in creamy milky nuances and white musk. Chocolate opens ALWAYS YOU and meets amber and sandalwood before the base brings caramel and apple; in THE MILLIONAIRE chocolate sits in the heart next to cinnamon and rose, and the finish is tonka, myrrh and cognac. Caramel and praline appear in the base of BLERTA together with coffee and vanilla. Tonka bean, with its scent of almond and hay, closes MOON PARTY and is present in BADAWI and THE MILLIONAIRE. Gourmand fragrances are generous, so one or two sprays are more than enough.
Oriental notes: amber, oud, saffron, spices and patchouli
Oriental notes bring depth, warmth and a feeling of luxury. Amber is a soft, resinous, slightly sweet accord that almost always sits in the base. Oud is dark, woody-resinous and very distinctive. Saffron is leathery and slightly metallic, spices (pepper, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg) add piquancy, and patchouli is earthy and gives body to any composition. Amber is the most frequent base note at Akbari: it closes AMBER MARINE, BALUCHI WOOD, AQUA DI DUBAI, RUBY ROUGE, POKER FACE, ELAY and SAMIRA, and sits in the heart of ALWAYS YOU and VOYAGE. Oud appears in the base of DIAMOND alongside musk. Fine saffron opens BADAWI together with vanilla orchid and jasmine. Spices lead AMBER MARINE and BALUCHI WOOD from the first spray, THE MILLIONAIRE relies on cinnamon, and POKER FACE on nutmeg, cardamom and pink pepper. Patchouli is present in GEYSHA, RUBY ROUGE, BADAWI and across the whole amber line. If this is the kind of fragrance you are after, read our separate guide on choosing an oriental perfume.
Woody notes: sandalwood, cedar, vetiver and BALUCHI WOOD
Woody notes are the backbone of the base. Sandalwood is creamy and soft, cedar is dry and clean, vetiver is earthy and slightly smoky, and oak moss adds forest depth. They are rarely found at the top of the pyramid, but they last longest, so they often decide whether you still like a fragrance a few hours later. Sandalwood is in the base of GEYSHA, AQUA DI DUBAI, POKER FACE, SAMIRA and VOYAGE, in the heart of ALWAYS YOU, and in the heart of MEDUSA OUD next to French vetiver, coconut and cocoa. Cedar closes AMBER MARINE, BALUCHI WOOD, RUBY ROUGE and SANTE, and in POKER FACE it is part of a dense woody base with a leather accord. BALUCHI WOOD is our most woody fragrance by design: pepper and spices on top, lavender and iris in the heart, and a base of amber, musk, patchouli and cedar. Oak moss appears in DIAMOND, MEDUSA OUD and AQUA DI DUBAI, and ELAY finishes on dark woods and mineral nuances. Woody fragrances are the natural choice when you are buying for a man, but unisex options such as AMBER MARINE and AQUA DI DUBAI are worn equally well by everyone.
Fresh notes: citrus, neroli and marine accords
Fresh notes are the lightest and the quickest: lemon, lime, bergamot, mandarin, grapefruit, neroli (the blossom of the bitter orange tree) and the so-called marine or aquatic accords that recall salty air and wet stone. They are almost always top notes, which is why fresh fragrances feel strongest in the first minutes, before the base takes over. AQUA DI DUBAI has the freshest opening in our catalogue: neroli, lime, lavender and mandarin, then bergamot and sea notes, with a finish that settles into sandalwood, leather, amber and oak moss. SANTE opens with bergamot, citrus and marine notes and leads them to geranium and green accords over cedar and white musk. ELAY also starts with Mediterranean bergamot and marine accords but ends dark, on amber and woods. POKER FACE begins with citrus, bergamot, lemon and mandarin, THE MILLIONAIRE with bitter orange, bergamot and apple, and BLERTA with mandarin and bergamot next to pear. Fresh fragrances suit summer, the office and anyone who dislikes a heavy perfume.
How to read the pyramid when choosing a gift
When you buy perfume for someone else, the pyramid is your most useful tool, because you can compare it with something you already know. First, ask yourself what the person wears now or which everyday smells they enjoy: coffee and chocolate point to a gourmand scent, a citrus hand cream or a fresh shower gel point to fresh notes, leather and wooden objects point to amber and woods. Second, read the base, not the top. A gift will be worn for hours, and the top fades quickly. Third, look for repetitions: in GEYSHA raspberry is on top and blackcurrant in the base, which means the fruity theme holds until the end. Fourth, if you are torn between two fragrances, take both. At Akbari every second 50 or 80 ml perfume in the cart is 50% off, the cheaper of the two is the one halved, and products that are already discounted are excluded. Finally, if you can, visit one of our five shops in Sofia and Plovdiv and try the fragrance on skin rather than only on a paper strip: base notes truly reveal themselves only on skin.
Questions and answers
- Which part of the pyramid matters most when choosing a perfume?
- The base notes, because they stay on skin the longest and define how the fragrance smells for most of the day. Top notes are only the first impression.
- Why does the same perfume smell different on different people?
- Everyone's skin has a different acidity, temperature and moisture level, and that changes how quickly each note develops. That is why we recommend testing a fragrance on your own skin in a shop.
- Where can I see the notes of each Akbari fragrance?
- Every product page on akbariperfume.com lists the top, heart and base notes. All fragrances are Akbari Perfume's own compositions.