Florals are the largest single family in perfumery. They cover everything from fresh green lily of the valley to heady tuberose, from honeyed rose to indolic jasmine, and span every mood from innocent to sensual.
The category is built from hundreds of materials, both natural and synthetic. Rose, jasmine, orange blossom, tuberose, ylang ylang, iris and violet are the classical workhorses, most extracted by solvent extraction to produce concretes and absolutes (or distillation, for rose otto). Modern florals rely heavily on synthetic accords to build notes for flowers that yield no usable oil: lily of the valley, peony, magnolia and freesia.
Floral notes sit in the heart. Perfumers build single-flower soliflores, heady white floral bouquets (Fracas, Joy, Carnal Flower), and more transparent modern florals (Narciso Rodriguez For Her, Chanel Chance). They pair with almost every other family.
Floral fragrances perform year-round, reading freshest in spring-summer and richest in autumn-winter evenings.
