Scents for our senses

As one of our five physical senses, what we smell can have a powerful impact on how we experience all our moments in life – how they make us feel and the memories that linger.

It’s no wonder then that using products with natural fragrances, from the subtle to the intense, can also have an effect on us. Some ingredients invigorate, others soothe or uplift us. A fragrance composed of a specially chosen blend of these ingredients – each placed within the fragrance pyramid – multiplies the impact on us.

La piramide olfattiva

The fragrance pyramid has three main sections:

Top Notes are in the narrowest, upper part of the pyramid. These are the most dominant notes of a fragrance and what our nostrils notice first – but they evaporate usually within 15 minutes. Citrus, like mandarin, lemon or grapefruit, aromatic sources, like lavender or herbs and watery scents are typical top notes.

Middle Notes, also known as the heart or character of a scent – these linger for longer, usually for an extra 30 minutes once the top notes have evaporated. Fruits, flowers and some herbs all make irresistible character notes.

Base Notes – these are the most stable attributes – enduring for 24 hours or longer, they add real depth to a fragrance. Spices, patchouli, vanilla, musk, some floral scents like violet and earth, down-to-earth scents are perfect as base notes.

However, like all recipes for food, slight variations can also infuse a fragrance – or fragranced personal care items – with an interesting twist, adding extra appeal or additional benefits!

Olfactory experience

For instance, from the range of hand soaps, shower gels, deodorants and body balms from N.A.E. Naturale Antica Erboristeria there are sub-lines, each with their own piramide olfattiva.

Vitalità has zingy top notes of grapefruit, orange and lime to instantly energise the senses, a blend of coconut, brown sugar and intense purple heliotrope flowers lie at the heart and vanilla and fig create a fruity-sweet base. The combined experience for the senses emulates a stimulating walk through a fruit garden.

Freschezza weaves the refreshing scent of rosemary through all three levels of its fragrance pyramid, interspersed with exhilarating lime and spicy cardamom as top notes and aromatic lavender and patchouli at its base. Using the personal care items comprising this fragrance will leave you feeling renewed.

Idratazione, with long-lingering base notes of patchouli, vanilla and tonka bean, and a carefully-selected mix of floral, woody and fruit botanicals for the heart and top notes, offer a relaxing, lightly-sweet fragrance as you hydrate your skin – so both you and your dermis feel calm and pampered.

Purezza really smells pure, with gently uplifting rose petals, bergamot and freesia as a first impression, calming rosa centifolia and pear pulp at its core and an exotic but gentle blend of musk, violet and vanilla as base notes. Cleansing with purezza is an all-round feel-good experience!