As a way of classifying perfumes, fragrance families are useful, and most of them have enough of an “official” status that we understand what they imply. Fragrance families don’t tell the whole story, but they help us understand a bit better what a perfume might smell like, or more to the point around here probably, they help us to understand if we can be bothered to try something at all. If I tell you a perfume with berries, jasmine and patchouli is a fruity floral, which of course it could be, you might imagine a certain kind of smell, quite different than if I told you it was an oriental, or a chypre, or a green floral, or an aldehydic floral. What you imagine, of course, could be quite wrong, but it never hurts to know how Michael Edwards classified something after he smelled it.¹

Many perfumistas, of course, have their own categories or subcategories, like creamsicle or skank or booze, or we might classify by specific notes we’re interested in, from mimosa to ylang ylang. Wood pudding™ is one of my own favorite personal / unofficial categories, especially in deep winter. A decent wood pudding fragrance is spicy and creamy, and comforting, but the relatively heavy woods temper the sweetness enough to keep the fragrance from falling into a more general gourmand or foody category. Here are 5 of my favorites, and do add your own in the comments!

Givenchy Organza Indecence very nearly defines the category…

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