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Fragrance Glossary

Sillage, projection, flanker, beast mode — the cologne vocabulary decoded in plain English, so reviews and forums finally make sense.

By Stephen V.Reviewed How we research
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Fragrance Glossary

The performance words

These three come up in every review. Longevity is how long a fragrance lasts on your skin, usually measured in hours. Projectionis how far the scent radiates from you while you stand still — your "scent bubble." Sillage(pronounced "see-yazh," from the French for a boat's wake) is the trail you leave behind you as you move. A scent can have great longevity but low projection — that is a "skin scent." Our longevity and sillage guide covers these in depth.

Beast mode is informal slang for a fragrance that projects hugely and lasts all day — a compliment among enthusiasts. Performance is the umbrella term for longevity, projection and sillage together.

The structure words

A note is a single smell within a fragrance (bergamot, vanilla). An accordis several notes blended so they read as one new impression (a "marine accord" is built from synthetics, not bottled seawater). The pyramid is the top, heart and base structure that unfolds over time — see our notes guide. The dry down is the final stage, the base notes that remain after the top and heart have faded — often the most important part to judge before buying.

The product words

EDT and EDP are concentrations — eau de toilette and eau de parfum — with EDP generally stronger and longer-lasting; our EDT vs EDP guide explains the ladder. A flanker is a spin-off of an existing fragrance (Sauvage Elixir is a flanker of Sauvage) — often a different scent, not just a different strength. A batch code is the printed code that identifies when a bottle was made, used to check freshness and authenticity; see how to spot fake cologne.

The buying words

A blind buy is purchasing a full bottle without smelling it first — a gamble softened by reviews and samples. A decant is a small amount of a fragrance transferred into a travel vial, a cheap way to test before committing. A dupe or clone is an affordable fragrance made to smell like an expensive one; our clone houses guide and dupes hub cover the whole economy. Reformulationis when a brand changes a fragrance's formula over time — why an old bottle can smell different from a new one.

The everyday-experience words

Nose blindness (olfactory fatigue) is when you stop smelling your own fragrance after a while, even though others still do — the reason people over-apply. Skin chemistry is how your individual skin — its oiliness, pH and dryness — changes how a fragrance smells and lasts on you; see why cologne fades on your skin. A scrubber is a fragrance that smells so bad on you that you want to scrub it off. Compliments are, unsurprisingly, the currency most buyers actually care about.

Questions

Frequently asked

What does sillage mean in fragrance?
Sillage (pronounced 'see-yazh') is the scent trail you leave behind you as you move through a space — named after the wake a boat leaves in water. It is different from projection, which is how far the scent radiates from you while you stand still.
What is the dry down of a cologne?
The dry down is the final stage of a fragrance — the base notes that remain after the top and heart notes have faded, usually a few hours in. It is often the most important part to judge before buying, because it is what you actually smell like for most of the day.
What is a flanker fragrance?
A flanker is a spin-off of an existing fragrance that shares its name and branding — for example, Sauvage Elixir is a flanker of Dior Sauvage. Flankers are often meaningfully different scents rather than just stronger or weaker versions, so sample them separately.
What does 'blind buy' mean?
A blind buy is purchasing a full bottle of a fragrance without smelling it first, based on reviews and reputation alone. It is a gamble, best reduced by testing a sample or decant first, since skin chemistry means a well-reviewed scent can still be wrong on you.

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Sources

We do not run a testing lab, and we do not pretend to. Our scores are judgments from compiled research — published notes and concentration data, plus aggregated owner and community reports — and first-hand impressions only where genuine. Where we could not verify something, we say so rather than quietly leaving it out. Read our full method.