Aldehydic

What it is

Fatty aldehydes, used in quantity for the first time in Chanel No 5 in 1921. They do not smell like anything in nature, which was exactly the appeal.

What it smells like

Fizzy, soapy and abstract, the quality that makes classic perfume smell like perfume rather than like a flower. It can read as a bar of soap to people who did not grow up around it, and the effect is strongest in the first few minutes.

How strongly it is worn

The average strength this accord is listed at, where 100 means it dominates the fragrance.

75 / 100

What builds it

How much more often than the catalogue average. 1.0x would be chance, so these are the things that genuinely travel with it rather than the things that are simply common.

Accords it sits beside

Same measure, with its own family filtered out. Saying woody turns up with oud is a restatement, not a finding.

When it is worn

Against the average fragrance here. The line marks that average, so a bar past it means this is worn in that season or setting more than most.

Houses that use it most

Counted across the fragrances here, which reflects what we cover as much as what a house makes.

Chanel (4), Guerlain (4), Le Labo (3), Yves Saint Laurent (3), Amouage (2), Bvlgari (2).