Clary Sage

What it is

A different species from common sage, distilled from the flowering tops. It is also the starting material for Ambroxan.

What it smells like

Warm and slightly boozy with a hay-like sweetness, softer and far less medicinal than ordinary sage. It reads almost like tobacco at low doses and is used to give an aromatic fragrance some weight.

Where it sits

Which layer of the pyramid it is listed in, across every fragrance here that carries it. A base note is one you smell for hours; a top note is usually gone within the first.

What it turns up with

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.

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.

Dolce & Gabbana (5), Carolina Herrera (4), Tom Ford (4), Azzaro (3), Rasasi (3), Yves Saint Laurent (3).