How to read a fragrance.

Every fragrance is perfume oil dissolved in alcohol, and the concentration is how much of it is oil. The names on the box follow conventions, not law: no regulator enforces them.

The percentage is a recipe decision, not a quality score: a lower concentration built on good materials can outlast and outclass a higher one built on poor ones. Every Nagori edition is an eau de parfum; the exact figure is stated on each edition’s page once the first batch is measured.

A fragrance is read in stages, because its materials leave at different speeds. The opening is the first few minutes: bright and quick to lift (these are the top notes). The heart, or middle notes, arrives as the opening fades. What settles — woods, resins, musks, vanilla, the base notes — is what is still there hours later, on skin and on a collar the next day. That last stage is also called the drydown.

That last stage is the one Nagori builds for, so each edition’s page says how it opens and how it settles. A note on paper after one minute tells you about the opening and almost nothing else.

• Longevity How long it stays noticeable on skin. It depends on the heavier materials, and more than people expect on the skin itself: dry skin shortens it. How to make a fragrance last
• Projection How far it reaches from your skin, mostly in the first hour.
• Sillage The trail it leaves in the air behind you; the French word for the wake of a boat. A fragrance can last all day and leave almost no trail: that is a close wearing, not a weak one.

Close, moderate, noticeable

Nagori puts projection and sillage together as presence, in three steps, and says what each means in ordinary words.

Longevity and presence are separate questions. A close fragrance can last longer than a noticeable one; it simply keeps nearer to you while it does.

See how this applies to the five

1. 001Second SkinPresenceClose · skin-firstLongevity target8 hours or more
2. 002Somewhere ElsePresenceModerate · leaves a trailLongevity target7–9 hours
3. 003Burning SlowPresenceNoticeable · others will notice itLongevity target10–12 hours or more
4. 004After YouPresenceModerate · leaves a trailLongevity target8–10 hours
5. 005Don’t Leave YetPresenceNoticeable · others will notice itLongevity target9–11 hours

Presence and hours are targets set for the perfumer. Each is measured on the first batch and corrected if it differs. The five side by side · Try all five

• Accord Several materials blended so they read as one smell that none of them is on its own. A “leather accord” contains no leather.
• Note A single smell you are meant to notice within the whole. A note list describes an intention; it is not an ingredient list.
• Drydown What remains after the lightest materials have gone — usually from the third or fourth hour. For most people it is most of the experience, and the part least often tried before buying.
• Fixative A material that slows the evaporation of everything around it. Musks, resins and woods do this.
• Absolute A material drawn out with solvents rather than heat, used for flowers that distillation would spoil. Jasmine and tuberose are usually absolutes.
• Attar An Indian distillate received straight into sandalwood oil rather than separated out. Worn neat, without alcohol.
• Aldehyde A family of materials with a clean, bright, slightly soapy lift.
• Gourmand Edible notes — vanilla, cacao, caramel — used as perfume materials.
• Maceration Resting the finished blend before bottling so the materials settle into each other. Weeks, sometimes months. Why a fragrance rests

• On skin A paper strip shows how a fragrance moves. Only skin shows how it wears: oilier skin holds a fragrance longer, dry skin lets it go sooner, and warm skin makes it louder. Why a fragrance smells different on you
• Give it hours Smell it again at the second hour and the sixth. Most regret comes from deciding in the first ten minutes.
• Press, don’t rub Rubbing your wrists does not ruin a fragrance, but it hurries the opening.
• One at a time The nose tires quickly; three at once is mud. The discovery set is one a day for a reason.