What it smells like
The signature of Chanel No 5 and much of what people mean when they say a perfume smells expensive. Long-chain aldehydes carry a fatty, candle-wax, hot-linen quality that pushes everything underneath them upward and outward. Overdosed, they sting.
Where it stops
Aldehydic meets Clean Musk in laundry territory. Musk is soft and sits close to the skin. Aldehydes are bright and stand off it.
Smells most like
aldehydes - and in the same register, aldehyde c 12, sparkling wine.
Notes that load on it
Notes from our catalogue whose position on this facet is 0.40 or higher, strongest first. A note is not filed under one facet: it carries a value on all 34 at once, and these are the ones where this axis is doing real work.
-
2-Methylundecanal
Amber
Citrus
Aromatic
Heart · ~6h
Molecule
-
Aldehyde C-12
Musk
Base · ~36h
Molecule
-
Aldehydes
Waxy-Fatty
Musk
Top · ~0.5h
Abstract
755
-
Sparkling Wine
Fruity
Citrus
Boozy
Top · ~2h
Prepared
-
Adoxal
Aquatic
Heart · ~7h
Molecule
-
Kaffir Lime
Citrus
Green
Top · ~1h
Botanical
2
-
Clean Notes
Musk
Base · ~24h
Abstract
-
Cristalfizz®
Citrus
Aquatic
Top · ~2h
Molecule
-
Prosecco
Fruity
Citrus
Top · ~2h
Prepared
-
Soda Bubbles
Sour
Aquatic
Mineral
Top · ~1h
Prepared
-
Hyacinth
Green
Floral
Honey
Heart · ~5h
Botanical
350
-
Fresh Laundry
Musk
Base · ~20h
Botanical
-
Iris Aldehyde
Powdery
Heart · ~7h
Botanical
-
Soap
Musk
Floral
Waxy-Fatty
Heart · ~6h
Prepared
16
-
Hivernal®
White Floral
Musk
Aquatic
Base · ~14h
Molecule
-
Millet
Green
Nutty
Tobacco & Hay
Heart · ~5h
Botanical
-
Linen
Musk
Aquatic
Mineral
Heart · ~8h
Prepared
40
-
Helional
Aquatic
Green
Heart · ~8h
Molecule
1
-
Kir Royal
Fruity
Boozy
Heart · ~4h
Prepared
-
Sparkling Water
Aquatic
Mineral
Top · ~2h
Prepared
Materials that carry it
Real substances, each keyed by its CAS registry number, that an external perfumery vocabulary publishes with a term meaning this facet outright. This is the layer that makes a facet checkable against something outside our own database.
| Material | CAS | Terms | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| decanal | CAS 112-31-2 | aldehydic | |
| hexanal | CAS 66-25-1 | aldehydic | |
| nonanal | CAS 124-19-6 | aldehydic | |
| octanal | CAS 124-13-0 | aldehydic | |
| heptanal | CAS 111-71-7 | aldehydic | |
| dodecanal | CAS 112-54-9 | aldehydic | |
| scentenal | CAS 86803-90-9 | aldehydic | IFRA |
| undecanal | CAS 112-44-7 | aldehydic | |
| tridecanal | CAS 10486-19-8 | aldehydic | |
| citronellal | CAS 106-23-0 | aldehydic | IFRA |
| acetaldehyde | CAS 75-07-0 | aldehydic | |
| butyloctenal | CAS 13019-16-4 | aldehydic | |
| citronitrile | CAS 5146-66-7 | aldehydic | IFRA |
| undecadienal | CAS 13162-46-4 | aldehydic | IFRA |
| vernaldehyde | CAS 66327-54-6 | aldehydic | |
| octanenitrile | CAS 124-12-9 | aldehydic | |
| alpha-sinensal | CAS 17909-77-2 | aldehydic | |
| heptyl acetate | CAS 112-06-1 | aldehydic | |
| myrac aldehyde | CAS 37677-14-8 | aldehydic | |
| precyclemone b | CAS 52474-60-9 | aldehydic | |
| nonyl nonanoate | CAS 87310-12-1 | aldehydic | |
| isobutyraldehyde | CAS 78-84-2 | aldehydic | |
| ivy carbaldehyde | CAS 27939-60-2 | aldehydic | IFRA |
| methyl octanoate | CAS 111-11-5 | aldehydic | |
| octyl isobutyrate | CAS 109-15-9 | aldehydic | |
| citronellyl ethyl oxalate | CAS 60788-25-2 | aldehydic | |
| citronellyloxyacetaldehyde | CAS 7492-67-3 | aldehydic | |
| cis-hexenyl oxyacetaldehyde | CAS 68133-72-2 | aldehydic | |
| 1-octanol | CAS 111-87-5 | aldehydic | |
| 2-decenal | CAS 3913-71-1 | aldehydic |
Showing 30 of 138. The full set ships with the published standard rather than being paginated here.
Reading the two flags
Declarable means the substance appears in Annex III of the EU Cosmetics Regulation, so it has to be named on the ingredient list once it passes a concentration threshold. IFRA means an IFRA Standard restricts or prohibits its use. Both are facts about the substance, not about any fragrance: a perfume can contain a declarable material below the threshold and never print it, and a restricted material used within its limit is used correctly.
The source also supplies no common name for a large share of materials, so those display as a bare registry number and are ranked last. They are kept because they are real evidence: dropping them would make the vocabulary look better described than it is.
Anchor terms
A facet on its own is just a word we chose. An anchor is what makes it checkable: a term in an external, independently maintained vocabulary of odour descriptions, built for perfumery materials rather than for us. The material list above is drawn from the direct terms only, because a partial term corroborates too weakly to stand as evidence on its own.
Direct
Terms that mean this facet outright
- aldehydic
Partial
Terms that lean this way but also load elsewhere
- soapy
Thinly anchored
This facet rests on 1 direct term, which makes it one of the more likely to move when the crosswalk is revised or a better source is found. It is flagged here rather than presented as equal in weight to a facet held up by nine.
The rest of Fresh & Citrus
The other facets in this family. A note can load on any of them at the same time as this one, so they are neighbours rather than alternatives.