Scent Word of the Week: Tenacity
Words Related to Scent
Tenacity: What Does it Mean in Perfumery?
The word tenacity is part of the performance indicator language in perfumery. Others include sillage, impact, and volume. Tenacity relates to the length and the strength of a particular scent. For example:
how well does the scent adhere to the skin?
how long does the scent last within the fragrance as it cycles through the various stages?
It can refer to the fragrance as a whole, or be a single note/scent within that fragrance.
Strong middle notes and base notes in perfumery make good tenacious notes. They often act as fixatives within a fragrance (although not always). There are also variations between the essential oil, absolute, and CO2 of the same plant species, if available. These include:
rose (Rosa spp.)
jasmine (Jasminium spp.)
patchouli (Pogestemon cablin)
frankincense (Boswellia spp.)
lemon (Citrus limon).
My Brown-eyed Brooks fragrance contains several notes which have both strong sillage and tenacity. I invite you to try it and see if you can pick out those notes!
What did you learn from this article? Drop me your thoughts in the comments below.
“Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal. My strength lies solely in my tenacity.”
Louis Pasteur, French chemist and pharmacist