The magazine
About the magazine
Who writes it, what it draws on, how it calculates its scores and what it does when it gets something wrong. All on one page.
Who prepares the magazine
The magazine is not a shop: we sell no perfumes or cosmetics, list no prices and use no affiliate links.
The content is prepared by, and is the responsibility of, PARFUMÉRIA ZET. You will not find authors’ names under the stories, because the magazine as a whole stands behind each one. You can write to the magazine at redakcia@parfumeriazet.sk.
We write about fragrance families and individual notes, about what the labels of cosmetics and laundry products say, and we keep a fragrance archive. We give no medical or dermatological advice and we track nobody: the magazine uses no cookies and no analytics.
Where our facts come from
Every story ends with a box listing its sources and the date it was last updated. Regulations change; if you are reading an older text, check the current wording in the source given.
- Law and regulation (allergens, bans, deadlines, labelling) from the texts of the legislation on EUR-Lex.
- Names and functions of cosmetic ingredients from the glossary of common ingredient names (INCI) and the European Commission’s CosIng database.
- Specific fragrances (year, perfumer, notes) from brands’ official websites, established perfume databases (Osmoz, Basenotes) and the press of the time. What we could not find is marked as unverified or left out.
- Well-known facts of botany and chemistry are not cited every time they appear. If we are unsure of something, we do not write it.
We do not invent reviews, reader ratings, quotations or authors. Pull quotes are always sentences from our own texts, never words of other people. Brands and manufacturers have no influence on the content. Texts about allergens and ingredients are for information and do not replace a medical examination or a doctor’s advice.
How we score fragrances
Fragrance DNA is an editorial assessment, not a laboratory measurement.
The archive fragrances have not been chemically analysed or assessed by a smelling panel. Fragrance DNA is derived mechanically from the published note pyramid we cite for each fragrance. The method can be reproduced:
- Each material in the pyramid is assigned to six axes (fresh, floral, sweet, spicy, woody, dark) using the table below. The shares for one material add up to 1.
- The contribution is multiplied by a weight for its position: top note × 1, heart × 1.5, base × 2. Base notes weigh more because they stay on the skin longest.
- The values for each axis are added up. The strongest axis is set to 10, the others are scaled proportionally and rounded to whole numbers.
- Indicative season, day or night and style follow from rules: if the average of fresh and floral exceeds the average of sweet, dark and spicy by at least 2 points, the result is “spring and summer”; with the opposite difference, “autumn and winter”; otherwise “all year round”. “More for evening” means the dark or sweet axis scores at least 7. The style is made up of the two strongest axes.
On archive pages each axis is drawn as a scent blotter: the deeper it is dipped, the higher the score. The number always stands next to the blotter.
What DNA does not score: longevity or projection. They depend on the batch, concentration, skin and surroundings, and without measurement they would be guesswork.
Limitations: a note pyramid is a marketing description, not a full formula. Different sources give different pyramids, and fragrances are reformulated over time. Assigning materials to axes is an editorial decision, which is why we publish it in full.
Material assignment table
| Material | Fresh | Floral | Sweet | Spicy | Woody | Dark |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| aldehydes | 0.7 | 0.3 | – | – | – | – |
| amber | – | – | 0.6 | – | – | 0.4 |
| amber molecule | – | – | 0.2 | – | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| basil | 0.6 | – | – | 0.4 | – | – |
| bergamot | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| caraway | – | – | – | 1.0 | – | – |
| cardamom | 0.3 | – | – | 0.7 | – | – |
| cashmeran | – | – | 0.2 | – | 0.6 | 0.2 |
| cedar leaves | 0.5 | – | – | – | 0.5 | – |
| cedarwood | – | – | – | – | 1.0 | – |
| clove | – | – | – | 1.0 | – | – |
| coriander | 0.4 | – | – | 0.6 | – | – |
| cypress | 0.4 | – | – | – | 0.6 | – |
| fennel | 0.5 | – | – | 0.5 | – | – |
| geranium | 0.2 | 0.8 | – | – | – | – |
| ginger | 0.3 | – | – | 0.7 | – | – |
| green apple | 0.8 | – | 0.2 | – | – | – |
| green leaves | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| jasmine | – | 1.0 | – | – | – | – |
| jasmine sambac | – | 1.0 | – | – | – | – |
| juniper | 0.6 | – | – | – | 0.4 | – |
| lemon | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| lily of the valley | 0.2 | 0.8 | – | – | – | – |
| lime | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| mandarin | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| musk | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | – | – | – |
| nutmeg | – | – | – | 1.0 | – | – |
| oakmoss | – | – | – | – | 0.4 | 0.6 |
| orris | – | 1.0 | – | – | – | – |
| ozone | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| papaya | 0.4 | – | 0.6 | – | – | – |
| patchouli | – | – | – | – | 0.3 | 0.7 |
| pineapple | 0.6 | – | 0.4 | – | – | – |
| rainwater (accord) | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| redwood | – | – | – | – | 1.0 | – |
| rose | – | 1.0 | – | – | – | – |
| rosewood | – | 0.4 | – | – | 0.6 | – |
| sage | 0.6 | – | – | 0.4 | – | – |
| sandalwood | – | – | 0.2 | – | 0.8 | – |
| solar notes | 0.2 | 0.4 | 0.4 | – | – | – |
| spices | – | – | – | 1.0 | – | – |
| sudachi | 1.0 | – | – | – | – | – |
| suede | – | – | 0.3 | – | – | 0.7 |
| vetiver | – | – | – | – | 0.7 | 0.3 |
| violet | – | 1.0 | – | – | – | – |
| white amber | – | – | 0.5 | – | 0.3 | 0.2 |
| white musk | – | 0.5 | 0.5 | – | – | – |
Concentrations
The ranges on the Concentrations page are indicative industry values from two sources (Galimard, Wikipedia). No law sets them, and perfume houses differ.
The Scent Compass and the Note Atlas
The eight directions, the notes assigned to each shade and the profiles in the Scent Compass are an editorial aid to orientation, not a product recommendation. The botanical and regulatory facts in the Note Atlas are checked against the sources given for each note.
The archive
Records are created only for fragrances for which we find verified facts. No record is an offer for sale.
When we get it wrong
If you find a mistake, write to redakcia@parfumeriazet.sk. A link to the page helps, and so does a source if you have one.
- We check every report against the primary source.
- A typo or a broken link is fixed without a note.
- A factual error is corrected, the story’s update date changes and the fix is entered in the log below.