How to Describe Scent to Make A Perfume

We use words like rounded, bright, soft, or sunny when we talk about perfume, but what do those words actually mean? They aren’t exact scientific terms, yet they appear everywhere. Perfumers use their own versions too: diffusive, airy, lifted. This kind of vocabulary appears because scent eventually moves past literal ingredients and into memory, mood, and association. When language runs out, we reach for whatever gets us closest.