Fragrance families are the groups perfumers use to sort scents by character: woody, floral, amber and fresh are the four main ones. If you know which family you're drawn to, you can pick a new home scent with far more confidence, even without smelling it first.
Below we explain where the families come from, what each one smells like, and where every kirri iconic scent sits.
Where fragrance families come from
Perfumers have been grouping scents for a long time. Early fragrance wheels date back to 1949, and the version most people use today was created by fragrance expert Michael Edwards in 1992. His wheel places four main families around a circle, with smaller subfamilies in between.
Neighbours on the wheel tend to sit well together. Opposites can work too, but they take more care. It's a simple tool, and a useful one when you're choosing a scent you haven't smelled yet.
The four main families
- Woody: dry, warm and grounded. Think sandalwood, cedar, papyrus and vetiver.
- Floral: built around flowers such as rose, jasmine, peony and orange blossom. Can be soft and powdery or bright and green.
- Amber: rich and rounded, with resins, amber, vanilla, tonka and spice. You may see this called "oriental" on older wheels.
- Fresh: the lightest family. It covers citrus, watery notes, green leaves and fruit.
Most scents sit across two families rather than one. A floral with a soft amber base, for example, smells softer and warmer than a pure floral.
Where each kirri iconic scent sits
Woody
- Santal Woods: dry woods. Sandalwood, cedar, cardamom, papyrus, violet, iris and amber. See the Santal Woods scent page.
Floral
- Botanical Gardens: floral with an amber base. Bergamot, orange blossom, rose, peony and jasmine over cedarwood, amber and musk.
- Country Linen: soft floral. Lemon, peach, carnation, rose and jasmine with sandalwood, honey and tonka bean underneath.
Amber
- Rose Gold: a woody amber with a floral heart. Saffron and jasmine over amberwood, ambergris, fig, resin and cedar.
Fresh
- Dream: citrus and aromatic. Citrus, bergamot, jasmine and tea, with musk and amber.
- Bondi: citrus and water. Opens with mandarin, then watery ozone, green cardamom, black pepper and musk.
- Coral: citrus and water. Bergamot, pink pepper, eucalyptus and white flowers over benzoin, modern woods and white musk.
- Zen Garden: water and green. Peony, water fruits, lotus and iris with driftwood and musk.
Fresh meets floral
- Fig Tree: green, fruity and floral. Fig, citrus, lavender and leafy greens with plum, cyclamen, cedarwood and musk.
- Kiwi Coconut Vanilla: fruity and floral. Pineapple, apple, coconut and kiwi, finished with vanilla.
You can compare all ten side by side in our iconic scents collection.
How to use families to choose a scent
- Start with what you already like: if your favourite candle or perfume is woody, Santal Woods is the obvious first try. Love fresh laundry or clean citrus? Look at the fresh family.
- Match the room: fresh scents suit kitchens, bathrooms and entries. Woody and amber scents give living rooms and studies a warmer feel.
- Think about the season: plenty of people run something fresh through summer and move to woody or amber when it cools down.
- Smell before you commit: our discovery kit has a 2ml sample of each iconic scent, so you can test a whole family at home.
Using more than one family at home
You don't need one scent for the whole house. A simple approach is to keep scents from the same or neighbouring families in rooms that open onto each other, so they don't clash as you walk through.
For example, Bondi in the bathroom and Coral in the hallway stay in the fresh family. Santal Woods in the living room and Rose Gold in the study sit side by side on the wheel. Our guide to pairing scents across your home goes into more detail.
Top, middle and base notes
Families describe the overall character. Notes describe how a scent unfolds. Top notes, such as citrus and fresh herbs, are what you smell first and fade fastest. Middle notes, often floral or spicy, form the heart. Base notes like sandalwood, cedarwood, vanilla, tonka bean and musk are the deepest and last longest.
That's why two scents from the same family can still feel quite different. Dream and Bondi are both fresh, but Dream settles into musk and amber while Bondi stays brighter and lighter.
Frequently asked questions
What are the four fragrance families?
Woody, floral, amber and fresh. Each has subfamilies, such as citrus, water and green within fresh, or soft amber and woody amber within amber.
Which kirri scents are in the fresh family?
Dream, Bondi, Coral and Zen Garden sit in the fresh family. Fig Tree and Kiwi Coconut Vanilla sit between fresh and floral, with green and fruity notes.
Can I mix scents from different families?
Yes. It's easiest to keep neighbouring families in connected rooms, and to save contrasting families for rooms with a door between them.
Ready to find your family? Shop the kirri iconic scents.