A Guide to the Fragrance Library

“How do I choose a fragrance if I can’t smell it first?”

The answer is simpler than you might think. Most people don’t choose fragrances at random — we tend to prefer certain fragrance families. If you’ve ever said “I like woodsy scents,” or “I don’t like sweet candles,” you were already describing fragrance families, even if you didn’t know the technical term.

To make this easier, we’ve created the Lost Wax Fragrance Library — a visual index of every scent we make. You'll find a link to it in the main navigation bar, under Shop now → Our Fragrances. Each fragrance is shown with a color image and labeled by its fragrance family. Since many of our scents are available as candles, wax melts, and room & linen sprays, the Library helps you explore fragrance by scent type, not just by product. You can easily find scents you love, and explore new ones.

Think of it as a map of fragrance.

The Fragrance Wheel

The modern system for classifying fragrances comes from fragrance researcher Michael Edwards, who introduced the Fragrance Wheel in 1983. His system organized fragrances into families based on their dominant scent characteristics and showed how those families relate to one another.

The wheel format is important because fragrances don’t exist in isolation — many scents sit between two families and share characteristics of both. For example, a fragrance described as Floral Amber combines the softness of florals with the warmth of amber. A Woody Amber blends resinous warmth with deep wood notes. Of course, just like visual artists use a color wheel, in the world of fragrance, there are many other combinations possible than simple monochromatic or analagous schemes. One might pair two neighbors on the fragrance wheel with a third scent from across the wheel as an accent. This is what makes the artistry of fragrance so fascinating. With just a few basic families of aroma, we can create endless combinations to appeal to different people.

Of course, mapping all the different scent elements that go into a fragrance would become overly complicated. To make it simpler to understand, we use the dominant features of a scent to classify it. This can get a little tricky when we have fragrant elements that are nearly equal in dominance, and they belong to different Fragrance Groups. For example, our Mulled & Merry is a blend of spicy (Woody Amber) notes and fruity notes, which are opposites on the Fragrance Wheel. Because the spicy notes are slightly more dominant in this fragrance, we classify Mulled & Merry as a Woody Amber. 

Perfumers, candle makers, and fragrance houses still use this system today because it gives us a shared language to describe scent — something that can otherwise be surprisingly difficult to put into words.

Fragrance Groups & Families

There are four main groups of fragrances, with each containing several similar fragrance families. If you’re not sure where to start when choosing a fragrance, start by choosing one of these four groups. From there, you can explore the individual families within that group.

The 14 Fragrance Families

Here is a simple guide to the fourteen fragrance families used in modern fragrance classification.

Fresh Family

Citrus

Bright, crisp, and energetic. Orange, lemon, bergamot, and grapefruit fall into this family. Citrus scents feel clean and refreshing.

Aquatic

Airy, watery scents that evoke sea air, rain, linen, and cool breezes. Very clean and light.

Green

Fresh-cut grass, crushed leaves, herbs, and garden plants. Smells like walking through a garden in summer.

Fruity

Sweet, juicy fruit notes like apple, peach, pear, berry, and cherry. Cheerful and lively.

Floral Family

Floral

Traditional flower scents like rose, jasmine, lilac, peony, and violet.

Soft Floral

Floral scents blended with powder, musk, or cream. Soft, elegant, and often slightly vintage in character.

Floral Amber

Florals blended with warm amber, spice, or resin notes. Richer and more dramatic than a traditional floral.

Amber Family

Soft Amber

Warm and slightly sweet, often with vanilla, soft resins, and gentle spice. Cozy and inviting.

Amber

Rich, warm, and resinous. Notes like amber resin, vanilla, incense, and spice define this family.

Woody Amber

Amber blended with deeper wood notes like sandalwood, cedar, and patchouli. Warm, smooth, and sophisticated.

Woody Family

Woods

Classic wood scents like cedar, sandalwood, and vetiver. Clean, dry, and grounding.

Mossy Wood

Earthy forest scents built around oakmoss, patchouli, and damp woods. Think forest floor and fallen leaves.

Dry Wood

Drier woods often combined with smoke, leather, or resin. Warm, dry, and slightly rugged.

Aromatic

Herbal scents like lavender, rosemary, and sage, often blended with woods. This family includes many classic barbershop-style fragrances.

How to Use the Fragrance Library

If you already know what kinds of scents you like, the Fragrance Library will help you find new favorites.

If you like clean and fresh scents → explore the Fresh families.
If you like romantic or powdery scents → explore the Floral families.
If you like warm, cozy, or slightly sweet scents → explore the Amber families.
If you like earthy, smoky, or woodsy scents → explore the Woody families.

Once you find a fragrance you love, there’s a good chance you’ll enjoy other fragrances in the same family — or in a neighboring family on the fragrance wheel.

A Library of Scent

We think of our Fragrance Library as exactly that — a library.
Each fragrance is a story, and each fragrance family is a shelf where similar stories live together. If you find a fragrance you love on one shelf, you’ll probably enjoy the ones beside it too.

We invite you to explore the Library, discover your favorite fragrance families, and find a scent that feels like it was made just for you.