How Fragrance Index Works

Fragrance Index is an independent data-analytics and trend-tracking platform. We read what people publicly say about perfumes and fragrance brands — the conversation that already exists in the open — and turn it into an at-a-glance picture of what the fragrance market is paying attention to. We are a discovery and comparison tool, not a laboratory, a retailer, or a brand.

Fragrance Index LLC is affiliate-monetized: some links to retailers may earn us a commission (see Affiliate relationships below).

Our signals are built from public mentions — the fragrance conversation already published online. The public catalog draws on official brand information, public or licensed fragrance reference data, and public YouTube (video metadata, titles and engagement, via the YouTube Data API).

We aggregate this into market intelligence; we do not republish raw posts, full comment bodies, or personal data. More detail: Data Sources.

When you see a rise or a decline — a green ▲ or a red ▼, or a state like Rising, Breakout or Declining — it measures one thing: how much a perfume, brand, note or accord is being mentioned and searched for, and whether that is going up or down. It is a measure of public attention.

It is not a measure of quality. A decline does not mean a brand has a problem, that its fragrances are worse, or that one brand is better than another. It simply means fewer people were talking about or searching for it in that window.

Every figure on Fragrance Index — the Attention Index, mention velocity, growth, and “Similar scent profile” percentages — is an index built from aggregated public data, search interest, and public consumer feedback. They are indicators of public attention and conversation.

They are notchemical analysis, laboratory testing, ingredient verification, or official statements from any brand. A “Similar scent profile” figure describes how close two fragrances read in public discussion and in our scent taxonomy — it is not a formulation and not a claim that ingredients are identical.

The accords, notes, mood and season shown on a perfume combine two things: the OSMO open accord taxonomy — a public, openly-licensed vocabulary of fragrance accords (CC BY 4.0) — and Fragrance Index’s own methodology for classifying notes into accords and reviewing the result.

The taxonomy gives a shared, neutral vocabulary; our own curation maps and reviews how each fragrance is described. We keep the internal mechanics of that work proprietary.

We reference brand and product names as plain text, for identification and comparison only, under the nominative fair use doctrine. Brand names, logos and trademarks belong to their owners; their appearance here does not imply any affiliation, endorsement, or sponsorship. See Copyright & Trademarks.

Fragrance Index is affiliate-monetized. Where we link to a retailer, we may earn a commission if you buy through that link, at no extra cost to you. Any such link is labeled where it appears.

Commissions never change a perfume’s scent profile, ranking, or trend signal — those are computed the same way for every fragrance, from public data. See Terms.

Fragrance Index LLC is an independent data analytics and trend-tracking platform. All product names, logos, brands, and registered trademarks (including but not limited to Creed, Yves Saint Laurent, Armaf, Twist Perfumes) mentioned on this website are the property of their respective trademark holders. Their use on this site is for informational, comparative, and trend-analysis purposes only under the Nominative Fair Use doctrine and does not imply any affiliation, endorsement, or sponsorship by the trademark owners. Performance metrics, trend signals, and match scores are calculated from aggregated public online data, search-interest indexes, and public consumer feedback, and do not represent chemical analysis or official statements. As an affiliate platform, Fragrance Index LLC may earn a commission from qualifying purchases made through the referral links provided on this website.