Top, middle, and base notes are often utilized to characterize a perfume.

The top notes of a perfume, also called the head or opening notes, are what you smell just after spraying it; they evaporate rapidly but form the scent's first impression.

After the leading notes have faded away, the middle, or heart, notes emerge. These scents are considered the fragrance's primary body as they are generally well rounded and stay longer than the leading notes.

The base notes are what remain at the end; this is the scent that sticks with you the longest. The base notes are the full body of the perfume as they are a mixture of the earlier notes and last the longest.