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The following is a list of perfume classifications, as borrowed from Wikipedia.

Traditional

The traditional classification which emerged around 1900 comprised the following categories:

• Single Floral: Fragrances that are dominated by a scent from one particular flower; in French called a soliflore. (e.g. Serge Lutens Sa Majeste La Rose, which is dominated by rose.)
• Floral Bouquet: Containing the combination of several flowers in a scent.
• Ambery: A large fragrance class featuring the sweet slightly animalic scents of ambergris or labdanum, often combined with vanilla, flowers and woods. Can be enhanced by camphorous oils and incense resins, which bring to mind Victorian era imagery of the Middle East and Far East.
• Woody: Fragrances that are dominated by woody scents, typically of agarwood, sandalwood and cedar. Patchouli, with its camphoraceous smell, is commonly found in these perfumes.
• Leather: A family of fragrances which features the scents of honey, tobacco, wood and wood tars in its middle or base notes and a scent that alludes to leather.
• Chypre: Meaning Cyprus in French, this includes fragrances built on a similar accord consisting of bergamot, oakmoss, patchouli, and labdanum. This family of fragrances is named after a perfume by Francois Coty. A notable example is Mitsouko (meaning mystery in Japanese) by Guerlain.
• Fougere: Meaning Fern in French, built on a base of lavender, coumarin and oakmoss. Houbigant’s Fougère Royale pioneered the use of this base. Many men’s fragrances belong to this family of fragrances, which is characterized by its sharp herbaceous and woody scent.

Modern

Since 1945, due to great advances in the technology of perfume creation (i.e., compound design and synthesis) as well as the natural development of styles and tastes; new categories have emerged to describe modern scents:

• Bright Floral: combining the traditional Single Floral & Floral Bouquet categories.
• Green: a lighter and more modern interpretation of the Chypre type.
• Oceanic/Ozone: the newest category in perfume history, appearing in 1991 with Christian Dior’s Dune. A very clean, modern smell leading to many of the modern androgynous perfumes.
• Citrus or Fruity: An old fragrance family that until recently consisted mainly of “freshening” eau de colognes due to the low tenacity of citrus scents. Development of newer fragrance compounds has allowed for the creation of primarily citrus fragrances.
• Gourmand: scents with “edible” or “dessert”-like qualities. These often contain notes like vanilla and tonka bean, as well as synthetic components designed to resemble food flavors.