Fragrance Profiles for Essential Oils

Each essential oil tells a story—rooted in the soil, kissed by the sun, and captured in a single drop. At Oshadhi, we carefully record the fragrance profile of every oil by hand, relying on decades of aromatic expertise and a deep relationship with nature’s raw materials. Our team works with these oils using finely trained senses to identify their scent notes. While harvests may shift slightly with the seasons, the soul of each oil—the heart of its aroma—remains beautifully consistent.

Just like people, every scent has its personality. Describing these complex aromas in words is no small task—every description approximates the real-life experience. And since scent is subjective, how one person perceives an oil might differ slightly from how someone else does. Still, classifying these aromas gives helpful direction when choosing the oil that’s right for you.

Describing these scents is both an art and a science. When we say fennel is “sweet,” we’re not talking candy-sweet. It’s a gentle, aromatic sweetness—different from cinnamon, lighter than jasmine—but still part of the same scent family. These adjectives aren’t about taste but the aromatic scent they evoke.

How We Classify Fragrances

There are many ways to describe essential oil fragrances. At Oshadhi, we use a system based on 15 characteristic scent descriptors to make browsing and choosing oils online easier. Most oils are described using three to four main scent notes. The profile may only hint at the full olfactory experience for more complex oils.

Here are the 15 fragrance categories we use: