Fragrances are categorized into scent groups.  Knowing these groups will help you decide what scents to add to your library.

In the classic system of fragrance families, scents are categorized based on their natural origin i.e. from a fruit, herb, root, flower, animal, etc.  Those 4 groups are:  floral (lily of the valley, rose, jasmine), green (lavender, rosemary, pine), animal (musk, civet, ambergris), spicy and woody (cedarwood, cinnamon, clove, myrrh, oakmoss, vetiver)


In an updated system of classification there are 7 categories of fragrance:
Citrus 
Spicy
Herbal
Fruity
Gourmand
Floral
Earthy
Blended (my own category)

Your goal for your initial library should be to have at least 3-4 scents in each category.   Here are some examples of scents in each category to get you started.  These scents are by no means mandatory, they are just examples to help you get a scentual feel for each category.

Citrus:  Bergamot, grapefruit, lime, lemon, mandarin, sweet orange, tangerine
Spicy:  Cardamom, clove, cinnamon, ginger
Herbal:  Bayberry, cucumber, pine, rosemary, sage
Fruity:  Coconut, green apple, mango, melon, strawberry, pear
Gourmand:  Cocoa, green tea, vanilla
Floral:  Chamomile, jasmine, lavender, lily of the valley, neroli, rose, hibiscus, plumeria, linden, tuberose, violet, ylang ylang
Earthy:  Amber, cedarwood, frankincense, honey, labdanum, musk, oakmoss, patchouli, sandalwood, vetiver
Blended:  Baby powder, Blue Nile, Milk and Honey, Ocean, Rain, Egyptian Musk (these are scents that are already blended, but may also have a predominate note of being primarily citrus, fruit, spicy, etc.)

What scents you choose is up to you.  Your goal may be to simply make one perfume, say a floral perfume.  You may concentrate on this category more and find yourself collecting more florals and notes you feel would highlight these.  If you intend to blend many perfumes to possibly sell or blend for friends, then the more scents in each category you have, the better.

Setting Up Your Laboratory>>