Question:
Using Dolce & Gabanna pour Homme..the opening note of strong pepper hits me and usually stays into the dry down..the top citrus notes seem hidden..orange, lemon very distinct scents..I don't even get a hint of them..the base note of tobacco sometime appears very briefly...but to detect the pyramid analysis..I'm not able to do that yet..
I did read an article from a perfume chemest..telling how the note breakdown that appears in the pyramids is a bit misleading..as some of the notes are not really ingredients of the perfume .. but are guides or suggestions as to what you MAY smell in the formula..

Answer:
Originally Posted by Joe_Frances I think about this issue sometimes. Recently, most especially with Le Labo Rose 31, which supposedly has 31 notes. I smell two: rose and pepper. Love'em but feel rather inadequate, since I smell two of thirty-one. I guess I have a rather un-sensing nose, for one who likes to sense the scents of scentes.
I analogize to wines, where the Wine Spectator, which I used to read, talks incessantly about "notes" -- raw kumquat and a leathery-lime-tar element, etc... Huh? I taste somethings, but most of the time NOT what they say.
Joe And think about it: wine is always pretty much the same: fermented grape juice. The notes constituting a fragrance are all individually as complex as wine if not more so, but a fragrance contains tens of these!
The basil in MPGs Baïme doesn't smell like basil EO because it's more diluted and mixed with other ingredients. Can one actually smell the basil in it as basil? Or is it only really possible to see and learn what characteristics basil (and any other note for that matter) ads to a fragrance? (as I remember someone commented a certain Villoresi for having a great rosewood note while rosewood isn't even in it... How many notes would you be able to detect if you didn't know what was in it? More than just a couple?
Indeed as with the example of Rose 31 you give, I find I can distinguish a couple of notes in most scents quite well, but far from every one of them. And actually I like scents to be blended so well that it's just like one note. (not in a bad way like Azzaros Visit: nutmeg!)

Answer:
I've tried Kingdom twice on testing strips and really only get citrus. I can't smell cumin at all. Thing is I love cumin in cooking and have no problem smelling and tasting it in food. I guess I will have to try Kingdom on my arm. I do love the bottle...
The musks thing is interesting. Now a lot of musks are utterly repulsive to me (including Body Shop white musk) and make me feel as though I can't breathe. But I have, and love, Poison, which others say is quite musky, but I only get big fat fruity floral notes from it. I also love Musc Ravageur, which doesn't seem that musky to me either, despite the name. Thing is, I'm glad I can't smell it in those because if I could, I wouldn't like them.