Here’s Exactly How To Find Your Perfect Signature Scent…With Our 31 Favorite Perfumes Of All Time
by Audie Metcalf
IMHO, fragrance articles are doing it wrong. It’s not that we want to smell “floral” or “musky”, it’s about creating a feeling, a tone, almost like a movie. The movie of our life.
Perhaps the goal is to create an air of unspeakable confidence. Or maybe you’re looking to balance out your immense strength with something ethereal and soft. Whatever your perfect scent might be, it will become synonymous with how others feel about you in their presence, but more importantly, it will enhance all the best bits about yourself.
You will smell it in the morning as you spritz your neck, your wrists, the backs of your knees, and you’ll think to yourself yes, this is just so me, and then, mysteriously, you won’t really smell it again for the remainder of the day. Which is sort of beautiful in and of itself.
But they will.
Ok enough of this flowery writing. Let’s get down to business.
The caveat to all of this is: an article on the internet is a pretty terrible context to talk about fragrances. But until you guys all want to come to my house and have like a Tupperware party for perfume, it’ll have to do.
I’ve created some overall tones for you to potentially see yourself within, and fragrance options to achieve those tones.
strong + Beguiling
You are deeply type A. Your wild laugh is both adored and mimicked, though never fully captured. You can be caustic, but in a charming way. You’d kill a man who treats your friends shabbily.
Here’s how you should smell:
The Nue Co Functional Fragrance
This company uses data and research to find the perfect blend of de-stressing notes: cardamom, cedar, violet. It’s subtly spicy but very clean.
Price: $95
Le Labo Hinoki Hand Lotion and Hand Soap
Yes, this isn’t technically a “perfume” but there might be no more beautiful a scent on this entire list than this combination of soap + lotion. How to describe? It’s almost ashy, with bright green notes. Santal, but better. If you only buy one thing for yourself this month, make it this duo.
Price: $66 for lotion, $33 for soap
Penhaligon’s The Coveted Duchess Rose
From one of the oldest perfumeries in the world, and reserved only for truly “fragrance people,” this scent is almost like a subtle, secret handshake. You’ll discover other Penhaligon lovers just by lingering close to one another, the scents are that unique. This one is our favorite. There is rose, of course, but there is something so deep and longing underneath.
Price: $310
Gilly Hicks La Perouse
From $300 to $30! The best things in the world are always high/low. This Australian lingerie brand emerged back in the mid 2000s and while the brand floundered a few years later, it gave us this: La Perouse. For a while it also disappeared and was reimagined by Hollister as something called “Cali Vibes” but since that name was so ghastly, it also vanished. But, thrillingly, the original is back. Sliiiiightly powdery, but with notes that remind you of the first time you ever fell in love. Even if it hurt. Especially if it hurt.
Price: $75
Byzance Rochas
There are scarcely words in the English language to describe this almost apothecary-inspired, juicy, spicy-floral fragrance. See? That barely even makes any sense. That’s how unbelievably specific it is. Heady. Alluring. Sliiiiightly an après coitus quality. Sadly this scent is no longer made, so we’ve been known to have multiple alerts on eBay at any given time. They did bring it back, and though it’s gorgeous, it’s not…quite the same.
Price: Varies
youthful + Wild
You’re the one people call when they need a kind word. You see the good in everyone. There isn’t a random dog’s paw you haven’t shook. If someone even HINTS at a road trip, you’ve already jumped in the car.
Here’s how you should smell:
Maison Margiela Replica When the Rain Stops
If you haven’t swan-dived into this brand, consider this a sign. Apart from all of their perfect, perfect perfume names, their scents are just universally good. They smell lovely on everyone, they’re complex without ever being up their own ass, and this one in particular beautifully captures that certain sweet, sadness of last-night’s rain. There’s a word for this exact scent. Did you know? It’s petrichor. But this fragrance also has a hint of pine and bergamot. So very fresh. You’ll love it.
Price: $85-$160
Jo Malone English Pear & Freesia
Certainly the juiciest on the entire list, this Jo Malone is a classic for a reason. It’s sweet and subtle and fresh and bright. You’ll smell so delicious people will want to take a small nibble of your neck. They won’t. But they’ll want to.
Price: $80-$155
Child Perfume Extrait De Parfum
Oh, Child. We love you so much we wrote an opus on you HERE. This cult 90s sensation is deeply feminine and floral, but just so soft and delicate. Its luscious, fill-your-nostrils notes of lilac and violet sit buoyantly on top, but there is something else going on in here that we can’t identify. It’s a slightly sad note, and that’s what makes it so utterly unforgettable. People will stop you in the street.
Price: $150
Gisou Honey Infused Hair Perfume
Yes. Hair perfume. Yes. It smells like sweet, clover honey. Yes. You will toss your hair 87% more throughout the day just to get a whiff of it.
Price: $44-$83
kai Perfume Oil
A true classic that was launched in 1999, this fragrance is the gardenia + jasmine love affair of your wildest dreams. It’s exactly what you imagine all of Hawaii to smell like. This brand makes a few different variations on Kai, but the original is truly like nothing else in the world.
Price: $52
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The Body Shop White Musk Eau De Toilette
We’re up to our $30 tricks again. There are a lot of plain musk scents in this world. But this one is our favorite. Could it be because we’re old and The Body Shop White Musk was probably the first musk we’d ever inhaled? Without question. Is it still one of the most enduring, simple, clean/musk scents that gets us compliment after compliment when we wear it? Most definitely.
Price: $30
effortless + CLEAN
You throw on a pair of jeans, and you’re fit to be on the cover of a 1994 J. Crew catalogue. You’re verging on irritatingly beautiful but your rapturous joy in the smallest things, like the fact that all roses smell slightly different depending on their color, means girls just can’t hate you. Your favorite drink is a Shirley Temple, you used to put actual pennies in your Penny Loafers, and you probably cut the crusts off someone’s sandwich without being asked.
Here’s how you should smell:
Byredo Blanche Eau De Parfum
Blanche smells like what you imagine every laundry line with linen sheets and white shirts blowing in the breeze from every movie smells like. But better.
Price: $205
Maison Margiela Replica Bubble Bath
Guys? It smells exactly like bubbles. We didn’t know bubbles had a smell, but this is it. Slightly sweet in a syrupy, coconutty way, but also crisp and squeaky clean. We’re wearing this fragrance as we type these words.
Price: $85-$160
Philosophy Pure Grace Eau de Toilette
Another heavenly throwback that premiered in 2008, this is that truly clean “soap and water” perfection. When people ask what you’re wearing, just lie and say it’s all you.
Price: $64
Essence of Dreams Mystic Geranium Eau de Parfum
The entire world has been sleeping on geranium. It has a more herbaceous note than rose, and this particular fragrance seems to open up into a citrus world as well. It’s like a meadow, in the morning mist, covered in dew, your whole life in front of you.
Price: $90-$125
Anais Anais L'original Eau de Toilette
Why do we keep looking back to the past? Well. Because sometimes new isn’t better. Sometimes new is just a scramble to seek relevant. That’s why so many scents in this list have been gracing the necks of women for decades, and this one is no exception. Anais Anais burst into our lives in 1978, and there isn’t a single fragrance in that world that smells like it. It’s floral, yes. Lillie’s, certainly. But there are shadows beneath it—maybe a thin veil of leather, the tiniest hint of patchouli, musk. There is only one word that really encapsulates this fragrance in its entirety:
Wistful.
Price: $41
nostalgic + witch-forward
When you just lay your hands on another person, they instantly feel more relaxed. You know your way around the produce section, you’ll choose vintage over new any day of the week, and you, personally, are the inspiration for the adage about the type of friend you can call at 3AM when you have a flat tire.
Here’s how you should smell:
Snif Sweet Ash
It’s like the most beautiful, beautiful dirt. With a splash of vanilla bean.
Price: $25-$65
Clarins Eau Dynamisante Treatment Fragrance
The most invigorating scent on the list, without question, the bitter orange bursts forward, and various spicy, essential oils follow. The white thyme makes itself known, as does the rosemary. And wherever it’s sprayed, a soft veil of ginseng and aloe vera help your skin feel soft, supple, enriched. It’s special.
Price: $42-$87
Molecule 01 Eau de Toilette
We had some debate on whether or not to include this, because it’s sort of our little secret. If it gets too popular or known, it won’t feel like ours anymore. But it’s just that good that we would feel like liars to create this entire list and not include it. So the best way to describe is that when you smell it on someone, you are almost compelled to lean in. Like, it’s no longer a choice. The choice has been made for you. There is an extremely soft sandalwood note, but it’s not like any sandalwood you’ve ever smelled in your life. It’s almost like if cashmere shapeshifted and became a scent. Cozy, verging on intimating, but so deliciously soft and warm, this scent becomes instantly familiar, even though you’ve never smelled it before.
Price: $160
Maison Margiela Replica Whispers In The Library
Not seemingly available in the U.S. anymore, but it had to be on this list. Another evocative name, it almost smells like…old books? Pages? Old floorboards? Something like that. There’s pink pepper and orange flower petals and vetiver, and if these are words you like, it’s worth the extra shipping from the UK.
Price: $106
introverted + ALLURIng
You can only be bothered spending time with people if they’re more interesting than the thoughts in your head and…most of them just aren’t. You wear hats (and look great in them), and while you’re not a CHEF, you can whip up one dish that’s better than anyone else’s version of that dish, and you know you’d win a contest for it. Tea, not coffee. Cottage, not ocean. Your heart is as huge as the Grinch’s after it grew 3 sizes that day, but yours came standard.
Here’s how you should smell:
Le Labo gaiac 10 tokyo city-exclusive
Well this is a huge huge problem. This fragrance is only available once a year. It’s part of the “city exclusives” Le Labo creates that is both maddening but also sort of wonderful because it means not everyone is prancing around with your signature scent. Ok. So this one. Ohhhhhhh this one. It’s musky. It’s extremely dry, if you can imagine that. It’s almost like how we all imagine we might smell after chopping wood, on a snowy day, sun blazing bright, so we’re sweating, but our sweat smelled beautiful. Are you with me? It’s difficult. You’ll just have to go smell it.
Price: Starting at $160
Yves Saint Lauren Opium Eau de Toilette
Well lookie what we have a here. A real OG. If you inhale deeply in this moment your olfactory memory can likely summon what it smells like, but there is no more mysterious a fragrance on planet earth than Opium. Cloves, plum, coriander, tangerine, myrrh. But that doesn’t even describe anything really. It’s all in the alchemy.
Price: $102
Jo Malone Jasmine Sambac & Marigold
If you are a jasmine “person” you must own this cologne. There is no better version of jasmine represented in a fragrance than this one.
Price: $160 - 220
Byredo Rose of No Man's Land Eau de Parfum
Maybe we’ve said it about another scent on this list but this is our favorite. For real, now. The Turkish rose is cut with pink pepper and raspberry blossoms and on some days you will describe it as sweet, on other days you’ll describe it as spicy, but it will always be the best thing you smell all day.
Price: $205
Moroccanoil Hair & Body Fragrance Mist
Yes, another hair mist. This one is like having all of the Mediterranean in your ponytail. It’s warm and darkly floral and smells like a hug from someone you haven’t seen in a long time.
Price: $32
Extroverted + alluring
You never met a pair of high-waisted pants you didn’t like. Your cheese boards are legendary. Your penmanship, elite. Sometimes you worry if the idea of you is more interesting then the actual you, but you need not worry. It’s better.
Here’s how you should smell:
Glossier You Eau De Parfum
Our favorite 4 words used by the brand itself, and we couldn’t summon anything better: sparkling, clean, warm, familiar.
Price: $68
Byredo Eyes Closed Eau De Parfum
This smells like the feeling you have when you’re driving down the highway, late at night, racing toward a new love, knowing it won’t last. Spicy. Gingery. Sad.
Price: $205
Nuxe
Huile Prodigieuse®
Someone told us they read this scent described as: when a French woman passes you on the street and you wonder what smells so good. And now, that is only way to describe it.
Price: $26
Vacation by Vacation Eau de Toilette
It’s like if Ban de Soleil sunscreen, hot skin, dusk, orange Sunkist, and the entirety of the 80s made a perfume.
Price: $60
Glow By Jennifer Lopez
Never thought you’d see a list with a CVS perfume AND Byredo on it, eh? But we must give credit where credit is due. This was a deeply special fragrance when it came out in 2002–it was the biggest selling fragrance in America! And if you can find it around now, it’s still so, so, so captivating; musky and clean and sexy. There’s really nothing else quite like it. It’s gloriously cheap and you can call it vintage.
Price: $25
Bobbi Brown Beach Fragrance
It smells, unsurprisingly, like the sea. But the little note of sunscreen is what makes it warm and special and will get you compliments galore. Bobbi Brown has always made gorgeous scents, but this one is the best.
Price: $82
Audie Metcalf is the Editor-in-chief of The Candidly, and lives in LA with her family. You can find more of her articles here.
At The Candidly, we try a lot of stuff so you don’t have to. We only recommend things we truly love, and that we think you’ll love, too. All products are chosen independently by our creative team, and all details reflect the price and availability of products at the time of publication. If you buy something we link to, The Candidly may earn a commission.
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