Section
Fragrance
Ten bottles, four houses, and nothing here because it was cheap. A perfume is the one thing in a look that arrives before you do and stays after you leave, so it is worth choosing on more than the label — what it opens with, what it settles into, and how long it lasts before it needs reapplying.
The pieces
The ones chosen for a particular night keep the occasion, because it is the reason they were picked. The rest are here on their own merit.
Jimmy ChooI Want Choo Eau de ParfumFloral gourmandEveningEau de parfumPeach and vanilla over jasmine, which is the combination that reads as warmth rather than as sugar. It sits close for the first hour and then opens -- so it is the one to put on before you leave rather than at the door.Wanting to be noticed at the distance of a conversation rather than across a room.Good for- Eau de parfum rather than eau de toilette -- the higher of the two concentrations, which is what the house charges for
- Gourmand without being edible -- the jasmine keeps it from reading as dessert
- Six thousand ratings behind it, so the character is a known quantity rather than a gamble
- Sweet at the top, which is the wrong opening if you want something austere
- Amazon lists fragrance per size, so the link opens the range rather than one bottle
Dolce & GabbanaThe One Eau de ParfumOriental floralWarmEau de parfumThe one on this page that is not trying to be new. Amber, vanilla and a warm floral heart -- a shape that has been in production long enough to be a reference point, which is exactly why it is here.Wanting a scent that reads as grown-up rather than as current.Good for- In production since 2006, so it is recognised rather than explained
- Amber and vanilla in the base, which is the warm end of the scale rather than the fresh one
- Widely stocked, which makes a replacement bottle easy to find
- Recognisable enough that someone in the room may be wearing it
- Warm and sweet, which is heavy in summer heat
PradaParadoxe Eau de ParfumAmber floralRefillableEau de parfumRefillable, which is the part worth paying attention to: the bottle is bought once and the scent after that. Amber and white musk over neroli -- clean at the top, warm underneath.Wanting one bottle to keep rather than a shelf of half-used ones.Good for- Refillable, so the glass is bought once
- Clean opening, which makes it wearable in daylight as well as at night
- The highest-rated fragrance in this section
- The refill is a separate purchase and is not always in stock
- Musk-forward bases are the ones people react to most differently
Dolce & GabbanaDevotion Eau de ParfumGourmandCitrusEau de parfumCandied citrus over vanilla, and the bottle is half the argument -- the gilded heart is a thing you leave out rather than put away. The sweetest of the four, and the most obviously a gift.Wanting something sweet that still reads as grown-up rather than girlish.Good for- Citrus at the top stops the vanilla from being flat
- A bottle that survives being on show, which matters if it lives on a dressing table
- Reads as a present without needing to be wrapped
- The sweetest here -- wrong if you want something dry
- Newer than The One, so it has less history behind the reviews
Jimmy ChooBlossom Eau de ParfumThe light one in this house, and the only fruity floral on the shelf. Citrus over sweet pea over white musk -- it is a daytime scent in a range that otherwise leans dark, which is why it is here rather than as a fourth variation on the same idea.A shelf that leans evening, with nothing on it light enough for a desk.Good for- Fruity floral rather than amber or gourmand -- the gap in this shelf
- Light enough for daytime and for an office, which the rest of this house is not
- The cut-glass bottle is the house's own signature shape in a bright pink
- Light means it does not last the way the Signature or the Intense do
- Sweet pea and citrus read young; if you want something with weight this is not it
Jimmy ChooFever Eau de ParfumThe dark one. A floral gourmand built on black plum and vanilla, in the house's faceted round bottle -- this is the evening end of the range, and the opposite pole to Blossom above.Wanting a gourmand that is not a dessert -- fruit and vanilla rather than sugar.Good for- Black plum at the top rather than the vanilla-first opening of the other gourmand here
- The plum keeps it from reading purely sweet, which is where gourmands usually lose people
- A distinct bottle from the rest of the house, so it is not mistaken for a flanker
- Gourmands are polarising and this one is not subtle in a warm room
- Heavier than Blossom by a wide margin -- these two are not interchangeable
Jimmy ChooSignature Eau de ParfumFruity chypreDay into eveningEau de parfumThe house's first, and the one the others are flankers of. Pear and green notes over tiger orchid, landing on toffee and patchouli -- fruity at the open and dry underneath, which is a different animal from the gourmand it is shelved next to.Wanting one bottle that is not sweet and not austere either.Good for- Eleven thousand ratings, which makes the character about as known as a fragrance gets
- A chypre base -- patchouli and toffee rather than more sugar, so it dries down drier than it opens
- In production since 2011, so it is a known quantity rather than a launch
- The tiger orchid is the whole middle, and orchid is the note people either want or avoid
- Amazon lists fragrance per size, so the link opens the range rather than one bottle
Jimmy ChooI Want Choo Forever Eau de ParfumChypre gourmandEveningEau de parfumThe same idea taken darker. Where I Want Choo is peach and vanilla, this puts rose and black cherry over a moss base -- gourmand still, but with something bitter under it, which is what stops it reading as a dessert at hour three.Liking the original and wanting it to sit lower.Good for- A moss accord under the sweetness, which is the part that keeps it from going flat and sugary
- 4.7 on fifteen hundred ratings -- level with the original it flanks, on a quarter of its volume
- Black cherry and rose read as evening in a way peach and vanilla do not
- It is a flanker -- if you do not like the original, this is a variation on something you already refused
- Darker and heavier than the original, so it wants the cooler half of the year more than the original does
PradaParadoxe Intense Eau de ParfumFloral amberEveningRefillableNot a stronger Paradoxe -- a different one. The original is neroli over amber and white musk; this is jasmine over ambrofix and a moss accord, which is a drier, darker structure wearing the same name and the same bottle.Wanting the Paradoxe idea drier and darker than the original wears it.Good for- Ambrofix and moss under the jasmine, which is what carries a scent through an evening
- Refillable -- the bottle is designed to be topped up rather than replaced
- 999 ratings behind it, against the original's 1,908 -- half the volume rather than a fringe variant
- Sharing a name is not sharing a scent -- liking the original is not a reason to buy this one unsniffed
- Rated below the original it intensifies, 4.6 against 4.8
- A 3.0 oz refillable bottle rather than a starter size, so the first purchase is the larger commitment
MoroccanoilL'Originale Eau de ParfumFloral amberDayEau de parfumThe smell of the hair oil, as a fragrance. That sounds like a novelty and is not: the scent is the reason people buy the oil, and this is the house selling it on its own terms -- sweet florals, sandalwood, spiced amber.Wanting to smell like the hair oil without putting oil in your hair.Good for- The house's signature scent, which is already familiar to anyone who uses the oil
- Sandalwood and amber in the base, so it is warm rather than fresh
- The only fragrance here from a house that also makes something else on this site
- 277 ratings is the thinnest evidence on this shelf, and it is recorded rather than rounded up
- If you already use the oil, this may be more of a smell you are wearing than a second one
Your turn
What should we dress next?
An occasion you cannot find anything for, or a product you want us to look at properly.