Think smelling a lily-white David Jones card is all it takes to decide on the right fragrance for you? Think again. With the best menโs fragrances often fetching some serious coin, you want to make sure youโve got at least some surface-level knowledge on this necessary accessory before you go diving into the cross-section of seduction and scent.
Below youโll find a glossary of sorts, as well as a few tips on how to store and wear your chosen fragrance so you can get the most out of it.
What You Need To Know About Menโs Perfume & Fragrances
If youโre looking to make the best choice rather than sheepishly cowing to marketing speak, youโll first need to know the different types of fragrances for men. Itโs more than just โcologneโ, and parsing apart the groupings is important as it can tell you a lot about the specific potency and longevity of a fragrance, guiding you straight to the best new menโs fragrances that most suit your individual skin, tastes and lifestyle.
Related: Best Winter Fragrances for Men in 2023
Even before you get to the categories of scents โ which are usually divided into โfragrence familiesโ like fugerie (fresh), woody, floral, and gourmand, dictated by the formulaโs individual top, heart and base notes โ there are some things you should keep in mind. These are the terms you should be familiar with in order to cut through the noise like a boss and zone in on the best menโs fragrances out there.
Notes: Simply, notes are the ingredients of a fragrance and they are often the elements that sit behind the marketing of a new fragrance. Rightfully so too; if youโre not considering the notes of a fragrance, then you are arenโt doing your due diligence.
Oil Concentration: the oil-to-alcohol ratio in any given bottle is whatโs going to determine just which group if falls into. As a general rule, the higher the oil concentration, the more potent the scent is, and the longer it will last on your skin. A perfume has the highest oil concentration, while an eau fraiche has the least.
Perfume: Historically, perfume had no specific gender attached to it, but throughout the years it has become more associated with something only women wear. Although thatโs honestly a load of crap โ if it suits you, it suits you. Note that perfumes typically contain the highest concentration of oils, ranging from around 20-30%, making them the most potent and long-lasting of fragrances with a life of about 5-8 hours, although some can last up to 24 hours.
Cologne: A cologne is typically much lower in oil concentration when compared to a perfume, sitting at around 2-4%, meaning the scent will only last for a few hours. Itโs important to recognise this as itโll dictate the optimal time to spray some on before a big event or a date. Menโs colognes will usually last for about two hours.
Eau de Parfum: An Eau de Parfum is only slightly weaker than a perfume, with an oil concentration sitting between 15-20% of the total formula. That also means a lower concentration of alcohol, which helps with skin tolerance and can be much less grating to those around you who may be a bit hyper-sensitive to strong jolts of the olโ olfactory bulb. Spray an Eau de Parfum on and you can reasonably expect it to last anywhere from 5-8 hours.
Eau de Toilette: Stepping down a bit in oil concentration is an Eau de Toilette, taking up only 5-15% of the formula. Itโs one of the more popular types of fragrances regardless of gender. The scent peaks during the final hours of use, but the overall effect lasts for around 3 hours.
Eau Fraiche: Most aftershaves would fall into this group, seeing as Eau Fraiche denotes the lowest concentration of oils. Thatโs around 1-3%, with the fragranceโs top notes being so fleeting that they can fade within minutes. If youโre dabbing on some Eau Fraiche, expect the scent to wear off in about an hour. The plus side here is that your individual body chemistry โ skin type, diet, hormones, sweat โ has less time to interact with and alter the scent. Basically, if youโre a sweaty mess who eats burgers everyday, a nice aftershave is probably the better choice as the scent, however weak, wonโt give a damn that youโre a hot mess.
Top Notes: The top notes are fairly self-explanatory; they sit on the very surface of the fragranceโs profile and are sometimes referred to as โopeningโ or โheadโ notes. Generally, these are lightest of the listed characteristics of any given fragrance, able to be perceived immediately upon application to the skin. This also means that they are the first to break down, like the front palette of a good dram of whisky, making way for the heart, or middle, notes after taking care of the first impression. Ideally, you want the top notes to be alluring enough to draw people in, before they transition to the heart notes. Typical top notes include lighter fruits like berries, orange and grapefruit, herbs like lavender, and citrus scents like lemon and bergamot.
Heart Notes: This is usually where a fragrance gets interesting, revealing the core characteristics of a profile. As such, these are the notes that should make the longest lasting impression on others, and thankfully they stick around much longer than top notes, while also strongly influencing the finishing base notes. Perfumers obviously save their biggest punch for this point in the show, which often takes the form of hybrid floral and fruit notes, with a bit of spice to keep things lively. On average, youโre looking at pleasant notes like rose, lemongrass, coriander, nutmeg, cinnamon and jasmine.
Base Notes: The base notes are the final countdown before your fragrance fades, often representing the absolute death of the top notes and a somewhat inter-mingling with the heart notes. This is what is usually referred to as the drydown period, revealing rich notes like cedarwood, vanilla, amber, oakmoss and musk.
Drydown: More on that drydown period briefly mentioned above. This is when the fragrance is on its way out โ the final stage of wear. The amount of time it takes for a fragrance to reach the drydown period depends on the factors listed above, as well as numerous variables that are individual to you and your environment. As such, the drydown is unique to you and tells your story. Think of it as the patina of a fragrance, telling the story of your scentโs journey from top to base.
Accord: Accord is like what happens when you mix two colours and end up with a new one. Itโs simply when two or more notes are blended to create something fun and unexpected. Although itโs not too important when deciding what fragrance of the buy. Still, good to know.
Sillage: Sillage refers to how a scent can linger long after the wearer is gone, representing that trail of scent that stronger fragranceโs can imprint on a space.
Types of Scents
As mentioned above, notes are usually grouped into various categories to make it easier to communicate what a fragrance may smell like throughout the day. For example, if your chosen spray primarily focuses on gourmand notes then expect it to smell like various spices, foods and things youโd normally find in the cupboard. Below are the general types of scents, usually referred to as fragrance families.
Single Floral: Also known as โsolifloreโ, this family simply indicates a fragrance is dominated by the scent from one particular flower.
Floral Bouquet: Similar to above, except this one contains a combination of several flowers in one scent, usually interpreted in distinctive ways by a perfumer. Combined with the above, this can also be referred to as โBright Floralโ.
Amber: Warm, powdery and sweet is usually the implication for this rather broad class of fragrance, which typically features notes of vanilla, flowers and woods, but can also take on camphorous oils and incense resins.
Woody: Expect the likes of sandalwood and cedar to dominate this family.
Leather: The family of leathers often refers to more masculine notes like tobacco, wood and wood tars, but can also include sweeter scents like honey. Unsurprisingly, youโll come across this term a lot with menโs fragrances.
Fougere: This is the French term of โfernโ and is pronounced foozh-air, usually denoting base notes like lavender and oakmoss, defined by sharp and woody scents. Many menโs fragrances fall into this family, or at least borrow from it.
Oceanic: This is one of the more modern families, often referring to a profile thatโs clean but slightly salty. These fragrances are usually designed around something called Calone, which is a synthetic substance that mirrors an ocean, sea-breeze like scent. Youโre more likely to find this in womenโs fragrances, but there are a few menโs fragrances out there that fall into this category.
Citrus: This one is pretty self-explanatory, youโve got citrus dominating the family, with many of the more refreshing colognes falling into this family, or at least borrowing from it.
Chypre: Youโre going to get a lot of bergamot here, but also quite a few notes across labdanum and minty patchouli,
Gourmand: Gourmand is increasingly common in menโs fragrances now, owing mainly to the nostalgia such notes invoke. As mentioned above, these are notes youโd usually small in the kitchen โ โedibleโ scents that often favour dessert scents like vanilla, tonka bean and almonds.
Storage & Usage Tips
In order to get the most out of your fragrance, and ensure itโs in top shape for those emergency sprays, there are a few steps you can take. Keep in mind that like any delicate formula, how you treat and use the fragrance can have a measurable impact on performance and end up with it smelling nothing like that card you doused in David Jones.
- Keep bottles away from direct sunlight โ Ideally youโll want to store your bottles in a dark cabinet, away from those rays. Light will degrade fragrances, but if you want to keep them out in the open, note that darker bottles offer some protection.
- Store away from the bathroom โ Youโll probably want to store bottles close to the bathroom so you can quickly spray post-shower, but thatโs not the best idea. The temperature in a bathroom varies a lot, and fragrances fare much better when thereโs a consistent, ideally cool temperature.
- Minimise air contact โ This one should be obvious, but always make sure that lid is tight and sealed. Air can quickly harm the fragrance, and most bottles are designed around this.
- Spray on dry skin โ Hold to nozzle 3-6 inches over post-shower dry skin and give it a little spray. Start with one single spray on the chest if youโre not yet too confident in the scent, but depending on how potent you want it, progress to the warmest parts of the body. Body heat pushes the scent out effectively to create sillage, so go for the chest, neck, wrist, lower jaw, forearm, shoulder and inner elbow. Not all at the same time though, keep the sprays to a maximum of 3-4 spots on the body.
- Donโt rub it out โ Many people seem to think rubbing the scent after itโs been applied is a good thing. Donโt be that guy. It makes the scent weaker by disrupting the bond between the fragrance and you skin.
- Less is more โ This one should be obvious, but in case you need a reminder, just donโt overdo it. Like pretty much everything in life, olfactory attraction lives or dies on the art of balance.
If you feel like youโre ready to flex your newfound knowledge, get around our list of the best new summer colognes and menโs fragrances in 2021.
