Scents That Just Make Sense
Did you know that smell is actually your strongest sense? Think about how smell can be used to evoke memories, or attract a mate, or alert you in the case of danger. For many people, choosing what to smell like in the morning is an integral part of getting ready. While perfume, more than most other arts, is subjective, here are 20 scents that belong in the hall of fame.
1. Coco Mademoiselle
Chanel is one of the biggest names in perfume, and the introduction of Coco Mademoiselle helped keep the brand alive for a younger generation. Youthful but not too girlish, mature without being matronly, Coco Mademoiselle became one of the brand's flagship scents.
2. Shalimar
Shalimar by Guerlain is the closest we can get to an aromatic time machine. Evoking not only the Taj Mahal and Shalimar Gardens of the Mughal Empire, but the '20s as a whole, Shalimar was worn by the flappers and philosophers of the decade. The coolness of the citrus balances out the rich, warm amber for a lasting legacy.
3. Angel
The first modern gourmand perfume, Angel by Mugler revolutionized not only the history, but the future of perfume. For children of the '90s, Angel's iconic star-shaped bottle was a gateway into the world of fragrance. With top notes of pralines, berries, and vanilla, Angel smells so good you can practically taste it.
Michel Ngilen from Des Moines, United States on Wikimedia
4. Opium
With its controversial name, provocative campaign, and bold notes, Opium by YSL arrived on the fragrance scent like a lit match. Sweet and spicy, like something Salome would wear when dancing before King Herod, Opium is the holy grail of oriental perfumes. Opium has been reformulated and spawned flanker fragrances in the ensuing decades, but none can touch the original.
5. Joy
During the Great Depression, Jean Patou's perfume Joy was billed as the most expensive perfume money could buy. With a concentration of over 10 thousand flowers in a single bottle, Joy evokes "the platonic ideal of a flower" rather than any one in particular. Somewhat controversially, Joy was voted the "Scent of the Century" in 2002, towering over its biggest rival, Chanel No. 5.
6. Arpège
The fragrance of 1000 flowers, Arpège was created by legendary French designer Jeanne Lanvin. Lanvin combined over 60 floral essences in this perfume, which she presented to her daughter as a 30th birthday present. This symphony of scent is still available for purchase, 98 years after its inception.
7. Light Blue
Inspired by the Italian island of Sicily, Dolce & Gabbana's Light Blue melds tart Granny Smith apple with the scent of human skin. Light Blue was an immediate success upon its release, prompting the relase of a men's fragrance and six limited editions. What does Sicily smell like, according to D&G? Lemon, cedar, and apple, apparently.
8. Daisy
Is it too early to call a perfume less than 20 years old one of the most iconic perfumes of all time? Maybe, but Diasu by Marc Jacobs deserves it. Daisy is a fresh and feminine scent for the modern woman with fruity strawberry notes and a powdery dry down. Effortlessly youthful, optimistic, and pure.
9. Poison
In the 1980s, Dior's sales were holding strong on the Europe, but failing somewhat on the other side of the Atlantic. Enter Poison with its forbidden fruit packaging, bombastic notes of berries and musk, and savvy marketing. Poison was so successful upon its release that it spawned five flankers.
10. L'Interdit
Givency created L'Interdit in secret with one woman in mind, none other than Audrey Hepburn. L'Interdit is a powdery, floral scent that is mischevious but still sensual. Hepburn wore this perfume for a year before it was released to the general public, and thank god it was.
11. Jicky
This landmark in perfumerie is the oldest continuously produced perfume in the world. Created in 1889, Jicky by Guerlain was one of the first perfumes created with synthetic materials, and the first abstract perfume. Jicky's spicy lavender vanilla scent was a revolution.
12. Florida Water
Inspired by the fabled Fountain of Youth, Florida Water was first introduced in 1808. An early unisex scent considered appropriate even when fragrance was regarded as overbearing, Florida Water's top notes are clove, lavender, and unsurprisingly given its name, sweet orange.
Unknown artist(s) on Wikimedia
13. Curious
Curious was Britney Spears' first fragrance developed with Elizabeth Arden. For many young women, Curious marked their entry to adulthood, making perfume cool for young people to wear in a scent that they would actually want to wear. This scent pays homage to Spears' Louisiana roots with magnolia, Anjou pear, and lotus flower.
14. Classique
Even if you don't know this Jean Paul Gaultier perfume by name, you'll definitely recognize the bottle. Packaged in a nondescript aluminum can, Classique's bottle is sculpted into a woman's torso wearing a pink corset not unlike the Gaultier-designed one Madonna wore in 1990. Defying appearances once again, Classique is a lighter, more powdery scent than you would guess, with spicy notes.
15. L'Air Du Temps
Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps was a fresh of air after World War II—literally. At a time when the world needed some levity, Ricci produced this light, flowery fragrance to bring lightness back into daily life. In a gold bottle adorned with doves, was a light, spicy fragrance to counter the heavier perfumes on a market.
16. Diorissimo
Diorissimo isn't just a success story for perfume, but a landmark in chemistry. When Christian Dior sought to create a perfume of his favorite flower, there was only one problem: no essential oils can be obtained from lily of the valley. Diorissimo was created using lab-created molecules in 1956, and is considered one of the most successful scientific efforts in perfume history.
17. White Diamonds
Elizabeth Taylor allegedly never left home without perfume and diamonds, so it only makes sense that she would combine the two in the very first celebrity fragrance line. As we've seen with L'Interdit, fragrances inspired and represented by celebs were nothing new, but Taylor was the first to introduce a landmark scent. White Diamonds' heavy floral scent and imitation gemstone bottle definitely helped with the sales.
18. CK One
Society has been gradually moving away from rigid gender roles since Calvin Klein released CK One back in 1994. However, when Calvin Klein dropped this intoxicating chypre scent with fruit and musk notes, unisex scents were very much not the norm. Not only was CK One the first unisex fragrance to be openly marketed as such, it was also the first to gain mainstream American popularity.
19. Miss Dior Chérie
The original Miss Dior perfume debuted in 1947 alongside the designer's acclaimed New Look Collection. Nearly 60 years later, Dior introduced a flanker to the iconic scent in the form of Miss Dior Chérie. Designed to appeal to younger audiences, Chérie has an audacious strawberry and carmelized popcorn aroma evokative of Chanel and Mugler scents.
20. Chanel No. 5
The scent everyone was waiting for, Chanel No. 5 is, without a doubt, the most iconic perfume in history. At a time when perfumes fell into two categories: simple and matronly, and heavy and provocative, Coco Chanel created a scent fit for the flapper spirit of the roaring twenties. Over a century later, it remains a perfume like nothing else.
