A Gentleman’s Guide To Fragrance

Scent is the silent side of your personal style. Of course, people you meet will see that you’ve got a new haircut or polished your shoes, but your cologne is what they’ll remember. Fragrance is an effective expression of who you want to be at a particular moment in time to the people you’re going to be around.

While Jo Malone London’s unisex fragrances may contain multiple notes, they are often named after the most dominant ones that give the fragrance its character

With that in mind, picking the one that feels right for you is no mean feat. So, let’s start with some gentleman’s fragrance terminology (knowledge is power, after all). The world of scent has its own language, so if you’ve ever wondered what the difference is between a body mist and an eau de cologne, eau de toilette and parfum or aftershave, you’re not alone and we’re here to guide you.

The simple truth is that there are no rules to classifying fragrances. For the most part, an eau de cologne (which typically refers to something very citrussy with a subtle trail)

is the lightest. Eau de toilette and body mists normally follow, then eau de parfum which is usually more diffusive with a longer trail and then parfum, which is the strongest.

Since Jo Malone London’s inception, we’ve called all of our fragrances ‘colognes’ – regardless of strength or trail – but for the most part they could be categorised as eau de toilette. The only exception is our Cologne Intense collection as these scents are markedly richer, more intense fragrances similar to an eau de parfum.

Choosing the right scent

The most important thing to know next is your notes – what you like, what you don’t like and how they play on your skin. It goes without saying that sampling a wide variety of scents is the best way to get a solid grounding in this, but one of the great things about doing this at Jo Malone London is the clarity of the ingredients in the collection and that all scents have been designed to be unisex. With many perfume houses, the fragrance could have a mixture of anything up to around 200 notes (or ‘individual scents’) in it, meaning that while the overall effect might be pleasant, identifying the note that really resonates with you can be tricky. While Jo Malone London’s unisex fragrances may contain multiple notes, they are often named after the most dominant ones that give the fragrance its character, for example Cypress & Grapevine, Grapefruit, Myrrh & Tonka or Lime Basil & Mandarin. This will help you to narrow down the fragrance families you particularly like – citrus, perhaps, or woody scents.

Application is key

When you’ve figured out what you like, the next step is applying the fragrance itself. Many of us men will have grown up learning to apply our cologne on our wrists and necks – often liberally and generally only once a day. But is this accepted knowledge correct? Well, as far as father-to-son advice goes, it’s not too bad. Fragrance dissipates from your skin into the air around us by our bodies heating up. The way to ensure that the application is most effective is to spray fragrance onto the warmest areas of your body, which tend to be where the blood is closest to the surface of the skin. So, your traditional pulse points – your wrists and neck – are an excellent choice.

If in doubt, liberal spritzing all-over post-shower and pre-clothes is the way to go. You could also add another fragrance on the inside of your jacket or onto a scarf, so you get a burst of it to enjoy just for you when you’re getting ready to go out – because while it’s an excellent way to express your mood to others, never underestimate the power of fragrance to enhance your own mood and boost your confidence whatever situation you might be headed to.

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