Stop and smell the roses (and aldehydes and gourmands and tonka beans, too!)
These are some of the most popular fragrances on the market right now. We mean seriously popular. In fact, if you find yourself at any social gathering on any given day of the week, you’re bound to catch a whiff of one of the products on this list.
Perfume is intensely personal and subjective, which means these scents must resonate with a lot of people. What makes them so special? We set out to find out.
Glossier You
When Glossier designed this perfume, it set out to create something that was distinctively personal to each person that bought it. The main notes are ambrox and musk, but we also get hints of peach, frangipani, cherry blossoms, powder and vanilla.
Popularity: Sky-high.
Best for: People who love to smell sweet! We get major “Love Spell” vibes from this perfume, but elegant and elevated for someone a little older.
Jo Malone Wood Sage and Sea Salt
This bestselling perfume by Jo Malone smells like crisp summer air. It’s a great, clean fragrance, but its diehard fans report that the fragrance doesn’t have much lasting power. Luckily, Jo Malone also has a travel sized bottle, which makes it perfect for midday touch-ups.
Popularity: A big hit among people who want it to be summer forever.
Best for: People who love to smell clean. This fragrance is seriously aquatic. It makes a great room spray, too.
Le Labo Santal 33
The unofficial scent of New York City — what else is there to say? The nutty, mossy smell of this cologne is signature among hip, young urban-dwelling millennials. Supposedly unisex, this cologne definitely leans more masculine, but it can be layered with florals to give it a feminine twist.
Popularity: Cult-classic status at this point.
Best for: People who want a perfume that doesn’t smell like a perfume. Despite its popularity, Santal 33 manages to do something a little different on everyone who wears it.
Chanel No. 5
The icon. The trailblazer. The perfume Marilyn Monroe wore. Love it or hate it, no one can deny that Chanel Number 5 is the OG perfume. (Fun fact: a bottle of this perfume is sold every five minutes.) It smells like an explosion of jasmine, aldehydes and baby powder. Whether that smells refreshing to you, or you get serious “Grandma” vibes is a matter of personal preferences. Regardless, the fact that a bottle of this perfume is sold every five minutes speaks for itself.
Popularity: A modern icon.
Best for: Old soul types who love don’t mind an absolutely monster of a fragrance.
YSL Black Opium
This perfume is divisive. There are those who love it, those who hate it, and those who love it but won’t wear it because it’s too popular. Despite its ubiquity, the chocolately and tonka bean notes of this perfume taste good enough to eat.
Popularity: A cult favorite among young women.
Best for: People who enjoy sweet, dessert-like fragrances.
Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue
This perfume is the perfect “office scent,” with its soapy cleanness and inoffensive presence. Dolce & Gabbana’s Light Blue is a big hit among young women buying their first perfume, but easily translates into an “older” fragrance, too. It’s versatile, pretty, and will make you feel put together, even if you’re just running errands or coming from yoga.
Popularity: Everyone seems to have a bottle of Light Blue in their vanity, so we’d say pretty popular.
Best for: People who love perfumes that aren’t super “girly”
Marc Jacobs Daisy
The popularity of this classic, be-flowered perfume seems to be waning in recent years, usurped by its successor “Mojave Ghost” by Byredo. Nevertheless, “Daisy”, a floral-honey scent, still has a strong-hold on many “Best of” lists and still reminds millennials of high school.
Popularity: Still high, but waning.
Best for: Florals! Grass! Honey! This is the ultimate springtime fragrance.
Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb
A perfume so popular it got a shout-out in a Childish Gambino song, “Flowerbomb” (and its male counterpart “Spicebomb”) are still immensely popular fragrances for people just getting into perfume. The name “Flowerbomb” feels like a bit of a misnomer, because this scent is candy-like — notes of amber, peach, orange blossoms, and creamy sandalwood make this a perfect starter perfume.
Popularity: Still a big hit, even after more than half a decade on the market.
Best for: People who like sweets more than florals.