The right perfume can have miraculous powers to increase fanciability. The idea is that a scent not only invites someone towards your body, but also extends your presence into the air around you. Olivia da Costa, founder of Olfactive O, tells me that when she is developing perfumes designed to be alluring, this is precisely what she has in mind: “That’s why we will often use animal notes, because they will subconsciously switch on that part of your brain. Just as a bee is drawn into the heart of a flower or dogs smell one another to determine attraction, humans are driven by scent.”
A perfume needs to hit certain key notes to be sexy. First, it should contain the promise of a good night out with someone intriguing — a blend of heady food and booze notes. “Think big-shouldered amber perfumes laced with tobacco, leather notes, ribbons of vanilla,” says da Costa. Next: skin, the first frontier of being closer to someone physically. “Modern musks that aren’t too clean or soft but rather lean into the dirtier, naughtier side of the scent are brilliant on skin, and warm it up, making it more sensual, more tempting,” she says.
Finally, da Costa recommends “animal notes”, which instantly call sex to mind. These might sound off-putting — especially indole, which is found in the jasmine and tuberose flowers and described by da Costa as “revolting, if the dose is too high”. Get it right, however, and “it’s captivating”.
On the concept of gendered perfumes when it comes to sexiness, she’s dismissive: “Men and women are the same; skin is skin and the body is the body; the goal is to smell like you, or better.”
While scent will of course smell slightly different on everyone, these 10 are all especially sensual and tap into one or more of the three elements da Costa describes.
Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady
This opulent scent, created by masterful perfumer Dominique Ropion, covers all bases; it makes you want to go out-out, thanks to the encouraging billows of incense and armfuls of rose, but it also smells insanely good on skin courtesy of the wood, patchouli and amber notes.
Buy now £200.00, Frederic Malle Portrait of a Lady
Memo Paris Odéon
Imagine a really great date. Are you in Paris? Probably. Is there jazz? Likely. Are you drinking? Inevitably. This recalls all three, smelling like the best elements of the perfect night on the town with someone you like.
Buy now £235.00, Harvey Nichols
INITIO Narcotic Delight
Part of the carnal blends collection, this perfume is centred around hedione, a molecule that purportedly activates the zones in the brain relating to libido. In a supporting role: vanilla, cherry and pink pepper, making it warm, spicy and endlessly sexy.
Buy now £245.00, Selfridges
Olfactive O Skin
If your idea of sexiness centre around warm, sunbaked, lightly salty skin after a day at the beach, this is the one for you. Perfumer da Costa describes it as “scent lingerie; you can spritz it on your skin and layer anything on top.”
Buy now £110.00, Harvey Nichols
Glossier You
A modern classic, this is all about enhancing your own scent, adding a little pepperiness, a hint of creaminess and a sense of being clean, as if the wearer just got out the shower.
Buy now £62.00, Glossier
Nasomatto Sadonaso
Animal notes are in abundance here. It’s inspired by a packed sex club, and wants each sniff to make you think of sweat and skin and pheromones.
Buy now £130.00, Harrods
Veronique Gabai Le Point G
The clue is in the name. In the words of perfumer Gabai, this scent is intended as a “homage to women’s sexuality and pleasure”. It’s designed to pulse and vibrate out, encircling you in vanilla, leather, rose, amber, iris and musk.
Buy now £229.00, Harvey Nichols
Le Labo POIVRE 23
For some, sexy will always be related to a spiciness, that sweat-on-skin, come-closer-and-sniff, instantly-warming thing. If that’s you, this spicy scent, laced with bourbon pepper, will be just the thing.
Buy now £385.00, Le Labo
Mizensir Ambre Magique
Perfumer Alberto Morillas has cleverly tied together all the notes that are most associated with intimacy, including bourbon vanilla, amber, rose and orange blossom to create something that is properly seductive.
Buy now £285.00, Harvey Nichols
Boadicea the Victorious Valiant
Rarely are fragrances gendered, but if you want to smell like a woman with a capital W, here’s how. There’s bouquets of orange blossom, neroli and Indian jasmine, with orris and tonka bean providing the perfect counterpoint to those heady flowers.
Buy now £900.00, Harrods
