Everyday perfumes

What makes a perfume an everyday perfume

An everyday perfume has to get along with ordinary days: the commute, a meeting, an errand, a dinner with friends. In practice that means moderate strength, a clear but unforced opening and a base that stays close to the skin instead of filling the room. Notes that help are musks, soft florals such as iris and peony, bergamot and other citrus, light woods, tea and ambrette.

It does not have to be plain. Several perfumes here start from an unusual idea, such as a single molecule, a freshly pressed white shirt or a skin scent made of musk and iris. They are simply built so that the idea stays quiet enough to wear without thinking about it.

How to choose one

Think about your day and your habits. If you work close to others, or like to apply once and forget, choose a softer perfume with a short, simple note list. If you want more presence on ordinary days, an eau de parfum with a woody or ambery base gives it without getting loud. Wear a sample for several ordinary days before you decide, because a daily perfume has to work on tired days as well as good ones. Our guide to choosing a niche perfume without smelling it first gives you a method.

From the collection

Perfumes for everyday wear, from the houses on our brands page:

Byredo Blanche is clean and linen-like: aldehyde and Centifolia rose at the top, peony and violet in the heart, and musks and sandalwood below.

Le Labo Another 13 keeps to three notes, ambroxyde, jasmine and moss: a musky base with a little spike and shine.

Diptyque Fleur de Peau is described by the house as a skin scent of musk, iris, ambrette and pink peppercorn.

Juliette Has a Gun Not a Perfume is made around one molecule, Cetalox, listed at the top, heart and base alike, and the house presents it as a clean, skin-like woody musky scent.

Essential Parfums Nice Bergamote sets Calabrian bergamot in a floral accord of rose petals, jasmine and ylang-ylang from the Comoros, over cedarwood and Venezuelan tonka bean.

Reinvented Aether Aura opens with bergamot, lemon, ginger and pink pepper, puts iris, kiwi, pineapple and geranium in the heart and ends on amber, vetiver and musk.

Xerjoff Erba Pura pairs lemon, Calabrian bergamot and Sicilian orange with Mediterranean fruit, over amber, Madagascar vanilla beans and white musk.