In order to adequately test perfumes, I decided to ask my fellow editors to join me in scent testing all 24 scents. I wanted to make sure brand loyalty wouldn’t get in the way, so I covered the bottles and numbered each perfume to allow for unbiased testing. In a questionnaire, I put numbers one through 10 under each scent so people could circle the number they think a scent deserves, with 10 being the highest option.
From there we all got together and sprayed some scents, sniffing coffee beans between each scent to freshen our senses. After each scent, I gave each editor time to find out their thoughts on each scent, tell me what they thought the scent smelled like, and rate it before revealing the name of the scent. With so many iconic scents in our midst, many people were shocked by the results. I won’t name names, but one of the most consistently popular scents on almost every best-of list got a 1 out of 10, while some of our top rankings were fairly unknown.
After group testing, I assigned each editor a scent to test. I asked them if they could wear each scent for at least a day and report back to me on longevity, skin scent, compliments received, and how they would describe each scent after wearing it.
Keep in mind that when you look at these numbers, these fragrances have been tested by nine extremely picky editors who have very high standards when it comes to scents and different flavors. The average score of the 24 scents we tested was 5.8. With that in mind, the following scents stood out above the rest.