With millions of fragrances on the market, discovering the best perfumes for women is a process of elimination, and the line between good and great is worth considering. Extraordinary perfumes tell a story through their notes, the craftsmanship that goes into them, and the emotions they evoke. The right smell can give you a boost of confidence, cause you to reminisce, or make you smile.
As someone who has made all the rookie mistakes when buying perfume—shopping after hours, buying without trying, getting drawn in by a pretty bottle without considering the juice—I’ve lost considerable amounts of time searching in vain. Fragrance is subjective; there are plenty of perfectly lovely, completely inoffensive releases that fail to excite me and much-lauded classics that should stay in the past. What interests me are the scents that diverge from the norm and feel singular in their intent. They don’t need to be esoteric