By Tara
Which perfumes make you feel weak at the knees?
Which perfumes make you feel attractive?
Are there perfumes you like (or would like) to smell on the object of your affection?
Is there a particular type of fragrance that you usually find alluring?
Or do you feel that seductive perfumes are a little obvious and not your style?
My Answer:
Generally, it’s oriental perfumes which I find most seductive.
I think the reason I have always struggled to wear Shalimar during the day is because it is truly a night-time scent for me. Its smoky vanilla is utterly enticing and makes me swoon every time.
The potent patchouli rose of Frederic Malle’s Portrait of a Lady makes me feel strong and feminine at the same time, which in turn makes me feel more attractive.
Habanita by Molinard is a sultry tobacco scent that took a while to reel me in but now has me totally hooked on its subversive sensuality.
So please reveal the perfumes that bring out your flirtatious side!
Olfactoria's Travels 
Hi Tara!
Florals and floral orientals make me feel at my most beautiful. Lyric, Ubar, Fantasia de Fleurs, Ta’if, No 22 are good examples of this. If intended to seduce someone, I would probably wear Lyric or Ubar.
Chypres make me feel commanding and powerful. Vintage Cabochard, Caleche and Soir de Lune would fit this category, but I don’t find them approachable, so I keep them for business meetings (not for actual work).
If I’m feeling flirty, I wear something rosy, musky and not too serious, like Citizen Queen or maybe something falsely naive, like Petite Cherie.
Musc Ravageur and Black Aoud are reserved for those moments when I don’t intend to disguise my intentions.
Caro
Hi Caro!
Lyric and Ubar are fabulous choices for seductive scents and Musc Ravageur is a great one for undisguised intentions 🙂
I love your idea of a faux naive fragrance for flirting too.
Hey Tara,
I don’t wear perfume to seduce anyone except myself but I have been known to follow men around nightclubs if they’re wearing JPG Le Male, V&R Spicebomb or Versace Dreamer.
I know but if they have that kind of taste in fragrance then they’re probably wildcats.
He he he
Portia xx
LOL Portia! I can see you know exactly what you’re doing – you have it all worked out 🙂
Which perfumes make you feel attractive? Well, all of them in my collection. Wearing parfum makes me more (self)confident, and that makes me feel attractive.
Then again, seduction by parfum can be tricky, because a parfum I find seductive is not necessarily perceived the same by others… I have the feeling men perceive sweet (by not cloyingly so) scents seductive – the Guerlains, like Cuir Beluga or Iris Ganache, Oriental Brulant, Gourmand Coquin…
Hi Lady Jane Grey,
I agree seduction by perfume can be tricky. That’s why I think it’s more important to focus on perfumes that you find seductive or make you feel attractive. As you rightly say, there’s no accounting for the taste of others and it would be pretty sad if we only wore the perfumes we thought others would find seductive rather than pleasing ourselves.
How true and therefore I have only parfumes in my collection I found really pleasing
That’s great. It’s easy to buy perfumes we like rather than love. I’m trying not to do that.
That would be really dangerous financially ! I’m already in troubles just by buying the beloved ones…
It’s not good! I find I do it with perfumes on sale or going “cheap” on evilbay. A bad habit. Beloved perfumes only is the way to go.
Oooh good question!
Tom Ford’s Oud Wood and Frederic Malle’s Geranium Pour Monsieur, both on Nigel, are incredibly yummy scents!
On me? Hmmm….. I’m probably with you on Shalimar and Habanita (I need to get me some of that Habanita ASAP).
I remember you said the other week that your love Geranium Pour Monsieur on Nigel. Wasn’t the word something like “Grrrrr”? 🙂
Habanita EDP is a real lemming of mine at the moment. WANT!
Haha, Grr was exactly the word!
Just imagine if we both hit a PLL event in Habanita, we’d be dangerous!
Ha! I remembered correctly then.
Perhaps we should rock up to a PLL event one time in Habanita and see what happens 🙂
To me, Jubilation 25 just oozes sex and elegance. It has enough silage to be noticed, and the beautiful rose note interwoven that gives it that “womanly” vibe and keeps it from becoming a classic chypre “power” perfume like Mitsouko (beautiful and strong but her own person). This is one of the few perfumes I wouldn’t wear tp, say, a parent-teacher conference because it’s the olfactory equivalent of a low-cut dress. Rose Poivree and MFK Lumiere Noire also are very seductive.
The Amouage perfumes are great for silage and so full bodied. No doubt they will be popular picks today.
It’s great to have a perfume that is like a low-cut dress and isn’t always appropriate. That’s why it’s so great to have a perfume wardrobe and not just a signature scent.
Ubar makes me feel royal. The first time I wore Ubar for a full wearing, I found myself an hour later in all black, nicely made up, hair up, and pearls – to go to the grocery store!! I still think it is the Ubar.
As for making me feel seductive…. I once wore Red Cattleya (Olympic Orchids) during, erm, activities, and now I cannot associate it with anything else. I think any sweet bitable/juicy perfume would be seductive for my bf (and for me), simply because of the association with eating (which is primal, and can therefore….. Oh God that sounded horrible (sorry).
As for attractive. Hmmmm. I don’t think any of my perfumes make me feel “attractive”, but I’m going through a really low self-esteem phase, so that could be it. 😦
For me, an alluring fragrance is something “black” or dark – licorice, dark woods, smoky sweet incense… Anything that screams depth (and maybe a drizzling of resin or syrup). Memoir makes me weak at the knees.
There are 5 other fragrances that make me weak at the knees every single time (if being weak at the knees means going “Ooohh. Oooohh. That’s good” every hour:
– Golden Cattleya – Olympic Orchids
– Aziyade – Parfum d’Empire
– Un Bois Vanille – SL
– Sirius Black – Pixxxie Pie & Posy
– Gourmand Coquin – Guerlain
OK I’ll end my super long post now 😛
I loved your long post! No need to apologise either. Our scent associations are very wonderfully powerful. I think a lot of men (and women) are attracted by vanillic, gourmand scents precisely because of the foody associations.
Memoir is a wonderfully dark seductive perfume and I need to try Ubar asap.
Hope you get back to feeling your normal attractive self soon.
Amber Perfumes make me weak at the knees usually. 🙂 Thankfully these are the scents where my own and my husband’s tastes overlap.
I need to feel great in a perfume first and foremost (yes, I’m an egocentric) for it to be seductive.
Amber perfumes, of course! That is a relief that your husband agrees on that score.
I think we all need to feel great in our perfumes first and foremost – nothing egocentric about it!
Hm. I have never worn perfume for this purpose. Is that weird? I think of my perfume as just for me, not a signal to any one else, and I don’t really wear it with any thought of romance, sex, or attractiveness. Again, me = strange?
However, when my spouse wears his Puredistance M, I start purring.
Not strange at all! I don’t wear perfume with anyone else in mind either but I do find certain perfumes particularly sensuous and a few make me feel more attractive because I feel more feminine and confident when I wear them. The seductiveness is just a nice side-effect of some of my favourites.
I just got a sample of M so I’ll be able to experience what makes you purr!
Hello !
I enjoy reading your fabulous blog, The articles are very clever and bright. (sorry if my english is not perfect ! I am french)
I like gardénia passion by annick goutal in eau de parfum, because it is flowery and there is some vanilia at the end, and I love Leather Oud by Dior (just one little spritz) in the hair : it is smocky and attractive. I do not own a lot of perfumes, but these ones are really good in my opinion.
Hi Diane, your English is great!
Nice mention of Leather Oud, the “Sex God” fragrance 🙂 I can imagine a tiny sprintz in your hair works really well.
I can’t really separate the fragrance from the person, I guess. A man’s fragrance that brings me to my knees is the very popular Acqua di Gio – not because the fragrance itself is very special, but because someone very special to me wore it and I’m a Skinner’s rat that starts to salivate when I smell it 😉 In general I guess I do prefer cologney fragrances on men – the sweeter, more oriental fragrances don’t do much for me.
I think I feel the most feminine when I wear a rose fragrance like for instance Parfum de Rosine Rose Kashmirie or Teo Cabanel Oha. If I’m feeling a bit frisky I’d go for JHAG Lady Vengeance. I find Estee Lauder Sensuous….well, quite sensuous and wear that when I’m in that kind of mood. When I was in my 20’s I wore Chanel no. 5 all the time and I still think it’s the epitome of feminine elegance – but is it sexy – perhaps not. I don’t feel comfortable in oriental fragrances and therefore don’t find them sexy. I’d go for something like AP L’Agent instead – that’s sexy too me. The same goes for Penhaligon’s Amaranthine – it’s a bit more playful than I am – but that’s a good thing 🙂
Thanks for mentioning Amaranthine, Marie! That’s a fragrance that has a milky sensuality to it and a favourite of many. Playful is a great word for it.
Interesting to see that it’s the association you have with Acqua di Gio rather than it’s scent that has such an affect on you. The scent/memory link is so strong.
Rose fragrances make me feel feminine too.
The scent/memory link is definitely strong – even if the memory is vague. I remember when I smelled YSL Paris again last year. I’d forgotten about it and didn’t expect anything, but I was instantly hit with a deep feeling of melacholy, and a vague memory of something – or probably someone – tried to dig it’s way up through many layers of “mud” in my brain. I never quite managed to retrieve the memory and get a clear picture, but I decided to work through the melancholy and make Paris my own – and I did. Mostly. There’s still a faint sense of hurt feelings and sadness about it.
And yes, by and large I would say that I rarely find fragrances sexy (or something else for that matter) in themselves – it’s the associations that comes with them or are triggered by them.
Well done for making Paris your own, Marie. Scent is connected to our long-term memory so it can bring back visceral feelings even if we’ve long forgotten the circumstances.
I wore Frapin 1697 and the bf put up no resistance what so ever, it has now been locked in a cupboard for special occassions like his birthday and Christmas. 😉
Good thinking, Andrea. Something that potent needs to be under lock and key 🙂
Mmm, what a yummy question! I’ve loved reading the responses so far and a few of them I’m in complete agreement with. The scents that make me weak in the knees and I’d love to smell on my man are usually leather-y scents. Histoires des Parfums 1740 really makes me weak! As does Puredistance M, Pascal Morabito Or Black, and Parfums d’Empire Cuir Ottoman. Non-leather perfumes that have the same effect on me are Frapin 1697 and La Via del Profumo Sharif.
The perfumes that make me personally feel seductive are Amouage Jubilation 25, Amouage Ubar, Chanel Coco, Frederic Malle Lipstick Rose … oh, there’s a whole bunch more, but the one I’ll mention last is one that you mentioned: Portrait of a Lady. Yes, she’s very sexy without exposing any cleavage … a strong, classy, impossibly good looking kind of seductive.
Oh darn, I forgot to mention the one that I’m uber crazy about these days, which is Serge Lutens Vetiver Oriental. It’s sooo seductive to me!
Vetiver Oriental is noted! If it’s seductive to you that’s all that matters.
Leathers…of course! I like your choices, Suzanne. The leather I’d love to smell on a guy is probably Lonestar Memories. I see you’re in agreement with Meg on Puredistance M and I’m glad you feel the same way as I do about PoaL – strong and sexy yet classy. Exactly!
I’m glad you’ve enjoyed reading everyone’s responses, it’s a lot of fun.
Amouage Tribute Attar has come to be my naughtiest scent. Just one sniff gets me every time… I can only wear it on enchanted evenings!
Now I need to try Tribute. So far I’ve only sampled Homage and a couple of the other attars. They’re just beautiful and I’d love to find the perfect one for me.
“Enchanted evenings” – love it!
Any perfume that has a heavy amount of benzoin make me go all snuggly. Prada Candy is so edible it’s ridiculous, and Coromandel also makes me want to cuddle!
Benzoin DOES have a snuggly feel. Give Guerlain’s Bois d’Armenie a try if you haven’t already.
Another perfume that makes me want to cuddle up is Mona di Orio’s Musc.
Oooh! So many wonderful things to smell! I haven’t tried Musc, but I want to. I just gave Mona di Orio’s Oud a whirl and fell in love. That was also a very seductive scent. I kept sniffing myself and can easily imagine following someone around who smelled like that too!
Mona’s Oud is so animalic in the opening, it really is something. Musc is the one I would wear though. I’ve recently fallen for Tubereuse too so guess I’m in trouble!
You’re right, so much to try… *sighs*
Since I’ve never tried any of Mona’s fragrances, I just ordered the sample set. I hope that the ones ypu mentioned are in it. As far as I know, I’ve never experienced “oud”. I can recognize the different components of a fragrance and can tell which ones have used the same ingrediant, but I’m a novice at learning their names. I’m learning so much from your blog. Many thanks, Anita
All the perfumes by Mona I reviewed are in the sample set. It’s a great set, I hope you enjoy the scents as much as I do, Anita.
Perfumes I wear do not change how I feel about myself in general – maybe a little more dressed up with some scents but only because they have that designation in my perfume wardrobe (e.g. I never wear Portrait of a Lady or Ta’if NOT for a special occasion).
There are a couple of perfumes that smell special on my vSO but I’m not divulging the names 😉
PoaL and Ta’if are dressed up scents for me too.
I can totally understand not divulging your vSO’s special fragrances – they wouldn’t be special then would they?
This is a tough question! I think the smells I enjoy most on men are bracing citrus and herbal smells and smooth woodsy smells (though not sandalwood). This is why I’m not a good tester of men’s fragrances. A lot of them smell pretty good to me. 🙂
I think it is hard for a bracing citrus not to smell good, especially on a guy.
It’s great that you love most men’s fragrances. A lot of people aren’t so positive about them. I’d say that would make you a very good tester!
I love this question and I have to agree with Lady Jane Grey when she says that all of them make her feel attractive – isn’t that what a perfume is meant to do, add to your self confidence and make you feel just that much better about your self? As for truly seductive though, I would have to vote for Amouage Interlude Man. I think if I smelled it on a man I would have to hunt him down 🙂 but, I also think that it works on a woman as a very sensuous fragrance. I love that there are so many Amouage’s mentioned here, it makes me want to break out my samples and hit the boutique to try them all!
I agree. One of the main benefits of perfume is that it makes us feel good and raises our confidence.
Amouage has really come out on top on this question. I therefore crown them the house with the most seductive perfumes! I am longing to try Interlude Man, it sounds so wonderfully deep and smoky.
I don’t intentionally wear perfume to be seductive, but if I would pick some;
Portrait of a Lady is a given, MKK Lumiere Noire, Amouage Epic and Memoir, OJ Tolu.
Also the new Guerlain Encens de Mythique, there’s something a bit indecent about it in the drydown especially…
As I live in a Perfume Wasteland I would swoon if smelled anything besides Axe-generic sporty scent on a man 😉
Eva, Portrait of a Lady is a given for me too and Lumiere Noire is very appealing. I love Amouage Epic and admire Memoir.
Interesting to hear about your reaction to Encens de Mythique. I need to test that new range, I think they have it at Harrods. I am very lucky I don’t live in a Perfume Wasteland, my commiserations to you!
On me? Infusion d’Iris Parfum Absolue.
I love this discussion to death. So yum! Let me preface my contribution with this: I’m a young man (mid 20s) with classic (yet urban) style.
All my fragrances make me feel sexy. But when I want to be like a Panther stalking my mate like prey (my wonderful girlfriend) I wear TF – Noir de Noir, CD – Dior Homme Intense, by Kilian – Back To Black – they all have some sweet gourmand (chocolate,cocoa, honey) quality to them, but are balanced out by rougher accords (leather, oud, tobbaco).
On any woman it would be hard to put up any useful resistance against – Musc Ravaguer, Serge Lutens’ Chergui, Ormonde Jayne – Tolu (I’m a narcissist, my name is actually Tolu :P), Portrait of a Lady, Une Rose & the King of them all – by Kilian’s Back To Black. When me and my lady both wear Back To Black it’s a sexual force that can shatter the fabric of the space-time continuum!
I love seductive fragrances because they send a message that the wearer is very confident in their sexuality. They remain mysterious as, without the actual words, you can never truly tell the wearers intentions – one thing is sure, their intentions are of the impure variety 😉
Cheers! 😀
Hi LupeX,
I love your comment, thanks for chiming in. It is Tara’s post, so I’ll let her answer, but I wanted to say Hello! and I’m glad you joined the discussion.
Hi, One scent that I enjoy and that makes me feel seductive is an easy-to-find, inexpensive one-
Estee Lauder’s “Sensuous”. I especially like the cream form. It has another benefit- on nights when I have insomnia, it helps me relax and slide into deep sleep.
Hi Anita,
Sensuous is lovely, I imagine the cream must be very luxurious. Thanks for your input!