Lily of the Valley

Mugler

Angel is the perfume that invented the gourmand category.

Dior

The opening is sweet but not exactly fruity—coconut mingles with plum and apricot in a way that feels dense, almost narcotic, like overripe fruit left in the sun.

Dior

J'adore's original 1999 formulation is a big, unembarrassed bouquet — a wet, juicy opening of pear and magnolia with a peach-bergamot edge, everything slightly overripe in a deliberate way.

Chloé

Chloé Eau de Parfum opens with a powdery brightness—peony and freesia creating that just-bloomed softness that registers as pink even before you notice the actual rose.

Dior

A blast of gasoline-tinged violet opens like the hood of a vintage sports car, strangely beautiful and almost industrial.

Calvin Klein

ck one opens with a sharp citrus wash—lemon and bergamot cut with green pineapple and a whisper of cardamom.

Dolce & Gabbana

The One opens with a soft blush of peach that feels ripe rather than sharp, cushioned by a hint of bergamot that keeps it from turning too sweet.

Davidoff

Cool Water opens with a bracing aquatic-herbal rush—lavender and mint collide like a splash of cold seawater, sharpened by rosemary's camphorous bite.

Donna Karan

The first spray delivers a bright, juicy grapefruit alongside crisp magnolia—unexpectedly sharp and green rather than sweet.

Issey Miyake

L'Eau d'Issey pour Homme is the archetype of the aquatic 90s men's fragrance, and almost thirty years on still the cleanest expression of the idea.

Aquolina

The opening is a bright sugar rush—candied berries and citrus zest meeting a faint green twinge of fig leaf, sweet but not quite cloying yet.

Chanel

The first spray feels like stepping into a room where aldehydes hang in the air like champagne bubbles—bright, soapy, almost abstract.

Cacharel

The opening is a neon-bright burst of citrus and blackcurrant, almost acidic in its intensity, like biting into a grapefruit still cold from the refrigerator.

Paco Rabanne

**Lady Million** opens with a flash of brightness—neroli's sharp citrus cut against the jammy sweetness of raspberry, creating an immediate contrast between fresh and indulgent.

Lancôme

Trésor opens with a lush wave of stone fruit—ripe peach and apricot—tempered by crisp bergamot and a watery flash of lily of the valley.

Moschino

Cheap & Chic I Love Love opens with a burst of citrus so bright it borders on sherbet—grapefruit and lemon sharpened by orange zest, almost fizzy in its intensity.

Cacharel

The first impression is ethereal—white musk and freesia create a soft, almost transparent veil, while subtle fruit notes (peach and plum) hover without turning sweet.

Hugo Boss

Boss Bottled opens with a crisp apple-and-citrus brightness tempered by oakmoss, a greeting that feels polished but approachable.

Joop!

The opening hits with a bruised sweetness—bergamot and orange blossom turned sticky and almost fermented, like citrus left too long in the sun.

Mugler

A-Men opens with a startling coolness—mint and lavender cutting through the air like menthol against skin—before plunging into something far stranger and more indulgent.

Issey Miyake

L'Eau d'Issey arrived in 1992 and helped define a category: the clean, watery floral that smells more like the idea of a flower than a flower itself.

Dior

Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet opens with a sheer, almost watercolor softness—peach and apricot bloom immediately, their flesh sweetness restrained and airy rather than syrupy.

Elizabeth Arden

A snapshot of mid-nineties New York elegance, this opens with crisp bergamot and a parade of white florals—magnolia and lily of the valley arriving first, bright and almost soapy in their cleanliness.

Parfums De Marly

Delina opens with a brief flash of citrus and warm spice before settling into its true character: a plush, powdery rose built on musk and vanilla.

Estée Lauder

A white floral that opens with a dewy, green brightness—violet leaf and freesia cutting through tuberose's usual thickness, giving the composition an airy, just-picked quality.

Chanel

The 1986 eau de parfum reformulation of the original No.

Cacharel

Anaïs Anaïs opens with a rush of green galbanum and citrus that feels both bracing and soft, like stepping into a flower shop on a damp spring morning.

Yves Saint Laurent

The immediate sensation is thick and resinous, a dark sweetness cut by spice—cinnamon heat against plum and carnation-like florals.

Calvin Klein

Eternity opens with a cool, herbal brightness—sage lending a green clarity that tempers freesia's slightly fruited sweetness.

Cerruti

1881 opens with a rush of white flowers—jasmine and lily of the valley foremost—tempered by the green snap of violet leaf and a whisper of bergamot.

Versace

A blast of anise and basil announces itself immediately—herbal, slightly medicinal, with the crisp lift of bergamot cutting through.

Cacharel

Eden opens with a soft burst of peach and citrus that feels both ripe and slightly green, like fruit just shy of full sweetness.

Givenchy

Opening with a bright herbaceous jolt—tarragon, rosemary, basil—Pi immediately signals that it's not another safe masculine.

Yves Saint Laurent

Manifesto opens with a flash of green-black cassis, tart and bright, softened by bergamot's citrus glow.

Clinique

Happy opens with a bright citrus-and-fruit salad—crisp apple and plum tempered by bergamot—that feels deliberately cheerful without tipping into artificial sweetness.

Chanel

Gabrielle opens with a tart brightness—grapefruit and black currant cutting through the air with clean precision before yielding almost immediately to a wave of white flowers.

Guerlain

The opening flares with a strange, almost gauzy fruit—melon and blackcurrant tinged with almond and violet, creating an accord that feels simultaneously sweet and powdery, like stepping into a Parisian florist through a veil of talc.

Afnan

The opening announces itself with crisp apple shadowed by cinnamon, a pairing that could veer sweet but stays restrained through a whisper of bergamot.

Chopard

Casmir opens with the plush sweetness of coconut and peach, an almost tropical richness that feels deliberately opulent rather than fresh.

Yves Saint Laurent

The 2009 reformulation opens softer than its predecessor, with lily of the valley lending an unexpected freshness to the bergamot introduction.

Guerlain

Idylle opens with a brief spark of raspberry that quickly dissolves into white florals, leaving behind a frosted transparency rather than fruit.

Tiziana Terenzi

A sheer fruited veil that opens with soft pear and raspberry, pale and nearly translucent, like juice staining silk.

Azzaro

Chrome opens with a bracing citrus clarity—lemon and bergamot sharpened by green rosemary and an unexpected brightness from pineapple that reads more aquatic than tropical.

Salvador Dalí

The opening bursts with ripe, almost candied fruit—pineapple and raspberry lead, backed by plum and peach, with grapefruit adding a bright citrus edge that keeps it from collapsing into pure sweetness.

Yves Saint Laurent

Parisienne opens with a tart blackberry that feels more jammy than fresh, a candied sweetness that quickly softens into the floral heart.

Chanel

A sharp intake of green—not soft garden green, but the mineral, almost metallic brightness of galbanum-laced neroli cutting through bergamot.

Guerlain

The opening is a clean citrus snap—crisp lemon that doesn't linger as sweetness but dissolves quickly into green.

Gucci

The second iteration of Gucci's Eau de Parfum opens with a surprisingly tart snap of black currant, almost jammy in its concentration.

Chanel

The eau de toilette lightens No.

Yves Saint Laurent

Paris opens with a rosy shimmer that feels both powdery and green, the mimosa and orange blossom creating a hazy, spring-morning softness rather than anything sharp or citric.

Sisley

A floral chypre that opens with a sharp citrus-spice greeting—bergamot and nutmeg creating an unexpected brightness before settling into something quieter.

Chopard

A pear-centered composition that opens bright and generous, the fruit amplified by yuzu's citrus fizz and softened by a whisper of coconut.

Calvin Klein

Eternity for Men opens with a crisp aromatic wash—lavender softened by citrus, immediately clean but not clinical.

Carolina Herrera

The first spray delivers a citric brightness tempered by orange blossom—clean, almost soapy in its freshness, but with enough bitterness to keep it from turning saccharine.

Estée Lauder

Youth-Dew opens with a brief citrus flicker before plunging into spiced amber and incense—this was designed as bath oil that became perfume, and that enveloping warmth announces itself immediately.

Lancôme

The opening is a green ambush—galbanum and bergamot cut through rose and raspberry like light through stained glass, sharp and resinous rather than sweet.

Jo Malone London

Blackberry & Bay opens with a tart burst of berry juice—real and slightly green, not candy-sweetened—tempered by grapefruit's citrus bite.

Chanel

A sharp green blast announces N°19 before anything else—galbanum slicing through neroli and bergamot like a knife through silk.

Chanel

The opening is brisk and green—galbanum cuts through neroli and bergamot with a sharpness that feels almost austere.

Maison Martin Margiela

Lazy Sunday Morning opens with the quiet brightness of pear and lily of the valley, a softness that suggests rain-washed cotton and pale morning light.

Sisley

The grapefruit opens brighter than expected for a fragrance called Eau du Soir, but within minutes it dissolves into something far more shadowed.

Shiseido

Zen opens with an unexpected clarity—citrus and rose meeting at a cool, transparent crossroads rather than the heavy floral one might expect from the name.

Yves Rocher

A green floral that opens with the snap of violet leaf—cool, bitter, almost metallic—before soft lily of the valley and rose blur the edges.

Ariana Grande

The opening is a bright rush of tart raspberry and grapefruit, softened immediately by the honeyed sweetness of pear.

Amouage

The first spray releases a bracing, almost medicinal coolness—pepper and rhubarb cutting through the air like steel on marble.

Salvador Dalí

The opening arrives with liturgical gravity—incense and myrrh wrapped in bergamot's brightness, while basil and clove add unexpected herbal-spice sharpness.

Escada

The opening is a ripe, sun-warmed blend of pineapple and melon sweetened by blackcurrant, landing somewhere between tropical smoothie and candied fruit.

Juicy Couture

Viva La Juicy Gold Couture opens with gardenia petals that feel slightly waxed, their creamy whiteness tempered by the cool green of lily of the valley.

Dolce & Gabbana

The original Dolce & Gabbana opens with a green sharpness—basil and ivy cutting through bergamot—before the florals arrive.

Van Cleef & Arpels

A smoky nocturne that opens on leather and aromatic herbs rather than the expected flowers.

Dior

Diorissimo opens with a brief citrus clarity before plunging into its true subject: lily of the valley rendered with near-photographic precision.

Estée Lauder

Knowing opens with a striking contrast—honeyed tuberose and mimosa pressed against tart melon and plum, a combination that feels deliberate rather than sweet.

Giorgio Armani

The pineapple and peach open with unexpected sweetness before a mineral, ozone-like freshness takes over—this is the marine accord that defined a generation of men's fragrance.

Paco Rabanne

Phantom opens with a bright, almost electric lavender—cleaner and sharper than traditional fougères, as if the note has been scrubbed of its dustiness and amplified.

Victoria'S Secret

Bombshell opens with a sharp burst of grapefruit and pineapple that feels deliberately sweet and juicy, almost candied in its intensity.

Lanvin

Rumeur 2 Rose opens with a bright citrus-and-pear salvo that feels more like a transparent veil than a shout.

Rochas

Rochas Man opens with a crisp blast of lavender and bergamot that feels unexpectedly sharp for its era, bypassing the usual fruity preamble of late-nineties masculines.

Davidoff

Zino opens with a crisp, herbal brightness—lavender and sage meet bergamot in a manner typical of eighties masculines, yet the effect feels less austere than many contemporaries.

Donna Karan

The opening cuts through with grapefruit's sharp brightness softened by apricot's fuzzy sweetness, a combination that feels like biting into fruit still cool from morning dew.

Avon

A soft, translucent floral built around two delicate white blooms.

Halloween

The opening is deceptively gentle—petitgrain and violet create a soft, almost powdery veil that gives no hint of the baroque white florals waiting beneath.

Lanvin

The opening is a bright collision of neroli and peach against a wall of lily of the valley, immediately softened by bergamot.

Hermès

Kelly Calèche opens with the sharp, green snap of lily of the valley tempered by a hint of grapefruit's bitter brightness.

Robert Piguet

Fracas opens with a lush white floral blast—tuberose front and center, its creamy indolic richness cutting through any sweetness the peach or citrus might suggest.

Giorgio Armani

Lei opens with a rush of tropical sweetness—pineapple and pear meet lime and bergamot in a fizzy, almost sparkling introduction that feels decidedly late-nineties in its exuberance.

Dior

The 2021 reimagining of Miss Dior opens with a pale floral brightness—lily of the valley lending a clean, nearly soapy freshness, softened by iris powder and the watery quality of peony.

Yves Saint Laurent

A metallic gardenia unfolds against birch-darkened woods, catching you off guard with its cool, almost surgical precision.

Jo Malone London

The opening strikes a peculiar balance—clove's aromatic warmth meeting something unexpectedly green and dewy, as if crushed stems rather than petals.

Dior

A sheer citrus opening gives way to something unexpected: white florals softened by pale fruit and a translucent musk base.

Xerjoff

Alexandria II opens with a peculiar contrast: bright apple laced with cinnamon's warmth, softened by lavender's aromatic haze.

Elizabeth Arden

Red Door opens with a plush, fruited floral wave—honeyed rose and orange blossom laced with violet and a fleeting whisper of anise that lends an old-fashioned powderiness.

Guerlain

A lighter interpretation of the Shalimar legacy, Parfum Initial L'Eau opens with bright, unadorned citrus—grapefruit and neroli delivering a clean, almost transparent first impression.

Yves Saint Laurent

Baby-doll opens with a bright clash of fruit—pineapple and blackcurrant meeting in a nearly synthetic sweetness that feels deliberate, not accidental.

Gucci

Gucci Rush 2 opens with a cool, dewy floral wash—freesia and lily of the valley that feel translucent rather than sweet, like cut stems in clean water.

Sarah Jessica Parker

Lavender opens cleanly, almost soapy, with a whisper of lemon that keeps it from veering herbal.

Giorgio Armani

Armani Mania opens with a bright jolt of pink pepper and blackcurrant, the citrus tempered by a berry sharpness that feels modern rather than sweet.

Antonio Banderas

Blue Seduction opens with a bright melon-mint combination that feels almost edible—sweet, cool, and synthetic in a way that defined many mid-2000s men's fragrances.

Tom Ford

The opening reads as a powdery blur—soft, almost chalky—with thyme lending a subtle herbal lift that keeps things from turning too sweet.

Roja Dove

Elysium opens with a rush of brightness—lime and grapefruit meeting the green snap of galbanum and thyme.

Estée Lauder

Beautiful opens with a bright citrus flare softened by the green bite of galbanum, before lily and rose assert themselves in a distinctly eighties register—full-bodied, unapologetic, slightly metallic.

Jennifer Lopez

Still opens with a crisp apple brightness that feels almost like biting into cool fruit, but it quickly softens into something quieter.

Kenzo

The opening is bright and herbal—sage and citrus that feel less aquatic than many early-nineties masculines, more like a clean shirt hung to dry in a sunlit garden.

Gucci

The opening feels like stepping into a sunlit conservatory—fresh magnolia and freesia mingling with tropical pineapple and soft peach.

Bvlgari

A sheer veil of violet and orange blossom opens this fragrance, sweetened by raspberry and peach in a way that feels decidedly mid-nineties—soft-focus and approachable rather than sharp.

Chloé

L'Eau de Chloé opens with a flash of peach skin and grapefruit, bright but soft-edged, like fruit lit through morning gauze.

Laura Biagiotti

Roma opens with a startling brightness: mint folded into the tart sweetness of black currant, a green-fruit coolness that feels both bracing and strangely old-fashioned.

Xerjoff

Dama Bianca opens with a sharp, sunlit lime that cuts through quickly, making way for a powdery floral heart dominated by lily of the valley and violet.

Kayali Fragrances

The opening is a boozy, nutty collision—rum-soaked hazelnut with a flicker of cardamom warmth and bergamot brightness.

Abercrombie & Fitch

The petitgrain and citrus open with a bright, almost astringent clarity before cardamom adds warmth beneath the sharpness.

Estée Lauder

White Linen opens with a bright aldehydic sparkle softened by fuzzy peach and citrus, announcing itself before settling into something more composed.

Dana

Tabu opens with a burst of brightness—neroli and citrus that quickly give way to something darker and more insistent.

Van Cleef & Arpels

First opens with a rush of jammy fruit—dark berries and peach syrup—before the white florals arrive in force.

Giorgio Armani

Emporio Armani Diamonds opens with a sharp burst of raspberry that reads more tart than sweet, almost fizzy against the skin.

Dior

The original Miss Dior opens with a green sharpness—galbanum and sage cutting through gardenia's creamy heft—before cascading into a white floral avalanche.

Bvlgari

The opening surprise here is how green it feels—lily of the valley brings a cool, almost mineral clarity before the jasmine arrives.

Estée Lauder

**Sensuous Nude** opens with a whisper of pepper—just enough spice to lift the blend without announcing itself—alongside a subtle bergamot brightness that fades almost immediately.

Givenchy

Dahlia Divin opens with a bright snap of pink pepper that quickly dissolves into a lush orchard of peach and apple, their sweetness tempered by the green freshness of lily of the valley.

Tom Ford

Metallique opens with a bright, peppery citrus accent—bergamot sharpened by pink pepper—that quickly gives way to its true nature: a sandalwood composition wrapped in pale florals.

Ralph Lauren

Safari opens with a sharp green thrust—galbanum and blackcurrant cutting through citrus brightness like sunlight through canvas.

Versace

A fruity floral from the mid-nineties that wears its era openly.