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Sputnik Leaves the House: Perfume Houses Ranked

People talk about different kinds of art in lists, so I figured it would be alright to talk about a different kind of art that's not discussed here at all - perfume. It's really a pretty wonderful world to get into. Also, it helps you when you go out into the real world! Does anyone else out there dig a good sniff around the mall every so often?
50RiFF RAFF
Rap Game Bon Jovi

Dolce & Gabanna

A can of Febreze smells less synthetic than Light Blue and lasts longer than The One. Their self-titled release, the only decent cologne in their lineup, has over the years been watered down beyond recognition. Overcompensate with something else.
49Meghan Trainor
Title

Bath and Body Works

If you already use cheap scented shampoo but want to smell even more like cheap scented shampoo, you're in the right place.
48Pitbull
Dale

Paco Rabanne

The kids who sprayed Axe in the locker rooms have traded in for One Million, and everything else by the brand ranges from bad to hideous. Invictus smells like a Hubba Bubba factory flooded with seawater whereas Ultraviolet is both sweet and weak enough to pass for one of those Disney Princess abominations. Avoid.
47Tame Impala
Currents

Penhaligons

For the worst kind of European gentleman: stuffy, expensive and completely devoid of personality.
46Vampire Weekend
Contra

Ralph Lauren (Polo)

The classic original Green Polo is a shadow of what it once was, but it's still a pleasant masculine option. The whole line is essentially a display of how trends have changed over time (from woody-sweet Green to acquatic Blue to the candy-sweet Red) but has some decent, distinctive scents (Purple Label, Safari) that are very passable. Most everything that Ralph Lauren has done, however, has been done better somewhere else.
45Ichiko Aoba
うたびこ

Issey Miyake

Miyake's L'Eau d'Issey and L'Eau Bleue d'Issey are good, slightly distinctive aquatics that avoid being super synthetic. They perform well and won't gouge the wallet either. The rest of the line is pretty nondescript and the two 'standouts' still aren't enough to boost Miyake higher than 45.
44ODESZA
In Return

Jean Paul Gaultier

The only reason Gaultier is as high as it is is because Le Male remains one of the boldest, most distinctive compliment-getters around. A classic and must-sample fragrance from an otherwise mediocre brand.

Recommended: Le Male (Vanilla, Lavender, & Mint)
43Gucci Mane
World War 3, Vol. 1: Lean

Gucci

Gucci's recent releases are trainwrecks, but it places high due to the brilliant Gucci Pour Homme II (Tea & Cinnamon) which is classy as hell and can be worn all year round.

Recommended: Gucci Pour Homme II
42Nightmares On Wax
Smoker's Delight

Davidoff

A solid brand with the classic Cool Water (Sea Notes & Lavender) to its name as well as a the still-overlooked Zino (Patchouli & Woods). You can't go that wrong with Davidoff, but you can't go that right either.
41Nas
Illmatic

Bond no. 9

Some of the coolest packaging around can't make up for the ridiculously high prices and hugely inconsistent quality of this New York perfumery's scents. However, Bond remains one of the quirkiest, most creative houses; when Bond gets it right, they nail it.

Recommended: Bleecker Street (Blueberries & Violet Leaf), Fire Island (Sunscreen & Neroli), New Haarlem (Pancakes & Coffee)
40Basement Jaxx
Scars

Lush

Lush makes dirt-cheap scents with attitude. While they're yet to make a definitive masterpiece (though the controversial Breath of God (rough leathery smoke & melon) is a cult classic), they have a good range of scents with pretty distinctive personalities. Definitely worth a look.
39Post Malone
August 26th

Jo Malone

Jo Malone's scents succeed due to their simplicity, boasting little more than the accords named on their labels. Their scents are fresh and boast quality ingredients that almost justify the prices they're asking for, but Jo Malone tends to suffer in the same way as Penhaligon's - a lack of diversity and personality. It also doesn't help that several brands (Hermes and Diptyque especially) consistently pull off the whole zen naturalness-better at about the same price point. The scents are still good, but they're simply not good enough to put Malone into the big leagues.
38Alison Moyet
Hoodoo

Burberry

Burberry is a solid brand that has a range of complement-getting fragrances that lean sweet while staying masculine and classy (Touch, Brit) as well as a stone-cold winter classic (London). A step above most well-known designers and priced very fairly as well.

Highly Recommended: London (Tobacco, Cinnamon and Leather)
37Frank Sinatra
Come Fly With Me

Azzaro

Azzaro has two dirt-cheap certified classics in its catalogue that alone earn this spot in the list: Chrome (a somewhat-synthetic but excellently-performing and compliment-getting aquatic) and Azzaro Pour Homme (a spicy masculine fougere with bracing oakmoss and anise paired with lavender and leather). Excellent options for both casual and formal wear.

Recommended: Chrome, Azzaro Pour Homme
36Kashiwa Daisuke
Program Music I

Escentric Molecules

Escentric Molecules is a gimmick - the formulas for each one of their fragrances use a single aromachemical. For this reason, people often complain that Escentric Molecules is a ripoff given that it's so easy to replicate their perfumes by hand. However, Molecule 01 (Iso E Super) remains a wonderful stealth-bomber of a fragrance, extremely subtle and simple yet one of the most complimented fragrances around. A strange but worthwhile house.

Recommended: Molecule 01
35Kanye West
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Prada

Prada is a solid designer house whose releases tend to be full-bodied but a little generic. Though Amber is a great soapy saffron-and-myrrh scent and Luna Rossa is somewhat popular with the ladies, Prada's releases tend to be good, not great, but never bad. Their consistency lands them here on the list.
34Yann Tiersen
Rue des Cascades

Calvin Klein

Calvin Klein is a polite house with some nice, rather minimalist fresh fragrances that are more than worth their inexpensive cost. You can't go wrong with cK as they're one of the most consistent houses in the game; though most of their fragrances are citrusy and fresh they also have one of the best cheap cold-weather scents around (cK One Shock with Tobacco, Chocolate and Cherry). A safe choice at a good price.

Recommended: cK One, cK One Shock
33De Lux
Voyage

Nautica

Nautica's lineup is almost entirely composed of bland, synthetic vaguely sea-smelling fragrances, but it earns its spot here on the back of one masterpiece: Voyage. Composed by master-perfumer Maurice Roucel, Voyage is the perfect aquatic fragrance, sporting crisp apple atop a fresh array of florals and musk that manages to be elegant, engaging and sweet yet decisively masculine. It performs like a monster, projecting well and lasting all day; it's extremely prone to compliments as well. And this stuff is 15 fucking dollars for a large bottle. A complete anomaly and gem, Voyage beats out similar fragrances that are literally 20 times the price; I cannot recommend it enough.

Highly Recommended: Voyage
32Henry Mancini
Breakfast At Tiffany's

Givenchy

Givenchy is another consistently good house in the vein of Prada, with classy, well-rounded scents that generally fail to stand out. Home to a very solid gourmand (Play Intense, with coffee and tonka bean) and a nice smokey leather fragrance (Gentlemen Only Intense), Givenchy is a solid line that is yet to produce anything truly remarkable.
31Pendulum
Hold Your Colour

Mont Blanc

Mont Blanc makes a name for itself by selling relatively inexpensive fragrances that are huge compliment-getters. Legend is an upgrade of Abercrombie's Fierce for a much lower price while Individuel comes extremely close to smelling like fresh laundry. Excellent for the price and in general.

Recommended: Individuel
30Pantera
Vulgar Display of Power

Montale

Montale has zero subtlety. Each scent smacks you in the face and might leave you gasping for breath. From heavy Oud-based scents to vivid gourmands, Montale boasts some of the most powerful, well-performing cologne in the world. However, this also means that their scents tend to be somewhat one-dimensional - if you're not in love with the cologne, you're going to get sick of smelling it long before the scent fades from your skin.

Highly Recommended: Chocolate Greedy (Chocolate, Vanilla, Coffee)
Recommended: Black Aoud (Rose, Oud, Patchouli)
29David Arnold
Casino Royale

Bvlgari

Bvlgari has an airtight line-up with a few truly outstanding scents. Au the Vert is a minimalist green tea scent that, when worn, smells not as if you are wearing a perfume, but rather as if you have just stepped out from some amazingly fresh and green place. Man in Black takes the sweet cinnamon spice cocktail introduced in Viktor & Rolf's Spicebomb and grants it depth and added quality. Definitely a brand to watch.

Recommended: Au the Vert, Man in Black
28Talk Talk
Spirit of Eden

Diptyque

Diptyque makes hyper-realistic naturalistic scents from top-notch ingredients, yet their perfumes tend to be less easy to wear than to appreciate. From the fig-tree sketch of Philosykos to the powdery kitchen vanilla of Eau Duelle to the fresh-cut sandalwood of Tam Dao, Diptyque boasts original ideas executed well but rarely crafted into wholly appealing scents.

Recommended: Volutes (Tobacco & Honey), L'Eau de L'Eau (Cloves & Cinnamon)
27Kilians
Lines You Should Not Cross

By Kilian

By Kilian makes absolutely beautiful bottles for their perfumes; if only they made perfumes as good as their bottles. Kilian's perfumes are outrageously priced, making even their far and away best work (Straight to Heaven, a heavenly rum & cedar blend) a very hesitant purchase. Though they have a select few perfumes that are intriguing on principle (the marijuana-smoke heavy Smoke for the Soul, the rich honey in Back to Black), By Kilian's perfumes often have a twinge of unpleasant sharpness or rubberiness about them that prevents them from reaching their ideas' potentials.

Highly Recommended: Straight to Heaven
26Taylor Swift
1989

Chanel

Chanel's perfumes are classy and consistent, yet they're often quite restrained and even a bit stuffy, preventing them from making truly amazing scents. You can look anywhere in the lineup and find a well-composed, compliment-garnering cologne, but you're not likely to be wowed by any one of them, even in the extremely expensive "Exclusifs" line. The consistent quality and undeniable class of the scents places the brand quite squarely in the middle of the pack.

Recommended: Egoiste (Cinnamon & Sandalwood), Antaeus (Musk & Oakmoss), Allure Homme Sport (Orange & Ocean Air), Pour Monsieur (Oakmoss & Vetiver), Bleu (Grapefruit & Incense)
25Circle Jerks
Group Sex

Xerjoff

Xerjoff makes beautiful bottles and beautiful scents that are clean, polished, full-bodied and reek of quality. Xerjoff is especially known for making some of the most beautiful fresh citrus scents in the world. However, a lack of edge and originality (Xerjoff's perfumes tend to take well-worn ideas and just do them a touch better instead of carving out their own territory) makes the sky-high price tag simply not worth the jump. You have to blow minds to charge mind-blowing prices, and Xerjoff simply doesn't pull it off.

Recommended: Nio (Bergamont & Neroli), Kobe (Neroli & Orange)
24Duke Ellington
Midnight In Paris

Van Cleef & Arpels

VC&A have quite a few extremely affordable, lovely perfumes to their name. From the classic masculine Tsar (Oakmoss & Pine) to the bizarrely beautiful Midnight in Paris (Tea, Leather & Incense), VC&A is a consistent house that pushes against boundaries and is yet to have a misstep.

Recommended: Midnight in Paris
23The Dear Hunter
Black

Lalique

Lalique's very similar to Van Cleef & Arpels in that they make very affordable fragrances at ridiculously low prices. Though they're solid across the board, their masterpiece is Encre Noire (Cypress, Vetiver), a truly astounding fragrance that evokes darkness through its inky blend of dark, complex woods. Overall, a great house that makes great perfumes at great prices.

Recommended: Encre Noire
22John Lennon
Imagine

Versace

Versace doesn't have the critical acclaim that most houses this high in the list receive, but they don't need to - they're the ultimate crowd pleaser house. From the summery citrus of Eau Fraiche to the Year-Round fresh sweetness of Pour Homme and the club king Eros, Versace boasts an incredibly solid, affordable lineup of fragrances that are guaranteed to get good feedback. They've also released Dreamer (Tobacco & Lavender), one of the most daring and unique scents to come out of mainstream perfumery that also happens to be notoriously effective for wooing the ladies. Overall, a great house.

Recommended: The Dreamer
21ILOVEMAKONNEN
ILOVEMAKONNEN2

Thierry Mugler

Thierry Mugler has the dual benefits of making iconic bottles with iconic perfumes; both the packagining and product are vivid, well-defined and well designed. From Pure Malt, a chocolately, fruity fragrance that's instilled with additional oomph by being aged in whiskey barrels, to Mugler Cologne, one of the best fresh scents around (Neroli & Petitgran), Mugler is a consistently exciting brand which boasts a number of creative (Pure Zest = Creamsicle, Pure Havane = Cherry Tobacco) and successful fragrances.

Recommended: Pure Malt, Mugler Cologne
20Botch
We Are the Romans

Profvmvm Roma

Like Xerjoff and Kilian, Profvumvm Roma boasts incredibly high prices. However, at this point in the list, those prices start to become more understandable as the scents truly begin to amaze. Profvmvm Roma's hyper-realistic, well-balanced wood notes are the highlight of their brand. They form rock-solid foundations for they fragrances to be built off of, and the best fragrances from their brand weave spices and flowers into the mix without overshadowing the base notes. An excellent brand with a number of great fragrances that will knock fans of woody notes off their feet.

Highly Recommended: Arso (Cedar Smoke)
19Wild Beasts
Smother

Caron

Caron makes a twin pair of excellent, dirt-cheap colognes that catapults it to this spot on the list, the classic Vanilla & Lavender masculine Pour Un Homme and the savage beast that is Yatagan (beaver musk, pine needles). The former being an absolute purveyor of class and the second being one of simultaneous chaos and beauty, the fragrances are absolute standards and priced ridiculously well for their quality.

Highly Recommended: Yatagan
Recommended: Pour Un Homme
18Italians Do It Better
After Dark

Acqua di Parma

Acqua di Parma makes clean, polite scents that boast the quality of more expensive brands without charging as much. Both their classic masculine perfume, Colonia (Citruses & Lavender) and their fresh acquatic line (Blu Mediterraneano) are highly worth looking into, having a bright vividness in their citrus notes that's often absent in similar colognes. A very consistent and overall quality house.

Recommended: Mirto di Panarea (Myrtle, Basil & Sea Notes), Fico di Amalfi (Fig & Sea Notes), Colonia Essenza (Neroli & Bergamont)
17Syd Matters
Someday We will Foresee Obstacles

Guerlain

Guerlain is essentially Chanel - classy, classic, high quality, a little stuffy - but better. With a wider range of approaches to perfumery and an exclusive line that kicks Chanel's to the curb, the French establishment brings a lot to the table and rarely makes mistakes. A consistently great house.

Recommended: Vetiver (Vetiver & Lemon), Heritage (Sandalwood & Lavendar), Spiriteuse Doble Vanille (Vanilla & Benzoin), Tonka Imperiale (Tonka & Almond), Eau de Guerlain (Lemon & Bergamont), Lupin Dandy (Olibanum & Cardamom), Derby (Leather & Carnation)
16The Beatles
Revolver

Nasomatto

Nasomatto's perfumes, like Montale's, hit you in the face with blunt force - but also with style. Boasting dark, rich masculines (Duro - Wood & Leather; Pardon - oud & Chocolate) that rank among the very best and a few weirdo scents that never the less hit their marks (the massively dark, oud-heavy Black Afghano and the entrancing fresh green of Hindu Grass), Nasomatto more than justifies their high prices with consistently great scents.

Highly Recommended: Black Afghano
Recommended: Pardon, Duro
15Julianna Barwick
The Magic Place

Le Labo

Le Labo makes stripped-down fresh scents that strip away the harsh edges of Diptyque to form wearable, engaging perfumes. An extremely consistent house that never fails to be tasteful and elegant while making scents that stray beyond the chemical pleasantness of most perfumes, Le Labo is a house that's simultaneously unique and accessible.

Essential: Rose 31 (Rose & Caraway)
Highly Recommended: Bergamote 22 (Bergamont & Vetiver)
Recommended: Santal 33 (Sandalwood & Papyrus)
14John Cage
4'33''

CB I Hate Perfume

CB I Hate Perfume makes very non-traditional scents that tend to focus on recreating memories and scenes. The best works in the line are truly magnificent and are among the most evocative perfumes in the world. From the old-school Coppertone sunscreen & seashell combination of At the Beach 1966 to the maple smoke at the heart of Burning Leaves and the wet-mitten and snow magically captured in Winter 1972, CB I Hate Perfume occupies a very special niche in the world of perfume and makes a convincing case for fragrance as an artform.

Essential: Burning Leaves
Highly Recommended: 2nd Cumming, Winter 1972
Recommended: At the Beach 1966
13U2
The Joshua Tree

Creed

Creed makes consistently fantastic fresh scents, from the sparkling salt-water white floral of Erolfa to the metallic inky shine of Silver Mountain Water to the wildly successful pineapple and birch smoke of Aventus. With a highly consistent lineup and a signature ambergris base that establishes a solid identity for the house, Creed remains a top contender despite controversies over batch variations and high prices.

Essential: Aventus, Virgin Island Water (Pina Colada), Millesime Imperial (Salt Water & Watermelon)
Highly Recommended: Green Irish Tweed (Violet Leaf & Lemon Verbana), Erolfa, Himalaya (Bergamont & Ambergris)
12Jimmy Buffett
Havana Daydreamin'

Aramis

Aramis is the last house on this list that makes inexpensive perfumes, and it's this high because not only is it extremely consistent - basically every release is worth checking out - but because its best is absolutely top-notch. Havana is one of the most beautiful tobacco scents of all time as well as one of the most unique, emulating not pipe tobacco but fresh tobacco leaves in a cocktail of spices to evoke the dry, textured heat of a Cuba market. Aramis also has one of the most bracing, engaging aquatics (New West, with Pine and Cedar mixed into the salt-water) as well as a truly outstanding traditional masculine fragrance (Aramis Tuscany Per Uomo with lemon and leather). A superb house with no competition at its pricepoint.

Essential: Havana
Highly Recommended: New West, Tuscany Per Uomo
Recommended: Aramis 900, Aramis Devin
11Run the Jewels
Run the Jewels 2

Yves Saint Laurent

YSL has managed, over the years, to consistently release some of the most engaging mainstream fragrances on the market. L'Homme (Ginger & Bergamont) and La Nuit de L'Homme (Cardemom & Tonka Bean) hit a perfect balance between fresh and sweet while Rive Gauche Pour Homme (Lavender & Anise) and Live Jazz (Mint & Rhubarb) set standards in the barbershop and fresh categories respectively. With top notch quality, reasonable pricing and consistently great perfumes across the board, YSL continues to be one of the great mainstream designer houses.

Highly Recommended: Rive Gauche Pour Homme, La Nuit de L'Homme
Recommended: L'Homme, Live Jazz
10Bon Iver
For Emma, Forever Ago

Hermes

With master perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena at the wheel, Hermes has been pumping out zen-like naturalistic fresh fragrances for a while to top off its stellar collection of classic masculine fragrances. Hermes' lineup is near-untouchable for a designer: the versatile modern masterpiece Terre d'Hermes (Orange & Vetiver), old-school leather giants Bel Ami, summer staple Voyage d'Hermes, minimalist lotus masterwork Un Jardin Sur Le Nil, the deliciously intoxicating Ambre Narguile (Honey, Cinnamon & Rum) - these only scratch the surface of the deep catalog Hermes has developed.

Essential: Un Jardin Sur le Nil, Terre d'Hermes
Highly Recommended: Ambre Narguile, Bel Ami
Recommended: Voyage d'Hermes, Equipage
9Ornette Coleman
The Shape of Jazz to Come

Histoires de Parfums

HdP bases their scents around time, place and person, crafting consistently vibrant scents with depth and personality. With gorgeous bottles and intriguing names that are attached to specific years, authors, and persons of notoriety, HdP is a brand that's as fun as it is accomplished. It's done some of the best work in each genre; 1725 is a barbershop masterpiece (Lavender and Vanilla) while Ambre 114 is a golden standard for amber scents. One of the best concepts for a house - and one executed very, very well.

Highly Recommended: 1725, 1899 Hemingway (Juniper, Cinnamon & Vanilla), Ambre 114, L'Olympia Music Hall (Suede & Lilac)
8Carly Rae Jepsen
E MO TION

Armani

Armani's staple colognes, Code and Acqua di Gio, took the respective trends occuring in fragrance (sweet-woody and aquatic scents respectively) and pretty much perfected them. In addition to having rock solid mainstream colognes, Armani boasts a much more expensive 'private' line that holds a handful of the greatest perfumes of all time, among them the exquisite Rose d'Arabie. Weaving Rose, Oud, Vanilla, and Patchouli in an intoxicating blend that would bring just about any person to their knees, Rose d'Arabie is a truly jaw-dropping concoction that may be the most entrancing feminine perfume in the world. With that mastery of both the mainstream and high-end perfume market, Armani is a force to be reckoned with.

Essential: Rose d'Arabie
Recommended: Code
7Serge Gainsbourg
Histoire de Melody Nelson

Serge Lutens

Serge Lutens, through some online market miracle, has become an increasingly affordable brand over the years. Their exquisite range of rather unique scents includes some of the most stunning fragrances available, including the delicious Chergui (Hay & Honey), the brutal assault of Muscs Koublai Khan (Civet & Amber) and the hushed Iris Silver Mist (Iris & Vetiver). A highly varied, elegant line that's quite a bit more reasonable than others in its range.

Essential: Chergui
Highly Recommended: Muscs Koublai Khan, Iris Silver Mist
Recommended: Ambre Sultan
6Orange Blossom
Under the Shade of Violets

Frederic Malle

Frederic Malle's approach to perfume is to grant top-notch perfumers complete artistic freedom and then, uniquely, to actually put their name on the bottle when the perfume is packaged and distributed. His efforts to give more attention to the actual artists behind the work has been widely applauded, as have the excellent perfumes themselves. Gems include the exquisite rose-and-pepper Portrait of a Lady, the bone-dry incense of French Lover, and the scrumptious cloves & chocolate Musc Ravageur. A house with a good cause and even better perfumes.

Essential: Portrait of a Lady, Musc Ravageur
Highly Recommended: Noir Epices, French Lover, Lys Mediterranee, Carnal Flower
Recommended: Bigarade Concentree, En Passant
5George Frideric Handel
Messiah

Comme des Garcons

Comme des Garcons boasts the strangest, most eclectic collection of any house on this list. Their lineup includes an anti-perfume that smells like metal, sand and rocks, a series of "Synthetic" fragrances that emulate a garage, soda, and tar, and a series of fragrances that smell like different types of incense from churches and temples all over the world. Consistently well-composed and boundary-pushing, Comme des Garcons is a top-tier house with the potential to keep wowing for decades to come.

Highly Recommended: Avignon (Catholic Church Incense), Odeur 53 (Metal & Sand), Hinoki (Hinoki Wood)
Recommended: Vetiverru (Vetiver), Kyoto (Japanese Incense), Comme des Garcons 2 Man (Incense & Vetiver)
4ASAP Rocky
LONG.LIVE.A$AP

Dior

Dior is the powerhouse designer brand. It's only 'weak spot' is the newest release Sauvage, a massive commercial success. For years, Dior has produced highly unique designer releases (the petroleum-esque Fahrenheit, the makeup-bag Iris note in Dior Homme) that change the rules of perfumery, beating other designers at their own game. From the chocolatey masterpiece of Dior Homme Intense to the modern sport fragrance king Dior Homme Sport, the brand boasts a long line of commercial and critical successes and shows no signs of letting up.

Essential: Dior Homme Intense
Highly Recommended: Dior Homme Cologne, Fahrenheit
Recommended: Dior Homme, Dior Homme Sport
3Bob Dylan
Bringing It All Back Home

Tauer

Independent self-taught Swiss perfumer Andy Tauer is a genius. His perfumes exude passion, consistently powerful, wonderfully evocative and almost always incredibly strong. Tauer's best works - L'Air du Desert Marocain and Lonestar Memories - attempt to capture dry landscapes, full of sharp-edged spicy notes and crackling desert amber. Tauer's notes bring to life warmth and texture that is so foreign in an industry which often is all about sale numbers. A breath of fresh air indeed.

Essential: L'Air du Desert Marocain, Lonestar Memories
Highly Recommended: Incense Rose, Rose Flash, Vanilla Flash, PHI
2Omar Souleyman
Jazeera Nights

Amouage

There are quality ingredients, and then there are Amouage ingredients. Based in Oman, Amouage is the absolute height of luxury, pulling their resources from God knows where and outshining just about everyone else in the business in terms of sheer olfactory lushness. Their masterpieces focus on the incredible incense oils that has become their trademark, pairing them with lush fruits (Jubilation XXV) or sharp spices (Interlude Man) to create works of unparalleled beauty. While their other perfumes are wonderful as well, they simply don't reach the heights of their incense-based masterworks, and for that, Amouage settles for second best.

Essential: Interlude Man, Jubilation XXV
Highly Recommended: Lyric Man, Reflection Man
1Jay-Z
Reasonable Doubt

Tom Ford

The chances of any one house containing more than a handful of true masterpieces is incredibly small. Time and time again, companies hire the top perfumers in the world, give them access to the best possible ingredients, and come out with highly mediocre perfumes. By decree of some unknown God, Tom Ford and his army of scantily-clad models seem to have exclusive rights to making at least half of the world's truly orgasmic perfumes. Tobacco Vanille's photorealistic cigar-cum-cut vanilla bean, Tuscan Leather's velvety suede wrapped in mouth-watering raspberry, Costa Azurra's salted rim and bursting lemon, Noir de Noir's sex-dripping rose and oud tango - there are miracles that seem to occur in the air these perfumes are sprayed into. Both the private and designer lines are stocked-full of top notch scents. Amouage is the only close competition for Tom Ford, and even in that case, Tom Ford manhandles Amouage when it comes to variety.

Essential.
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