Gentlemen and ladies, please agree upon this much: to a certain extent, we don’t wear cologne and perfume for ourselves. No, we adorn ourselves with those meticulously blended and balanced aromas hoping that the memories, emotions, feelings and intense sensations they we hope evoke – more often than not, of the amorous persuasion – will capture first the mind by mesmerizing the senses, then slowly perhaps a heart as an association grows between the unique intoxication of scent and us.

Demeter Fragrance Library went a very simple route and designed fragrances you’ll enjoy wearing just for yourself, but that do what decades of pretentious, overly-artsy advertisements shilling CK1 and White Diamonds never, ever have: they actually tell you exactly what the stuff smells like!

  

  

  

It works a little like the 1996 John Travolta hit Michael. Travolta played the titular archangel, who could adapt his scent to imitate whatever aromas evoke a person’s warmest, most comforting memories, putting especially women who encountered him at ease within a cozy comfort zone – even more so when he’s in heat. So where do you want this most powerful and influential of the five senses to take you? If you’re seeking the on-ramp for the expressway to the most cherished bits of your childhood, just spray and sniff just a hint of the cotton candy, crayon or Junior Mints fragrances. The latter sounds particularly sweet and sensual, with its cool, balanced blend of peppermint, wild mint, cocoa bean, vanilla and dark chocolate.

Personally, for as much as polite society champions the gentleman wearing the subtle (but over-priced) fragrances that blend aromatic hints of leather and sawdust, a man just needs to smell like a man. Save the guess-work with expensive brands. Pick up the fragrances of whiskey/tobacco, fresh dirt or even sawdust itself, and truly smell how a man is meant to.

Or if you just want a unique scent that makes an entire room crave Funyons and ice cream, try the cannabis flower scent. Described as “slightly floral, slightly spicy,” this fragrance has a “deep and penetrating attraction.” Not to be worn – or, better yet, probably not brought anywhere near – an airport. May get you lucky at a Dave Matthews Band concert. You may never get Snoop Dogg and Charlie Sheen off your doorstep.

Smells like winning to me!

  Demeter Fragrance Library Colognes ($19.99)

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