These 12 Fragrances Spark the Most Joy

Frags are a funny thing. Years ago, I developed a habit of changing perfumes after the end of a relationship. Now, I have a habit of changing perfumes every month in an effort to stay present, and to constantly create new memories.

In 2016, Dr. Rachel S. Herz published this medical journal on odor-evoked memory and how it affects psychological health. Scent is a central feature of olfactory cognition. That means your brain is able to recall whether it has smelled an aroma before, and oftentimes where it was experienced. When I smell Issey Miyake cologne, I’m bombarded by a cacophony of thoughts of being in love in Greece and Monaco over a decade ago. Or when I get a whiff of grain alcohol, I’m transported to a forest-green flatbed truck in Russia. Wet leather and oud remind me of a frozen foods heir and a dinner where I wore full (vintage Paco Rabanne) chainmail.

Odor-evoked memory is also called the “Proust phenomenon.” In In Search of Lost Time, Proust took a bite out of a madeleine cookie he’d dipped in Linden tea and was suddenly transported to a vivid but long-forgotten childhood memory. The scent of the tea mixed with the cookie brought right him back.

Have you ever smelled Alien by Mugler or CK1 and thought about high school? What about Clinique Happy? Abercrombie & Fitch employees reportedly used to walk around the store hourly, spraying the brand’s Fierce cologne. It may not be as refined as a madeleine cookie in Linden tea, but they’re certainty all triggering childhood memories for me.

Byrdie’s editorial director Faith and I have similar tastes in fragrance. We both think we were noses in a past life (she definitely was; I might’ve been an assistant). I use this as a metric of good friendship. I just don’t think I could ever be close with or even friends with someone who liked weird perfumes and artificial-smelling body sprays.

There’s definitely something profound to be said about scent. Most recently, I was followed out of a grocery store and stopped in the street while I was wearing Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s Bacarrat Rouge 540. It’s definitely a new ride-or-die on my list. It has cedar, saffron, jasmine, and a touch of something sexy. It’s light but it definitely lingers. I love the chic Globe Trotter travel component; it makes me feel like a Bond girl.

If you feel like you regularly live in the past, or romanticize nostalgia, try changing up fragrances—your life and memories may change for the better. As someone who has spritzed more fragrances I can count, I recommend trying one of the 12 fragrances below for an instant mood boost, no matter where you are.