We Tested — and Found — the Best Pheromone Perfumes to Command Attention

Best Overall

Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower

View On Nordstrom $295 View On Fredericmalle.com View On Neiman Marcus $295

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.9/5
• Wear
  5/5
• Performance
  4.4/5
• Efficacy
  4.7/5
• Packaging
  5/5

This fragrance is known to be one of the sultriest scents on the market, making it a must-try when you’re in a magnetic mood. Upon application, we noticed that we instantly felt mysterious and powerful. Carnal Flower has a bold sillage, meaning you can smell its lusty notes of tuberose, jasmine, and musk from a distance as well as leave a trail of scent wherever you go. This makes for a fabulous fragrance to wear when you want to stand out at a crowded party or on an intimate date. A little goes a long way and lasts for hours — we found the scent stayed strong on our skin, even with just one spritz. 

We’re reiterating that this is a potent perfume because it may not be for everyone, especially those who are prone to headaches caused by strong fragrance; we found this to be the case when we tested it on hair as it held the scent a bit too well! Similarly, you may also want to avoid wearing this one during the day so as not to affect the noses of coworkers. (That said, a friend of ours tried it and found that it wore down to a more mellow, flirty scent on her skin, which just goes to show how big of a role body chemistry plays when wearing perfume.)

If you’re looking for a showstopper of a fragrance you can wear on big nights out, definitely grab yourself a bottle of this one — the sleek packaging will also add a touch of quiet luxury to your vanity.

Type: Eau de parfum｜Key Notes: Tuberose, jasmine, bergamot, musk｜Fragrance Family: White floral｜Size: 1.7 oz

Best for Women

Byredo Blanche

View On Byredo.com

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.8/5
• Wear
  4.8/5
• Performance
  4.9/5
• Efficacy
  4.9/5
• Packaging
  5/5

Of all the scents we tested, this one was the best for daytime — it smells like fresh sheets that were washed with a subtly floral and feminine laundry detergent. It wears close to the skin and lasts for hours, making it very inoffensive and easy to wear, whether that’s at the office, to brunch, or running errands. It’s also one of the best luxury perfumes we tried, thanks to the heavy, sophisticated bottle, which is an aesthete’s dream (though may be harder to wield if you have smaller hands).

Beyond testing it on skin, we tried spritzing the scent on fabric and hair. It misted out beautifully (in a star pattern!) without leaving any stains or residue, and we found it smelled especially delightful on sweaters. 

However, we weren’t fans of how it performed on our hair. For some reason, Blanche smells very sharp and overpowering on hair, a total contrast to how it wears on the skin. Keep this in mind if you’re the kind of person who likes to liberally spray on scent — concentrate your application on yourself and your clothing for the best result.

Type: Eau de parfum｜Key Notes: Aldehyde, peony, violet, sandalwood, musk｜Fragrance Family: Floral｜Size: 1.7 oz

Best for Men

Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 Eau de Toilette

View On Luckyscent.com View On Neiman Marcus $150 View On Bergdorfgoodman.com

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.4/5
• Wear
  3.5/5
• Performance
  3.5/5
• Efficacy
  3.5/5
• Packaging
  4.5/5

The star of this scent is just one note: The woodsy iso e super, a lab-made aroma which is somewhat reminiscent of sandalwood, giving this scent a subtly masculine quality without being heady or overpowering. To our surprise, it’s pretty delicate, and we needed to spray on multiple spritzes to detect its faint, clean smell. (We should note that this will deliver a blast of alcohol, which can be off-putting at first, but it quickly dissipates.) Its smell was strongest on heavy fabrics, like tweed, on which it smelled a bit musty, like a coat you recently pulled out of storage for the season. 

On the skin, it was fresh, clean, and sophisticated, and we felt like it would layer nicely with other perfumes in our scent wardrobe. We also think with regular wear, we’ll find the fragrance to be quite cozy and believe it to be a nice pick for fall's cuffing season.

However, while the scent seemed to last on our skin, it was often hard to detect during testing. This isn’t uncommon in skin scents — in fact, other people can often smell them on us when we can’t! —so if you’re looking for something subdued and a little mysterious, this is worth checking out. 

Type: Eau de toilette｜Key Notes: Iso e super (synthetic sandalwood)｜Fragrance Family: Woody｜Size: 3.4 oz

Best Unisex

Juliette Has a Gun Not A Perfume

View On Amazon $145 View On Sephora $30

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.3/5
• Wear
  4.1/5
• Performance
  3.9/5
• Efficacy
  3.8/5
• Packaging
  5/5

From the first spritz to hours after application, this perfume will take you on a journey. Two of us tried the scent and had totally different experiences. One of us found that it initially smelled a bit pungent, with a sour smell that almost reminded us of sweat before becoming more powdery and somewhat cardboard-like as well as masculine. Another found that it smelled plasticky and synthetic at first, then wore down into a floral, feminine, and musky aroma that sat close to the skin — earning us loads of compliments. 

These differing experiences during the testing process were due to the single note in this scent, cetalox, which is a synthetic form of ambergris (aka whale vomit, which used to be used in perfume because of its unusual musky, sweet, earthy, and animalic qualities).

It’s imperative to try a fragrance like this firsthand to determine if it's a fit for you. Beyond that, we found it lingered well on skin, hair, and fabric (though it left an oily residue behind) and we enjoyed the wide-spraying mister and luxe, weighty packaging.

Type: Eau de parfum｜Key Notes: Cetalox (synthetic ambergris)｜Fragrance Family: Warm and spicy｜Size: 3.3 oz

Best to Bring Out Your Own Natural Scent

D.S. & Durga I Don't Know What

View On Dsanddurga.com

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4/5
• Wear
  4.9/5
• Performance
  4.3/5
• Efficacy
  4.8/5
• Packaging
  4.8/5

This D.S. & Durga perfume features some of the notes you’ll find in a lot of skin scents, like iso e super and ambrox, but there’s also bergamot and vetiver, which made us decide during the testing process that it can be worn by both men and women alike. It was fresh, clean, and musky, with a touch of greenery. It was one of the best lightweight scents we tried; we admit that it wasn’t always easy to detect on our skin (though others could!) but it was easy to smell on fabric, paper, and hair. While we only tested it solo, we’re confident it would work well layered with other fragrances.

We will say that we didn’t love the bottle. Though it’s very attractive and has a nice, luxurious heft, it had a short nozzle that wasn’t easy to mist and the bottle’s shape and size made it a challenge to hold and spray on — we actually needed two hands to do so. However, if you like the aroma, enjoy a minimalist design, and have slightly larger hands, you’ll probably be satisfied with this investment.

Type: Eau de parfum｜Key Notes: Bergamot, iso e super (synthetic sandalwood), vetiver, civettone (a synthetic musk), ambroxan (synthetic ambergris — a woody amber)｜Fragrance Family: Amber｜Size: 1.7 oz

Best Sensual

Diptyque L’eau Papier Eau de Toilette

View On Diptyqueparis.com

Our Ratings

• Scent
  5/5
• Wear
  5/5
• Performance
  4/5
• Efficacy
  4.4/5
• Packaging
  4.8/5

Sensual without being sexy, impactful without being overpowering, and totally soothing, this was the best musk we tested. It was soft and light, woody with a delicate sweetness courtesy of the steamed rice note that smelled good on all of us. It’s also noteworthy that while our body chemistry enhanced the scent, it didn’t change it — every tester smelled the same, as did our fabric testing swatches, paper, and hair. 

We’re fans of this long-lasting fragrance and can envision ourselves wearing it to bed, to the office, and other intimate settings in which you’d want to wear a low-projection scent. Just be careful of which types of fabrics you mist it on: There are some oils in the formula, which left stains behind when we tested it on lighter materials, including linen and cotton. 

Type: Eau de toilette｜Key Notes: White musks, mimosa, blonde woods, rice steam｜Fragrance Family: Floral-musk hybrid｜Size: 1.7 oz

Best Mood Booster

Moodeaux Worthy Eau de Parfum

View On Credo Beauty View On Moodeaux.com

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.7/5
• Wear
  4.8/5
• Performance
  4.5/5
• Efficacy
  4.8/5
• Packaging
  5/5

If you’re looking for a perfume that will create comforting and cozy vibes, look to this one from Black-owned brand Moodeaux. With a blend of traditional gourmand notes, it reminded us of stopping by a delicious bakery, thanks to sweet notes of vanilla, cinnamon, and a subtle bourbon scent, all enhanced by delicate florals. Its warmth makes it well suited for winter wear, ideally if you can spritz it on before unwinding in front of a roaring fire. The fragrance sat nicely on our skin — we only needed one spritz to get a full day of wear out of it — and lasted especially well on hair, though we did notice some slight staining when we spritzed it on fabric. 

We’ll admit that we were surprised to see that this clean perfume was marketed as unisex. While the packaging is very modern and gender neutral, the scent inside was quite feminine and more youthful than the bottle would imply. That’s not to say that we didn’t enjoy the scent — we can definitely envision people making this their daily fragrance so long as they know what they’re getting!

Type: Eau de parfum｜Key Notes: White tea, orange blossom, red rose, lavender, dry musk, amber, vanilla｜Fragrance Family: Warm floral woods｜Size: 1.7 oz

Best Perfume Oil

Pure Instinct Pheromone Unisex Perfume Oil

View On Amazon $40

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.8/5
• Wear
  4.6/5
• Performance
  4.3/5
• Efficacy
  4/5
• Packaging
  4.5/5

You can’t beat the convenience of buying a product on Amazon! This one arrives quickly and once you try it out, you’ll likely be impressed with your purchase — the oil-based formula lasted all day and night once we applied it (on both skin and hair) and was quite easy to apply due to its rollerball format. The essential oil-infused perfume is quite strong, especially at first, with a scent trail that’s possible to smell from two feet away. It features an unusual blend of fruity, floral, and spicy notes that ultimately wore down to a vanilla-y floral aroma over time. 

Though we enjoy the convenience of the rollerball bottle and its travel-friendly size, the packaging is not high-end by any means, with a simple printed label that we found to be a little cheesy. But if you’re looking for an affordable pheromone perfume, it’s worthy of your consideration.

Type: Roll-on oil｜Key Notes: Mango, mandarin, honey, cinnamon, white musk｜Fragrance Family: Fruity floral｜Size: .34 oz

Best Sweet

Pure Romance Basic Instinct Pheromone Perfume

View On Amazon $20

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.3/5
• Wear
  5/5
• Performance
  4.9/5
• Efficacy
  4.9/5
• Packaging
  4/5

If you were the person with a collection of Victoria’s Secret body splashes in your locker, you’ll likely love this perfume. We found it to be sweet, juicy, and fruity with something of a candy-like quality to it, making it a nice pick for daytime wear. It was quite strong at first (a little goes a long way; we only needed one or two passes of the rollerball), but it mellowed out nicely throughout the day. Even though it’s oil based, it didn’t stain any fabrics or leave behind greasy strands when we applied it to our hair, though it did leave a bit of residue on our skin after application.

Though we appreciate this formula, we think the packaging needs a significant upgrade. It looks pretty lowbrow, like it could have come out of a child’s makeup playset, with a cheap label that has an overly youthful colorway. What bugged us the most during testing is that it says “sex attractant” directly on the bottle, which is a feature of this pheromone fragrance that you may not want to advertise to others. Considering it’s travel-sized and designed to be taken on the go, we’d be wary of keeping it in our purse, lest it roll out and announce our intentions.

Type: Roll-on oil｜Key Notes: Not listed｜Fragrance Family: Sweet fruity floral｜Size: .34 oz

Best Long-Lasting

RawChemistry Delight Pheromone Perfume

View On Amazon $30 View On Rawchemistry.com View On Walmart $30

Our Ratings

• Scent
  4.9/5
• Wear
  4.6/5
• Performance
  4.9/5
• Efficacy
  4.5/5
• Packaging
  4.8/5

We didn’t know what to expect from this purple-packaged fragrance, but we were very pleasantly surprised. The scent features floral, fresh, fruity, and spicy notes that makes for a very unique perfume. While you might think such a broad-ranging blend of notes wouldn’t work, it’s very easy and enjoyable to wear: It evolves from a sweet floral you can wear during spring or summer to a warm apple-cinnamon-like fragrance that would be great for fall or winter. You only need one spritz to get plenty of coverage, and that initial spray will last the entire day.

We will say that we didn’t expect this eau de toilette to have any oil in it, which became apparent both when we tested it on fabric and on our skin. That said, it didn’t leave any residue behind when we wore it on our hair, which held the scent beautifully, smelling like we washed with high-quality shampoo. 

We’d absolutely recommend this scent to others in our network, especially if they’re looking to enter the pheromone perfume category without spending too much money.

Type: Eau de toilette｜Key Notes: Honey, jasmine, patchouli｜Fragrance Family: Fruity floral｜Size: 1 fl oz