We find ourselves flirting with beauty products all the time, from batting our eyelashes while wearing luxurious long extensions to smiling coyly after applying a velvety red lip. None, however, curate a more captivating or memorable experience than an intoxicating, irresistible scent. While certain fragrances have the potential to earn you beaucoup compliments from loved ones and strangers alike, growing research suggests that pheromone perfumes may influence your chances of sparking a real romance.
A pheromone perfume is any fragrance where “the brand intentionally adds compounds that mimic human pheromone with the goal of sexual attraction,” says cosmetic chemist Ginger King. Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Claire Wolinsky says pheromone perfumes claim to work by imitating hormonal signals through synthetic compounds like androsterone, a steroid hormone. They’re similar to skin scents. While those “very subtle feel-good scents” don’t always contain synthetic versions of pheromones they do rely on warm, soft notes, notably vanilla, that play nicely with your body’s chemistry to enhance your natural scent. Both options, however, are often grouped into the same category because their intent is the same—to create an alluring scent.
The jury may be out on whether real-life love potions exist, but we couldn’t resist performing our own experiment—in the name of science, of course. We put the buzziest and most highly-rated pheromone perfumes and skin scents to the test. Ahead, find out which ones had us, and hopefully, our crushes, coming back for more (fingers crossed).
Our Testing Process
- Perfumes tested: 17
- Where tested: Our NYC Lab; two testers per perfume
- Factors assessed: how the perfume reacted with skin, hair, and clothing, two different people’s impressions of the scent, longevity, and if it left behind an oily residue or stain on various fabrics
- Experts interviewed: Board-certified dermatologist Dr. Claire Wolinsky and Ginger King, a cosmetic chemist
Key Notes: White tea, orange blossom, red rose, lavender, leafy greens, dry musk, vanilla woods, amber | Fragrance Family: Warm floral woods | Size: 1.69 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes
The aptly coined Worthy perfume is certainly, well, worthy, of its ownership as an irresistible fragrance. To start, the fragrance opens up with a warm scent of vanilla and soft florals before a slight sharpness, courtesy of musk and amber cuts through the delicate notes. However, despite the initial sweeter notes, it still proved to be a warmer unisex scent overall. Additionally, hints of liquor and bourbon soon greeted our senses and transported us into a plush leather chair with a cocktail or milky tea in tow. While the warmness lends itself to a fragrance we’d likely curl up with in the wintertime, it’s versatile enough to be a four-season-friendly scent.
As a true, long-lasting eau de parfum, we only had to spritz it once to continue catching whiffs of it hours later, especially in our hair. Though it smelled more strongly of alcohol in our strands, luckily, its best features showed up strongest on our skin. From top to bottom, this is the epitome of a sophisticated fragrance, down to the packaging which boasts a clean, minimalist aesthetic that will make a welcome addition to anyone’s nightstand.
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Long-lasting
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Excellent projection
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Sexy, spicy scent
Key Notes: Orange Blossom, jasmine | Fragrance Family: Fresh floral | Size: 3.4 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes
Whatever your Friday-night getting-ready routine entails, we strongly recommend adding Doja Cat to your playlist and the Venom Scents to your pulse points (which looks far more expensive than it is). Its immediate spicy notes had us ready to slip into fishnet tights and layer on a glossy lip. But before we got a chance to call the Uber to a club in the Lower East Side, this fragrance journey took a turn. After a few minutes, the perfume settled into a sweeter, flowery scent—notably, jasmine lingered longest on our skin, where the essence of white peony flooded the space around us. To steal Steve Carell’s line from Crazy Stupid Love, it’s “the perfect combination of sexy and cute.”
Even given these more darling attributes, there’s no doubt the striking bright scent is meant to be shown off. We soon discovered that less is more–just a dab will do you– because it’s a tad overpowering; the only place we couldn’t pick it up was against thicker fabrics. Suffice it to say, it’ll be a staple during warmer seasons flooded with crowded nightclubs, and paper-thin sundresses.
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No strong alcohol scent
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Unisex scent
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Great for everyday wear
Key Notes: N/A | Fragrance Family: N/A | Size: 1.7 oz | Cruelty Free: Yes
Don’t be duped by the “For Men” label stamped across this cheeky geometric bottle— its versatile scent has something to offer everyone. This perfume has a unique fragrance that registered totally differently to each person who tested it. For one of us, the fresh scent leaned into a five-star spa treatment—one where you’re walking through clouds of fragrant sauna steam. On the other hand, the second person’s nose picked up a sexier, after-hours scent on their skin with notes adjacent to whiskey and musk. Both, however, relished in the vanilla notes and noticed that they lingered longest in our hair.
To hypothetically increase attraction, the brand also incorporated pheromones into the formula through Pheropurevxn, a patented blend of pheromones androstenone, androstadienone, and androstenol. While we can’t speak to its effectiveness on this front, we’re curious to take this for a spin on our next night out and test its so-called benefits as a truly irresistible scent.
Key Notes: Bergamot essence, iso e super, vetiver acetate, civettone Firsantol, ambrox super | Fragrance Family: Amber | Size: 1.69 oz, 3.9 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes
If the no-makeup makeup look were a perfume, it would be the D.S. & Durga I Don’t Know What. Let us explain; its light understated scent enhanced our natural aroma rather than transforming us into a different person. Like a clean makeup look, it also acts as the perfect foundation to build upon—its bright citrus notes of Bergamot and dry, woody cedar make it an ideal base for layering.
Still, we quite enjoyed the fragrance on its own and could see wearing it in tighter, neutral spaces like the office or at dinner parties where we don’t want to overwhelm our company. With a few sprays, the scent is still plenty noticeable—it does contain Firstanol, after all, a synthetic and more potent form of sandalwood. We noticed that it smelled fresher and greener on silk and cotton clothes but warmer and muskier on our bare skin as woodier notes of iso e super (synthetic sandalwood) and ambrox staked their claim.
Key Notes: White musk, steamed rice accord, mimosa, blonde woods accord | Fragrance Family: Floral musk | Size: 1.69 oz, 3.9 oz | Cruelty-Free: No
Though light, the Diptyque L’eau Papier is a truly hypnotic scent that sends our minds into the same state as if we were in a relaxing, meditative sound bath. While we were there, metaphorically at least, a subtle peachy sweetness gently crept in courtesy of the mimosa and vanilla notes. Additionally, a delicious cocktail of white musk and blonde wood accord made the fragrance feel simultaneously fresh and cozy as if we’d stepped out of the shower and into a plush cashmere robe. We can imagine its versatile scent carrying us through every season and becoming a centerpiece in our daily lives. Considering that, it’s worth the splurge.
And, if you “accidentally” left a scarf at your situationship’s apartment, trust us, they’ll know who it belongs to because the intoxicating scent hung around for hours on our clothing and in our hair. Since it’s an eau de toilette, however, the scent fades a little quicker from the skin, so we recommend layering on two or three spritzes.
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Light cotton scent
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Perfect for layering
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Simple yet effective
Key Notes: Iso-E Super (sandalwood) | Fragrance Family: Wood | Size: 3.4 oz | Cruelty Free: Yes
You don’t always have to drop a boulder into the water to make a splash, sometimes simply skipping a stone can make just as much of a ripple effect. The same notion applies to this fresh-scented fragrance, as we found it complemented conversations rather than dominating them. The perfume reminds us of laundered cotton clothes and the addition of iso e super gives it a subtle musk edge that sets it apart from other options we tried. Though we initially caught a strong whiff of alcohol after spraying it, this dissipated quickly.
On our skin, the scent skewed toward a cleaner fragrance rather than an overbearing partner, and we loved how, despite this, we could still smell it on our clothes at the end of the day. The limit does not exist for the places and spaces where you can wear it. And while delightful when worn by itself, we’re eager to layer it with other fragrances to build upon its scent.
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Bright summertime scent
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Long-lasting
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Strong projection
Key Notes: N/A | Fragrance Family: Fruity floral | Size:0.35 oz | Cruelty Free: Yes
Hello, sunshine. The Pure Romance Basic Instinct Perfume immediately envelopes you in a sweet sphere of bubblegum and rainbows with just a dash of floral goodness. Yes, it’s a little sugary, like a batch of double-chocolate chip brownies, but not to the point where a headache soon follows. Instead, just one roll of it was enough to leave our skin with a juicy bright fragrance we could smell hours later on our skin, hair, and clothes.
We appreciate the slim rollerball design which allowed us to sneakily tuck it away in our bag for a clandestine reapplication. However, it’s probably not one we’d wave around with glee anyway since the bottle is a bit gimmicky (the words “sex attractant” are splashed across its packaging), but, hey, we’re game to try anything other than dating apps at this point.
Key Notes: Jasmine, honey, mimosa, patchouli, sandalwood, musk | Fragrance Family: Fruity floral | Size: 1.1 oz | Cruelty-Free: Yes
The RawChemistry perfume invited us in with floral top notes of jasmine and honey, but what made us stick around were the warm notes of apple and cinnamon. It was a surprise coming from a punchy purple bottle, but these dominating notes made us extremely nostalgic for steamed cider and sugary lattes. Though, interestingly enough, our clothes seemed to pick up more of the floral notes where our skin held onto the warmer scent.
We were shocked by its staying power too, especially for an eau de toilette, and were delighted it achieved this feat without coming on too strong. While we would never mistake this for our natural scent, the deeper, spicier notes of patchouli and sandalwood command too much spicy attention for that, it had a gentle way of blending with our natural scent.
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![person spraying RawChemistry Delight Pheromone Perfume on a marble counter]()
PHOTO: Byrdie / Jhett Thompson
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![RawChemistry Delight Pheromone Perfume on a marble counter]()
PHOTO: Byrdie / Jhett Thompson
What to Look For When Buying a Pheromone Perfume
- Notes: Even if a perfume doesn’t contain pheromones, it can rely on key notes to draw a similar type of attention by enhancing the wearer’s natural body chemistry and aroma (a.k.a: Skin scents). Musk, for instance, isn’t a pheromone but is often added to fragrances, either synthetically or by a mix of raw materials like ambrette, for an alluring scent. Other warm, soft powdery notes such as vanilla, jasmine, and sandalwood, are similarly attractive options that produce a “your scent, but better,” effect.
- Longevity: Out of the four different perfume types— eau de parfum, eau de toilette, eau de cologne, and extrait de parfum—eau de parfums and extraits typically last the longest. This is because they contain a higher concentration of perfume oil compared to the water or alcohol in the formula, making them smell stronger, too.
Why Trust Byrdie
Irene Richardson is a contributing writer for Byrdie along with publications such as InStyle, Brides, and WWD.
For this article, she spoke with Ginger King, a cosmetic chemist specializing in cosmetic product formulation and cosmetic product evaluation, Dr. Claire Wolinsky is a board-certified medical and cosmetic dermatologist at Spring Street Dermatology in NYC, to discuss the research behind pheromone perfumes and important aspects to consider when purchasing one.