The best men's fragrances for the office

An office fragrance has one job: it should only be noticeable when someone shakes your hand. In a closed, air-conditioned room scent doesn't disperse but builds up, so the fragrances that work best outdoors — dense, sweet and smoky — are exactly the ones that fail there. The right choice isn't a weak fragrance but one that stays close to the skin. Below are six from our range that manage that, and in the buying advice the types that don't.

Chanel Bleu de Chanel: The safest choice we have. Grapefruit, lemon and mint up top, ginger in the heart, incense with cedar and sandalwood underneath. According to the community, moderate sillage and 7–10 hours — enough for a working day without a top-up. €150 for 100 ml, a 5 ml decant is €13.
Hermès Terre d'Hermès: Dry, earthy citrus: grapefruit and orange up top, pepper with flint in the heart, vetiver and cedar in the base. Nothing sweet, which is the main advantage at the office — sweetness is what starts to bother people after three hours indoors. A 5 ml decant costs €13.
Marc Antoine Barrois Ganymede: For anyone who doesn't want to smell like everyone else. Saffron and mandarin up top, mineral notes with suede and cedar in the base — an unusual profile, but dry and restrained, so it won't take over the meeting room. €2.05 per millilitre.
Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman: Pear, bergamot and ginger up top, ambroxan and musk underneath. According to the community, 6–10 hours and intimate to moderate sillage — a drawback for a weekend fragrance, but exactly what you want in an open-plan office.
Louis Vuitton Imagination: Citrus without sugar — citron, bergamot and orange up top, neroli with ginger and cinnamon in the heart, black tea with ambroxan underneath. Dry and clean, so it doesn't build up indoors. According to the community, 7–9 hours and moderate sillage. The most expensive on the list at €3 per millilitre and €31.49 for a 5 ml decant, but the only one that brings tea into the office.
Diptyque Orphéon: The only fragrance in the catalogue where powdery is the first accord. Pepper and ginger up top, jasmine with rose in the heart, oakmoss, musk and benzoin in the base. Restrained and unrecognisable by name, which is an advantage in a setting where fragrance shouldn't stand out. €195 for 75 ml, a 5 ml decant is €18.

How to choose a fragrance for work: (1) Look at sillage, not longevity. A fragrance that lasts fourteen hours and projects three metres is a worse office choice than one that lasts six hours and stays with you. (2) Avoid sweet. Gourmand profiles — vanilla, caramel, praline — add up indoors, and after a few hours nobody knows who's wearing them. The same goes for intense oud and smoky leather: Boss Bottled Absolu has leather and incense up top and myrrh in the heart, which makes it an excellent evening fragrance and a poor choice for the meeting room. Armaf Club de Nuit Intense Man is risky here because of the smoke and birch in its formula, not because of its volume. (3) Apply two sprays, not four, and not on the neck. The wrist or chest under a shirt project less. (4) Test it on yourself, not in a shop. The same fragrance on warm skin in an air-conditioned office smells different from a blotter — five millilitres and a week are a fairer test than ten samples in a perfumery. (5) If you work close to people — in healthcare, hairdressing or sales — the only truly safe choice is a fragrance only you can smell.

How many sprays are right for the office?

Two, three at most. An office is a closed space where scent builds up, and after an hour you stop noticing it yourself — your colleagues don't. Applying to the wrist or chest under a shirt is more restrained than the neck.

Which profiles aren't suitable for the office?

Sweet gourmands, intense oud and smoky leather. All three are dense and persistent, which is a weakness indoors. That doesn't make them bad fragrances — it means you wear them in the evening.

Is Bleu de Chanel too common to wear to work?

At the office, being recognisable is an advantage. Nobody will think you overdid it, and it won't bother anyone. If that ubiquity puts you off, Ganymede and Orphéon are just as restrained but far less known.

Do I need a full bottle for work?

No, and this is a case where a decant is even more rational than a bottle. You use two sprays a day for work, so ten millilitres last months — and in that time you find out whether you still like the scent after five days in a row.

What about women's fragrances for the office?

The same logic applies regardless of the gender label: sillage decides, not the category. From our range, Diptyque Orphéon and Ex Nihilo Blue Talisman, both listed as unisex, also work well indoors.