By clicking a retailer link you consent to third-party cookies that track your onward journey. This enables W? to receive an affiliate commission if you make a purchase, which supports our mission to be the UK's consumer champion.
Best perfumes for men 2025
Sam – an ex-science teacher – uses his physics degree and five years of experience at Which? to test everything from beard trimmers to electric bikes and trampolines.
Looking for a quality men's scent that smells great and lasts well?
You might not think to turn to Which?, but we love a challenge. We asked our highly experienced product-testing nerds to devise a people-powered test that would uncover the best perfumes money can buy.
The result: more than 40 people weighed in on men's perfumes from Dior, Gucci, YSL and more. We conducted a blind test, so participants didn't know which brand or product they were reviewing.
Some scents proved popular across the board, while others were described by testers as something they never wished to smell again. Of the most liked, some evolved nicely and didn't fade as quickly.
Discover the product that impressed us above the rest and gets our Best Buy recommendation.
How our tests find you the best
We've tested 14 perfumes for men
Many online reviews rank perfumes based on one person's opinion, but we've recruited more than 40 volunteers to uncover the truly popular picks
Smell and longevity
Once our blind test has sniffed out the most popular scents, our second stage of testing measures how quickly the scent fades and whether it changes over time.
A selection of scents
We selected popular perfumes across all the key fragrance families, so there’s something for everyone – no matter your preference.
The men's perfumes we tested
The biggest brands and the most popular eight men's fragrances are listed below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view our perfume test results.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations.
| Men's Perfume | Price | Score | Key notes | Initial scent | Aged scent | Longevity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Sign up to reveal Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations Unlock tableDigital £8.99 per month, cancel any time. Already a member? Log in | 70% | |||||
| 68% | ||||||
| 66% | ||||||
| 65% | ||||||
| 63% | ||||||
| 61% | ||||||
| 61% | ||||||
| 59% |
Sign up to reveal
Get instant access to this and all our scores and recommendations
Unlock tableDigital £8.99 per month, cancel any time.
Already a member? Log in
Date tested: October 2025. Page last checked: November 2025. We are not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
Initial scent based on first 15 minutes of perfume, assessed by multiple testers. Aged scent based on ratings of multiple testers over a six-hour period of wearing the perfume.
Longevity rating based on spraying the perfume twice on the wrist, assessed over six hours.
Selected fragrances from our test are listed in alphabetical order below.
Only logged-in Which? members can view the best perfumes for men from our tests.
Join Which? to get instant access to our test results and Best Buy recommendations below.
Calvin Klein CK One Eau de Toilette
Key notes Top – mandarin; middle – green tea; base – sandalwood and musk
Sizes available 50ml, 100ml, 200ml, 300ml
Gucci Guilty Essence Pour Homme Eau de Toilette
Key notes Top – lavender; middle – orange flower; base – patchouli
Sizes available 50ml, 90ml
Jimmy Choo Man Extreme Eau de Parfum
Key notes Top – thyme and black pepper; middle – sage; Base – tonka bean and vetiver
Sizes available 50ml, 100ml
Rabanne 1 Million Eau de Toilette
Key notes Top – blood mandarin; middle – cinnamon; base – leather and amber
Sizes available 50ml, 100ml, 200ml
Best perfumes for women – discover which scents were most liked by our testers
Tom Ford Black Orchid Eau de Parfum
Key notes Top – black truffle and ylang ylang; middle – black orchid and plum; base – rum absolute and patchouli
Sizes available 30ml, 50ml, 100ml, 150ml
Valentino Born in Roma Uomo Coral Fantasy Eau de Toilette
Key notes Top – apple; middle – sage; base – tobacco
Sizes available 50ml, 100ml
Versace Eros Eau de Toilette
Key notes Top – lemon and mandarin; middle – geranium flower and sage; base – cedarwood and vetiver
Sizes available 50ml, 100ml, 200ml
YSL Myslf Eau de Parfum
Key notes Top – bergamot; middle – orange blossom; base – patchouli and amber
Sizes available 40ml, 60ml, 100ml, 150ml
More men's perfumes from our tests
Here are the rest of the perfumes for men we tested, listed in alphabetical order.
| Men's perfume | Price | Score | Key notes | Initial Scent | Aged scent | Longvity |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chanel Bleu De Chanel Eau de Parfum | SQUIRREL_TEXT_50017932 100ml | Top - Grapefruit and lemon Middle - Ginger and nutmeg Base - Sandalwood | ||||
| Clinique Aromatics Elixir Eau de Parfum | SQUIRREL_TEXT_50023035 45ml | Top - Rose and orange blossom Middle - Jasmine and ylang ylang Base - Patchouli and oakmoss | ||||
| Dior Sauvage Eau de Parfum | SQUIRREL_TEXT_50018157 100ml | Top - Bergamot Middle - Pepper and lavender Base - Vanilla | ||||
| Noted Aromas Las Vegas Eau de Parfum | Noted Aromas (£29.99) 100ml | Top - Mandarin and peppermint Middle - Rose and cinnamon Base - Leather, amber and patchouli | ||||
| Superdrug Artiscent Atelier Vetiver Arome Eau de Parfum | Superdrug (£12) 50ml | Top - Grapefruit Middle - Nutmeg and cardamom Base - Woody |
Date tested: October 2025. Page last checked: November 2025. We are not able to show every retailer and cheaper prices may be available.
Initial scent based on first 15 minutes of perfume, assessed by multiple testers. Aged scent based on ratings of multiple testers over a six-hour period of wearing the perfume.
Longevity rating based on spraying the perfume twice on the wrist, assessed over six hours.
How we test perfume for men
One nose isn't enough for a solid perfume recommendation. That's why we recruited more than 40 testers to sniff out the most alluring fragrances from those you might want to leave on the shelf.
Your favourite smell is a personal choice, of course. However, you can be confident that the best men's perfumes we recommend are rated highly by many people, while some of the lower scorers may not go down as well as you'd hoped.
Blind smell tests
We decant all the perfumes into matching atomiser bottles, so testers don't know which product or brand they're trying. The perfumes are judged solely on their smell and not influenced by brand reputation.
Each perfume is rated based on the initial spray and how it settles after a couple of minutes.
Scent evolution and longevity
After this initial test round to filter out the least popular options, the testers' favourites go forward to our second round of testing, which checks how well the scent lasts. For this more in-depth test, they assess:
- how the perfumes smell on the skin vs on a test stick
- how the scent evolves over a six-hour period
- how well the scent lasts over a six-hour period.
Why you can trust us: at Which? we're free from manufacturer and retailer influence. Find out more about our impartiality and how your support helps us to stay editorially independent
What is oud perfume?
Oud oil is derived from resin produced by Aquilaria trees, known as agarwood – specifically, when they've been infected by a mould called Phialophora parasitica.
It has a complex and sought-after scent: warm, woody, sometimes sweet, with strong smoky and musky notes.
Making oud is a lengthy process, and it's rare for it to occur naturally. Trees are often artificially infected to produce the resin. Due to demand, many species of the Aquilaria tree have been overharvested and are currently endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List.
All of this contributes to making oud expensive, and is why it's often referred to as 'liquid gold'. You can almost always spot a perfume containing it, because it will be included in the name.
None of the men's perfumes we've tested list agarwood (oud) as an ingredient, but that doesn't stop our top scorers having wide appeal and similar woody, musky notes.
What's the difference between eau de toilette and eau de parfum?
This is down to the concentration of the fragrance. Eau de toilette perfumes typically have 5-15% of their concentration made up of fragrance oils. For eau de parfum, it's typically 15% or more.
On paper, this means eau de toilette is less intense and won't last as long as eau de parfum.
In our tests, where people blind-sniff every perfume, we found one eau de parfum that didn't last as long as the others. Join Which? to find out which one it was.