The Eyrie

NEW YORK, NY — Good Housekeeping’s beauty team says it has spent years testing and comparing hundreds of fragrances, and the result is a list of 22 perfumes that consistently stood out for wearability, character, and compliments. The editors say the category has expanded quickly, with new launches arriving regularly and a wide range of options now available from drugstore buys to luxury splurges.

The magazine’s picks are not based on a single scent profile. Instead, the lineup spans fresh, sweet, floral, musky, and woody fragrances, reflecting how personal perfume can be. Good Housekeeping also paired the list with notes from editors and Beauty Lab staff who described what each scent smells like and when they reach for it most.

The beauty team says it tested hundreds of perfumes across price points and styles

According to Good Housekeeping, the beauty staff and testers have sampled hundreds of perfumes over time, building a deep reference point for what lasts, what feels modern, and what earns repeat wear. The team says its combined experience adds up to nearly 80 years across beauty editing and product testing.

That broad testing process is part of why the list includes both familiar names and newer launches. The magazine says it tries to help readers narrow a crowded fragrance market by highlighting options that suit different tastes, from clean and airy scents to richer blends with amber, patchouli, vanilla, or musk. The final picks are meant to be a starting point for shoppers who want a curated set of proven favorites.

Good Housekeeping also notes that scent is subjective, so no perfume will smell exactly the same on every person. Even so, the editors say these bottles rose to the top because they stood out in testing and, in many cases, became regulars in their own collections.

Fresh florals and soft musks lead many of the strongest picks

Several of the highlighted fragrances lean feminine and floral, including Giorgio Armani My Way Eau de Parfum, which the magazine describes as a blend of floral, fruity, woody, musk, and sweet notes. The editors also praise its refillable bottle and packaging made with recycled and recyclable materials, along with the brand’s carbon-neutral commitment.

Other favorites in this group include Phlur Missing Person Eau de Parfum, a subtle musk, jasmine, and woods scent that one editor says feels airy, comforting, and understated. Dior J’adore also makes the list, with Good Housekeeping Beauty Lab Director Sabina Wizemann calling it an iconic, effortlessly feminine fragrance built around jasmine, ylang-ylang, rose, lily of the valley, mandarin, and pear.

Bulgari Eau Parfumée au Thé Vert is included for its light, universal feel, mixing herbal green tea, citrus, and beeswax. The magazine says it has an uplifting softness that works across seasons and occasions.

Iconic designer fragrances still hold their place in modern collections

The list also gives plenty of room to long-established names. Issey Miyake L’Eau d’Issey is described as one of the fragrances that helped define the aquatic category in the 1990s, opening with watery lotus, melon, and lily before settling into cedar and sandalwood.

Chanel No. 5’s more modern counterpart, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, is framed as an energized alternative to the classic, with orange, jasmine, rose, and patchouli. Lancôme La Vie Est Belle, another returning favorite, is praised for soft iris, patchouli, and vanilla, a combination the editors say feels polished, feminine, and slightly mysterious.

Marc Jacobs Daisy remains on the list too, with its mix of strawberry, violet, and vanilla and its familiar flower cap. Good Housekeeping says its bright, approachable scent has kept it popular since its 2007 debut and that the original still has staying power despite many later versions.

Warm gourmands and rich blends give the list more depth

Not every perfume in the roundup is light or floral. Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium Le Parfum is singled out for its coffee note, which adds warmth to the original formula’s vanilla and white-flower base. The magazine describes it as bold, sultry, and memorable.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 appears as one of the most talked-about luxury scents in the group, with amber, cedar, and jasmine creating what Good Housekeeping calls a warm, sensual, and expensive-smelling fragrance. The editors note that it has become widely recognized beyond special occasions.

Trish McEvoy’s perfume, with blackberry, plum, woods, vanilla, and musk, is presented as a fruitier option that avoids being overly sweet. Viktor & Rolf Flowerbomb also makes the cut, built on jasmine, freesia, rose, patchouli, musk, and vanilla in a bottle shaped like a grenade.

Several selections are built around minimal notes and everyday wear

Some of the strongest recommendations are intentionally simple. Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 is made around a single note, ambroxan, which the magazine explains is a synthetic stand-in for ambergris. Good Housekeeping says it mimics the smell of clean, warm skin and has stayed in its fragrance collection for years.

Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt offers a similarly restrained approach, pairing just two main notes. The editors describe it as subtle, fresh, and whisper-soft rather than overpowering, making it a good choice for readers who do not want a perfume that announces itself from across a room.

Ralph Lauren Romance also appears among the more wearable picks, with seven floral and woody notes that the magazine says create a breezy, timeless feel. In the same vein, Narciso Rodriguez For Her is highlighted for its musk, amber, and patchouli, a combination the team associates with chic simplicity.

The list reflects how fragrance shopping has become both personal and crowded

Good Housekeeping’s selections underline how broad perfume shopping has become. With fresh launches arriving constantly, the magazine says readers now have to choose among classic florals, beachy scents, cozy musks, gourmand blends, and understated skin scents, often at very different price levels.

The editors’ message is that there is no single right answer, only the scent that fits the wearer. Their list brings together prestige names, updated takes on old favorites, and a few minimalist formulas that have built loyal followings over time. For shoppers, it functions less like a ranking and more like a guided tour through what the magazine’s testers found most memorable after years of smelling the field.

That mix of timeless and current is the point of the roundup. Good Housekeeping says the best perfume is still the one that feels like it belongs on your skin, but these 22 bottles are the ones its experts kept returning to after hundreds of trials.