How Does Your Guy Want You to Smell?

The amount of effort we put into a date can be crazy. New outfits, waxing, manicures and pedicures—even new lingerie! But did you know that one of the biggest attractions to men is your smell? Whether you spritz on Chanel No. 5 or one of Britney Spears’ latest, your guy will notice, and have an opinion! We wanted to find out more, so we spoke with men from a wide range of fields—even a perfume creator!—to discover just how our male counterparts would like us to smell.

Whether your signature notes are fruity, sweet, musky, or exotic, every guy is bound to prefer something different. But something we found they all agree on? “Too much perfume is never a good thing,” says Paul Kenny, a retail assistant. “I prefer it when the scent on a girl is subtle. You get a sexy whiff of it, but it doesn’t hit you in the face.” It seems men also like their gals to smell clean (shocker!). “I don’t mind if a girl doesn’t wear perfume,” says Sam Cohen, a graphic designer, “I just like her to smell fresh and clean—I love the scent of freshly washed hair!”

And while some guys love the aroma of fruity over floral (and vice versa—there was a split vote by the guys in the Beautylish office!), there are others that enjoy a sexier, muskier bouquet. We asked Narciso Rodriguez, designer and creator of the über popular Narciso Rodriguez For Her fragrance, why he chose musk as the base ingredient for his perfume. "Musk has always fascinated me, and it’s been my personal scent for years––now it has become an addiction,” he confesses. “There's something elemental yet refined about musk that captures innate sensuality like no other scent I've come across.” So whether your guy likes a waft of apples or fresh laundry, be true to yourself and remember, spritz lightly!