I Have Tried Basically Every Popular Fragrance Out There—These 30 Are Worth It

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(Image credit: @cassdimicco)

I've always been someone who loves perfumes and fragrances. Often when people talk about finishing an outfit with a cherry on top, they're thinking about shoes or a great pair of sunglasses. And while those are important parts of an outfit, the real cherry on top is a great fragrance.

Your scent says just as much about you as your outfit choice. I love fragrance so much that I carry a travel-size perfume in my purse everywhere I go. I'm a firm believer in mixing perfumes too. Certain brands, such as Jo Malone London, have scents designed to be mixed and matched across the entire collection. Personally, I love the combination of Wood Sage & Sea Salt with English Pear & Freesia. But currently, I'm wearing a mix of Rose 31 from Le Labo and Miss Dior's Absolutely Blooming. They balance each other well because the Le Labo is a little smoky and masculine while the Dior is light and sweet. 

Certain fragrances gain the attention of fragrance lovers and become cult favorites. Some that immediately come to my mind are Maison Francis Kurkdjian's Baccarat Rouge or Le Labo's Santal 33. But whenever I hear about a new fragrance everyone can't get enough of, I have to wait and judge it for myself. I have high standards for perfume and need to really love a scent to justify spending money on it, especially considering that great fragrances aren't cheap. 

For me to invest in a fragrance, it has to check four boxes. First, it has to last a long time (for me, that's at least five to six months). Second, it has to be sweet but not overwhelmingly so that you would mistake me for a high-school cheer captain. It has to be a little woodsy or smoky but not so much so you'd mistake me for someone's grandfather. And finally, it has to have character and personality.

I rounded up the 30 fragrances I believe are worth the hype to be called "cult favorites." including my current favorites, which sit on my vanity while I write this.

Keep scrolling to see which fragrances made the cut.

Next, This Iconic Brand Is What Grace Kelly Smelled Like—Its Newest Scent Is Unreal 

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Assistant Editor

Originally from Chicago, Illinois, Grace has always been a lover of all things fashion and beauty. Upon receiving her first degree in visual communications from FIDM in Los Angeles, she moved to New York City and continued her education at LIM College, majoring in fashion media with a minor in society and culture. Grace has worked for PhotoBook magazine, Insider, and Harper's Bazaar. As a writer, Grace has had pieces published covering topics including racial justice, fashion, politics, and current events. During her free time, she loves wine tasting, creating content for her social media, spending time with friends, traveling to new places, and Pilates, and has a love for reality television, especially The Real Housewives. Grace is the person in your friend group everyone goes to for recommendations for the best place to grab drinks in NYC on a Friday night or the best hotels and restaurants to try when traveling to a new city. While fashion is her main love, she loves all things wellness and lifestyle as well. Her ideal sunday is brunching with friends then walking around furniture shopping and listening to a podcast. As the assistant shopping editor at Who What Wear, Grace loves finding the best buys out there for the WWW readers.