The Best Date Night Perfumes

A date night fragrance should feel warm, a little intimate and like you. It should also stay close enough that the person across the table enjoys it without sitting in a cloud. These well-known fragrances are popular choices for evenings out, grouped by style.

How to wear it

• Spray before you get dressed, so the opening settles by the time you arrive.
• Two or three sprays on the neck, chest or behind the ears is enough for most evening fragrances.
• Skip a fresh spray at the table. Reapply in private if you need to.
• Pick something you have worn before, so you know how it behaves on your skin.

Warm and sweet

• Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium: coffee and vanilla with white flowers.
• Lancôme La Vie Est Belle: iris, praline and vanilla, sweet and cheerful.
• Kilian Love, Don't Be Shy: orange blossom and a marshmallow-like sweetness.
• Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male: lavender, mint and vanilla, a sweet men's classic.
• Tom Ford Lost Cherry: boozy cherry and almond.

Spicy and ambery

• Yves Saint Laurent La Nuit de L'Homme: cardamom, lavender and cedar, a well-known evening scent for men.
• Viktor&Rolf Spicebomb: pepper, cinnamon and tobacco.
• Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille: tobacco leaf and vanilla, rich and cozy.
• Guerlain Shalimar: bergamot, vanilla and resins, a classic since 1925.
• Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540: airy amber, saffron and a sugary glow.

Dark florals and chypres

• Tom Ford Black Orchid: dark, earthy florals with chocolate and patchouli.
• Dior Hypnotic Poison: almond, vanilla and jasmine in a dark, sweet floral.
• Chanel Coco Mademoiselle: orange, rose and patchouli, polished and confident.
• Frédéric Malle Portrait of a Lady: dark rose, patchouli and incense.

Woody and leathery

• Tom Ford Ombré Leather: soft leather with cardamom and jasmine.
• Le Labo Santal 33: sandalwood with a leathery dryness.
• Dior Sauvage Elixir: concentrated spice, lavender and woods for cool nights.
• Bvlgari Man in Black: rum, spice and leather.

Matching the evening

For dinner in a small restaurant, choose something with moderate projection, such as La Nuit de L'Homme, Coco Mademoiselle or Ombré Leather. Food is part of the experience, and a loud perfume competes with it. For a cocktail bar, a concert or a party, you can go richer and sweeter. For a summer date outdoors, warm scents can turn heavy in the heat, so consider a spicy citrus or a light amber, or simply apply less.

First dates are a good time to wear something familiar. Save the experiments for an evening when you already know how the fragrance develops over four or five hours.

Browse Oriental & Spicy and Gourmand on Feelings of Scent for pre-loved bottles of evening favorites, or take a quiz at Find Your Scent to find a direction.