How we research and rank

What we do — and don't — claim

We are an independent, enthusiast-run review site, not a laboratory and not a panel of perfumers. We do not own gas chromatographs, we have not smelled every batch of every bottle, and formulations change over time. Saying that plainly is the whole point: our trust comes from a transparent, repeatable method, not from a credential we'd have to invent.

Where our information comes from

Every assessment on this site is built from four kinds of input, in this order:

1. Published note pyramids and concentration data — the official top, heart and base notes and the concentration (EDT, EDP, parfum) from the house and from reference databases like Fragrantica and Basenotes.
2. Aggregated owner and community reports — how a fragrance actually performs on real people: longevity, sillage, projection and season, drawn from a wide read of owner reviews and fragrance-community consensus, not a single source.
3. First-hand impressions, only where genuine — where our editor has real, hands-on familiarity with a scent, we say so. Where an assessment is compiled rather than worn, we say that too. We never blur the two.
4. Live price and availability — pulled from Amazon through its official product API, never typed from memory.

The scoring rubric (1–10)

Every ranked product carries an overall score out of 10, which is the mean of the metrics below. These are judgements from the compiled research above — they are not lab measurements. We define each one so you can weigh them yourself:

• Longevity — how long the scent lasts on skin, from a couple of hours (light EDT) to twelve-plus (a heavy extrait), based on owner consensus.
• Sillage— the scent trail you leave behind as you move (French for "wake").
• Projection— how far the fragrance radiates while you're stationary; your "scent bubble."
• Value — quality and performance relative to price. This is where a $30 bottle can out-score a $150 one.
• Versatility — how many settings and seasons a fragrance genuinely works in.

A high overall score never overrides the honest verdict. Every product also carries a "don't buy this if…" line, because the right fragrance for one person is the wrong one for another.

How "closeness" works on dupe pages

On our dupe comparisons, "closeness" to the original is a considered judgement described in words — "very close in the opening, drifts sweeter in the dry-down" — never a fabricated percentage or a lab match score. Clones legitimately differ from originals because of IFRA restrictions, cost and batch variation, and we say so.

How prices stay honest

Prices are pulled live from Amazon's product API and stamped with the date they were verified. If our data is more than 48 hours old, the number disappears and the button falls back to "Check price on Amazon" rather than showing you something stale. We would rather leave a gap than print a price that has rotted — and Amazon's price at checkout is always the one that counts.

Buyer-first, always

When the cheaper bottle is the smarter buy, we rank it that way, even though the pricier one would pay us more. On dupe pages, the buy link points at a reliably-stocked clone rather than a counterfeit-risk listing of the original. Commission never steers a verdict; see our editorial policy and affiliate disclosure.

How often we update

Prices refresh automatically. We revisit our money pages on a roughly quarterly cadence to re-check picks and refresh the "last reviewed" date, and we update affected pages promptly when a fragrance is reformulated or discontinued. If you spot an error, tell us — we aim to correct factual mistakes within 48 hours.