Gourmand is the newest family, dating from 1992 when a fragrance built around caramel and cotton candy proved that people would happily smell of dessert.

Everything since has been variations on that idea.

The characteristic notes

  • Vanilla, the foundation of nearly all of them
  • Caramel and toffee
  • Chocolate and cocoa
  • Coffee
  • Almond and praline
  • Honey
  • Coconut
  • Spices — cinnamon, cardamom — bridging into oriental territory

Why they work

Smell and memory are closely linked, and food smells reach that connection more directly than flowers do. A gourmand fragrance is pleasant in a way that feels comforting rather than decorative, which explains both the appeal and why people become very attached to particular ones.

The two rules

1. Apply less than you think. Gourmands are heavy and project further than almost anything else. Two sprays. The wearer stops noticing their own fragrance within minutes, which is exactly how overapplication happens.

2. Match them to cold weather. Heat amplifies sweetness enormously. A gourmand that is cosy in November becomes cloying in July — not slightly, but dramatically.

Keeping them from being childish

The criticism of gourmands is that they read as young or unserious. Avoidable:

  • Look for gourmands with woody, smoky or boozy bases — coffee over cedar, vanilla over oud, caramel with rum. The contrast is what makes them grown-up
  • Avoid pure sugar. Cotton candy and marshmallow accords are the ones that read as juvenile
  • Bitter notes help — dark chocolate, coffee, tonka

Where they suit

  • Autumn and winter, decisively
  • Evening
  • Cold-weather casual — they are cosy rather than formal

Where they do not

  • The office. This is the family most likely to be noticed by colleagues, and food smells in a shared space are more intrusive than floral ones
  • Restaurants, where they compete with the food
  • Hot weather
  • Any setting where you want to be understated

If you like the idea but not the sweetness

Try oriental fragrances with a vanilla base rather than true gourmands — the vanilla is present, but structured around resins and spice rather than sugar. That is the halfway house.

For that family, see the perfume section.