Eau de l'homme

Once upon a time, men smelled of sweat. And the fur of their loincloths. And barbecue smoke (or its Stone Age equivalent). Not to mention all sorts of other less-than-desirable odours, as they went through life hunting mammoths to feed (and impress) their womenfolk. Now the closest most men get to those fight-or-flight situations is standing on a packed commuter train as it chugs painfully slowly into Charing Cross, or cheering on England in the World Cup. And happily, even in those stressful situations, men tend to smell of eau de cologne, or aftershave, rather than B.O. or raw pheromones. In order to smell sexy, or powerful, or sporty, men now lavish over £350 million a year on scent – and counting.

What's more, it has now been definitively established that fragrance really can make men more attractive to the opposite sex. According to Kate Fox, who's a social anthropologist and bestselling author of Watching The English: The Hidden Rules of English Behaviour, a nice smell on a chap can change the way we perceive him. Or at least, an average-looking chap – rather than George Clooney (who clearly doesn't need any help), or Quasimodo. Psychologists have found: 'If a person is clearly outstandingly beautiful or extremely ugly, fragrance does not affect our judgment. But if the person is just average, a pleasant fragrance will tip the balance of our evaluation in his or her favour.'

Now, I've always found that in the world of men's fragrances, even more than women's scents, there are countless 'me-too' (and therefore ho-hum) scents out there; fewer categories of fragrances, and fewer 'stars' within those categories. So as someone who is now blogging several times a week on the subject of fragrance – at www.thescentcritic.com – I thought I'd bring you my run-down of the Top 10 Scents for Men. All worth slipping under the Christmas tree or (working on the basis that at least 50‰ of the men out there will have a birthday between now and then), gift-wrapped on the breakfast table to mark a special occasion. Or – if you happen to be a chap and tend to get home after a hard day at the office/coal face smelling a bit too like you've been chasing a mammoth for comfort, to treat yourself…

4711, £10.95 for 50ml. OK, so this is a simple unisex eau de cologne. (One which you are likely to have borrowed by any women in your household, so don't say you weren't warned.) But they don't get much better than this: all citrus-refreshment and aromatic notes of lavender and rosemary, at the heart. The bottom line is that this is as cooling and uplifting and almost as good as a G & T when you're knackered.

Guerlain Vetiver, from £38 for 75ml eau de toilette. Prepare to light the blue (or rather green) touch paper, and wait for the fireworks to go off when you splash this on: a smoulderingly woodsy fragrance with delicious notes of tobacco, nutmeg, pepper, tonka bean and capsicum that emerge as it's skin-warmed. The vetiver and cedar notes are the fragrance's real signature, though. Very masculine and elegant, and the 'gold standard' of vetiver fragrances (of which there are now many).

Pour Monsieur by Chanel, £40 for 100ml aftershave. A masculine fresh 'chypre' fragrance (these are considered the most complicated and sophisticated of fragrance creations) – I'd say the quintessential men's scent (created by perfumer Henri Robert), fusing airy citrussy top notes with fleeting whispers of jasmine and rose at its heart, on a base of labdanum, oakmoss and patchouli. Yummy.

Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior, £58 for 100ml eau de toilette spray. Whoosh! Dig those citrus notes. Eau Sauvage is every bit as modern and fascinating as when it first dazzled in 1966. There are resinous, pine-y notes in its heart, and sexy woods beneath. Every man's side of the bathroom shelf should have a bottle of this.

Boss Platinum, £45 for 200ml Collector's Edition eau de toilette. Celebrating the 10th anniversary of Hugo Boss's Boss bestseller (50 million bottles say everything, don't they…?) This landmark fragrance now comes in a Collector's Edition chrome-plated flacon: inside, delectably edible apple, cinnamon and vanilla notes inspired by – yes! – apple strudel. (And what man doesn't love that…?)

Dolce & Gabbana The One Men, from £29 for 30ml eau de toilette. Elegant and sensual, distinctly modern – but timelessly classic and unique, too. This is for any man who likes to think of himself as charismatic, elegant, seductive – stay alert for the vibrance of spicy Oriental elements, the harmony of tobacco with refined boisé wood notes…

Gucci by Gucci Pour Homme, from £40 for 50ml eau de toilette. As everyone knows, Gucci = luxury. So apparently this was inspired by the design house's luxury tradition: a masculine floral for a hip dude (of any age). Unstopper it to enjoy its smooth, crisp freshness, warm incense and leather sweetness, with subtle whispers of violet and bergamot.

Jean-Paul Gaultier Le Male, from £36.50 for 75ml eau de toilette. A modern classic, for sure: this is power and sensuality in an iconic 'torso' bottle. Inside? A fresh, sexy fragrance with notes of fougère, mint and vanilla – perfectly balanced. (Sort of the fragrant equivalent of a tender-hearted rebel meets attractive rogue – a bit like Monsieur Gaultier himself, of course…)

Davidoff Hot Water, from £35 for 60ml eau de toilette. Following on from the huge success of bestselling Cool Water, we can now thrill to Davidoff's latest. New and modern, sexy and spicy Oriental opens with a thrilling freshness, and ends on a smouldering finale of warm notes. Everyone from hip teens to granddads seem to love this new classic.

Patchouli essential oil. OK, so this is a cheat. Not a fragrance, but a single note essential oil. I included it because it's what my own husband wears – the only fragrance that my husband wears, actually, a hark-back to his hippie days. I was never averse to dabbing a touch of patchouli oil on my pulse-points, myself, before my dressing table became cluttered with commercial fragrances. It's as sexy as it gets, in my book, and any man wearing it who gets within nuzzling distance of my nostrils had better have his fight-or-flight mechanism primed, or be prepared to accept the consequences.

Josephine Fairley's fragrance reviews can be enjoyed at www.thescentcritic.com.