Smelling his best is one of the most important things a man can put effort towards in how he presents himself, and yet so few actually bother. Fragrances hold incredible power over the senses; they can recall a feeling, a physical sensation, a tender moment from years past. A person’s scent influences how the world perceives them. But when you can manually select how you smell with just a spritz of cologne, how can you possibly decide?

Finding the right cologne for you takes a whole lot of time and effort. This isn’t just regular shopping—it’s a layered choice to make, and it has to come from yourself, not just what’s trending. Like any important decision, you should be as informed as possible; that’s what we’re here for.

One: Aromatic effects

A fragrance can spring forth emotions and memories, certainly—but even the body itself is physiologically affected by olfactory senses. Familiar or comforting scents can soothe anxieties, and may even be able to dull pains. The responses come from the building blocks of our evolution.

The human sense of smell is more powerful than you might think. Matthias Laska, a biologist at Linköping University in Sweden, shared some data with Discover Magazine. Testing against 17 different species of mammals, the human nose sensitivity outclassed all but dogs.

These responses come from the building blocks of our evolution. As humans, our sense of smell has always been vital to our survival. We’re repulsed by scents that could indicate rot or disease, we sniff out the pheromones of compatible mates, and we can even smell the emotions of our loved ones.

So what does all of this mean for your choice in cologne? With our sense of smell so deeply woven into our perceptions, choosing your scent means much more than just how you smell. It means choosing a facet of who you are, or who you present yourself to be.

Two: There’s more to it than cologne

Before we make this choice easier on you, we’re going to make it slightly harder: you have more to choose from than just colognes. The term cologne, or eau de cologne, has become a generalized term for any fragrance marketed for men—particularly in English-speaking countries—but it refers to the category of dilution (how much perfume oil is actually in the product).

At the top of the spectrum is pure perfume or parfum, with a 15 to 30 percent concentration. This is the product that lasts 24 hours and will flood a whole room. Eau de parfum follows with 15 to 20 percent and will last all day without sticking to anything around you (there’s a bit of overlap between the two; part of the potency depends on just what ingredients are involved).

Eau de toilette follows at around 5 to 15 percent, and is only really meant to last for half a day, oftentimes advertised for either day or night wear. Eau de cologne comes in next; it clocks in around 2 to 4 percent, a light concentration that generally only lasts for a few hours unless you continuously freshen it up.

Left at the bottom of the hierarchy is eau fraiche—literally “fresh water,” as these are extremely low concentrations (1 to 3 percent) typically cut with mostly water. They only really serve as a refresher without a long-lasting scent, and are often marketed as products like “splashes” or “mists.”

We were all once led to believe that colognes were the only fragrances for men. In reality, you have all of these categories at your disposal. Any type of fragrance can involve traditionally masculine scents, like Dolce & Gabbana’s spicy and warm The One for Men Eau de Parfum, or the fresh eau de toilette Versace Eros.

Three: Making the choice

So far all we’ve done is broaden the playing field for you—now is when we’re actually going to help out. You know now that you can choose between strengths of your scent, so now let’s get to the scent itself.

Remember that what you’re selecting is, in a sense, your brand. The combination of fragrance notes that forms the theme of your cologne also influences how others will view and remember you.

All fragrances are made up of initial top notes, full-bodied middle notes, and lingering base notes. This careful structure—which you can learn more about here—allows perfumers to cultivate a perfect saga of scent. For this, they choose from various fragrance families to paint the picture they’ve envisioned. This, gentlemen, is the first step to narrowing down your choices.

Four: The fragrance wheel

The fragrance wheel has the same principles as a color wheel—it allows for a simple glance at the relationships between the different fragrance families. There are four broader families: floral, oriental, woody, and fresh. Those are each then divided into three to four sub-categories (the categories may vary depending on the version you’re looking at; we’re referencing the most recent edition of The Fragrance Wheel from renowned expert Michael Edwards).

Adjacent families lead into each other. Woods, for example, become mossy woods with the addition of oakmoss and amber, which can become dry woods with a nice touch of leather. As such, the bordering family of each broader category could be considered a sweet spot between two groupings: floral orientals are still floral notes, but stray into the oriental side. Soft orientals, on the other hand, are the first oriental notes on the wheel, and still have a gentle touch of floral sweetness.

With this information, you can try and narrow down what you’re looking for. In general, people will prefer one or two fragrance families. Once you know what appeals to you the most, you’ll know generally what kind of scent to look for.

Finding your special scent

Unfortunately, you can’t just go by concepts here—that’d be too easy! You can get an idea of where to start from reading descriptions and reviews, but the most important part of selecting your cologne is actually trying it on. Something might sound like it smells amazing, but when you try it yourself, you could be surprised!

Notes and fragrances tend to take on different scents on different people. A certain cologne might get your buddy all the compliments when he’s out on the town, but then smell all wrong on yourself. This is all because of plain old biochemistry.

Every person’s signature odor is just as unique as their fingerprints. This isn’t just your B.O.—your natural body odor type comes right down to your skin cells. It’s an olfactory aura, a sniffable signature determined by your genetics, the balance of chemical compounds in the body, and pheromones.

Because of our unique scents, it only makes sense that the result of fragrance products would differ between individuals. Rather than providing a scent where there was none, your cologne is only adding a new flavor to your natural “eau de you.” And, so to speak, while some dishes pop with paprika, others work better with a bit of coriander.

Remember: the person who best knows what suits you is you. Test it out, wear it for a day, and see if you like how it progresses. Everyone else is only a second opinion—if multiple people say it isn’t working, then maybe you can try something else.

It’s about the journey

How you smell adds a distinctive facet to your self-expression; an invisible style choice that changes how you’re perceived and carves out a special place in the olfactory memories of everyone you know. It can mean the difference between looking “good enough” and truly embodying a confident, put-together man.

There’s so much to choose from, but once you get into the swing of things, making that choice can be fun—and you will be making that choice more than once. Fragrance is a journey, not a destination. You may not find another cologne that suits your fancy for years, or you may find a new one every few months. It’s a personal olfactory expedition, and one that we’d love nothing more than to assist you in.With ScentBox’s subscription service, you can try out a new scent every month, shipped straight to your front door. And if you find your favorite and want to wait before you go hunting down a new one, no worries! Our service is month-to-month, and can be canceled at any time. Try it out—not just our service, but a whole new lifestyle of smelling great.