18 Best Colognes for Men

We rounded up a comprehensive guide to the best colognes for men because shopping for a fragrance can be tough—much less if you’re doing it online. But it’s one of our favorite grooming products because of the huge variety in sensation each fragrance summons—or the story each cologne tells, if you want to be a little grandiose. You can’t get much of a story from a moisturizer or shampoo. But a great fragrance can turn heads for the right reasons. It can build a positive association with a friend, a date, a total stranger.

For example, I’ll always have a soft spot for Le Labo’s Bergamote 22. It was worn by a friend of mine, and a sniff sends me right back to my late 20s, and reminds me of all the exciting changes life threw at me those years. That’s the power of fragrance.

I try to test as wide a range of cologne for guys as possible, and to put together this guide, I rifled through my personal fragrance “library” at home, to pick out the scents that get the most compliments from people I encounter. I can’t stick to just one scent, since the job demands I know them all. That’s a curse and a blessing, because I love helping others find the colognes that best represent them, in hopes that they get to attach memories to these smells.

So here are 18 of the best fragrances for men, in all kinds of categories; perhaps these will help guide you towards one or two of them, to make shopping (even if online) all less stressful. Some of them are new, some classic, but each should make a favorable impression. Read on for the 18 best colognes for men.

Best Classic Cologne for Men

Acqua di parma

Colonia is a timeless scent that is a guaranteed hit for you, for a giftee, for anyone. It shines in the spring and summer, as well as light up the gloomier months, thanks to citrus, lavender, and rosemary notes at the forefront. It feels like something your grandfather might have worn, in the best and most classic sense, and assuming your grandpa had serious gravitas.

Best First-Time Cologne for Men

Dior Homme

Sometimes, fashion houses confuse consumers by releasing new versions of a classic and not changing the name. Dior Homme is one such case—the original is certainly great, but it’s this 2020 woody, musky, ambrous remix that might be one of the most universally appealing scents on the market. That’s to say, this eau de toilette is probably one you’ll smell on a few other people, since it’s such a crowd pleaser.

Best Date Night Cologne for Men

Danger

The terms “Danger” and “date night” aren’t two things we’d like to tie together, but in this case, it’s a perfect pairing. “Danger” oozes sensuality without being too forward, and it does so with universally pleasing notes like oakmoss, patchouli, cedarwood, and musk. Still, it’s probably a bit too horny for everyday office wear, and should instead be deployed on nights out—whether it’s Date number 1 or 1,000.

Best Year-Round Cologne for Men

Misfit

Three of our all-time favorite scents are from Arquiste: Nanban for the darker months, Peau for lighter days, and this one, Misfit, for pretty much everything else. Without fail, every day with any of these scents gets compliments and garners a new customer for the brand. And Misfit could be your new signature scent that is worn by nobody else in the office: It’s got patchouli base notes lightened by lavender and bergamot, and anchored by balsam and tonka bean.

Best Small-Batch Cologne for Men

Escentric 03

Leave it to the scent obsessives at Escentric to concoct their own miracle ingredients and then pass on the results to the eager masses. This one features vetiveryl acetate—a twist on vetiver oil that’s combined with acetic acid to strip away excess bitterness—accompanied by a welcome burst of lime and ginger. It’s an intense mix, but one that’ll leave you feeling revitalized and ready to take on the day after every spritz.

Best Sport Cologne for Men

Prada Ocean

You’re not the only one wondering what a “sport” scent is, and yet there’s an entire category of sport fragrances on the market. Typically, it’s a low-concentration eau de toilette or eau de cologne, offering high impact for shorter periods of time. At their best, they evoke some kind of outdoor activity, whether it’s boat racing, horse riding, or regular ol’ gym going. “Ocean” expands on the success Prada has experienced with its Luna Rossa line, infusing its best-selling sport scent with a telltale blast of sea salt.

Best Unisex Cologne for Men (and Women)

Eau Rihla

Eau Rihla bottles up a medley of spicy, powdery, and gourmand notes from the Middle East, like pink peppercorn, saffron, vanilla, and iris. The scent’s name, Rihla, means “journey”, and it is exactly that: One that travels through the senses and warms the spirits, wearable by any and all gender expressions.

Best “Signature Scent” Cologne for Men

H24

H24, Hermès’ first pillar men’s fragrance in over 15 years, would’ve been a landmark by any measure. As it turns out, it smells fantastic too. The crisp scent scooped a Grooming Award thanks to its fresh combination of clary sage, narcissus, and rosewood essence. It finishes with the distinct smell of metal, a flourish Hermès perfumer Christine Nagel attributes to sclarene, a synthetic molecule that evokes a “metal so polished it becomes sensual.” It’s still early enough to get in on the first H24 bandwagon, too, making this one your perennial signature scent.

Best Spring Cologne for Men

L’Homme à la Rose

We want more men to wear florals, because floral notes take the edge off; they invite people in. Maison Francis Kurkdjian’s inviting L’Homme à la Rose marries two rose notes together, one Bulgarian and one French, with an amber-woody heart and resinous base. It’s as sexy as a woody or leather scent, but in a less obvious way: It doesn’t demand attention. Instead, it stokes curiosity. It’s flirtatious. We could all afford to try that approach—even if it’s platonic.

Best Summer Cologne for Men

Louis Vuitton Imagination

It’s been a prolific few years for Louis Vuitton’s in-house perfumer, Jacques Cavallier-Belletrud: First there were L’Immensité and Orage from the initial launch of 5 men’s fragrances, and then the exquisite summery unisex collection “Les Colognes”, with favorites like Sun Song and Afternoon Swim. Perhaps atop them all, though, is this 2021 launch, Imagination. Like the rest of the lot, it summons world-class ingredients—Chinese black tea, Italian citrus, Tunisian neroli, Nigerian ginger, and top-shelf ambrox.

Best Fall Cologne for Men

Aesop Eidesis

Aesop’s latest fragrance is yet another knockout, a spicy dry-woods scent that wears well year round, but unmistakably leans towards the colder half of the calendar. Black pepper, frankincense and sandalwood are the primary notes here, combining to form a sophisticated but approachable recipe.

Best Fall Cologne for Men

Terre D’Hermes Vetier

This is hotly debated, but as outstanding as Terre D’Hermes is… this vetiver remix is even better. Vetiver has never been better than in this —which is saying something. I’ve been able to convert many a friend to what I think is a sleeper hit—because too many people are hung up on the (also incredible) original!

Best Winter Cologne for Men

Tom Ford Oud Wood

We wrote an entire Tom Ford fragrance roundup, but the truth is, they’re all pretty fabulous. (So much so that Mr. Ford actually named one “F*cking Fabulous”.) In a barn burner race, though, Oud Wood might eke out the overall brand win, for its smokiness, spiciness, woodiness, oudiness… these broody notes also makes it a frontrunner in the winter category, since it warms on contact, and for lack of better word, smells incredibly masculine. It really is an Alpha Male kind of scent, despite the industry skewing unisex of late. (Along those lines, I also know a few women who wear it for dates and rainy days alike.)

Best Long-Lasting Cologne for Men

Sylt Style

Krigler makes some real top-shelf perfume for men. That’s because many of its launches are parfums, some of the highest concentrations of perfume oils you can get. (Hence the price tag.) Thus, a little goes a long way with any Krigler scent. Sylt Style is an ode to the Germans’ favorite island destination, Sylt. Perfumer Ben Krigler originally thought his primary demo for this one would be women, but it has become a runaway success with male consumers, thanks to rapturous blend of cashmere, almond, pink pepper, vanilla, moss, and amber; all together, it smells like a luxury vacation. There’s a reason you won’t find Krigler at a department store, and it’s the same reason it runs laps around the (lack of) competition.

Best Subtle Cologne for Men

Versace Eau Fraîche

If you want a barely-there scent, then Eau Fraîche is the ticket for its diluted perfume concentrations (1-5%), compared to eau de toilette (5-8%) and eau de parfum (8-15%). It’s akin to applying a light body spray, or wanting a pleasant scent for a morning meeting, without announcing “Hey this is my brand!”. Versace Man is the hardest ‘yes’ in the softest category: It tethers sycamore and rosewood to lemon, starfruit, and musk for a balanced, what’s-not-to-love finish. It might register as a whisper to colleagues or friends, and that is exactly the point.

Best Inexpensive Cologne for Men

Calvin Klein Eternity

Eternity EDT is evergreen: sage, cedar, bergamot, and moss combine for an earthen and refreshing finish, and at a price that is friendly to the greens in your wallet. This is one of those scents that everyone recognizes, since it’s an easy pick as a signature scent, or as a gift for the cologne-curious.

Best Room Scent for Men

Coqui Coqui Tabaco

Beyond candles and Febreze, we don’t give enough attention to how our homes smell. There are room sprays and diffusers exactly for this reason, and best of all, specific rooms can carry specific scents (not to mention, they can be engaged on the fly; it’s not like your bedroom always needs to smell alluring). Our favorite universal scent is Coqui Coqui’s Tabaco diffuser. It’s not overbearingly tobacco-y that it ever feels off season, but it is prominent enough to make the bathroom more welcoming (if that’s what you want your bathroom to suggest to visitors), or ditto for the living room and bedroom.

Best Try-Before-You-Buy Cologne Subscription

Shopping for cologne online is hard. Can you really imagine what a heavy woody scent backed by musk, patchouli, smells like? How’s that different than a light base of sandalwood, and cedarwood with top notes of bergamot and cardamom? Snif takes the guessing out of it. They send you a sample pack of full-size bottles—you simply return the ones you don’t want to keep. My new personal favorite is the woody wunderkind Sweet Ash, but the great part is that it only matters what you like.

Creed “Aventus”

Before decamping to Paris and pivoting to fragrance, Creed made its name as a tailoring operation in the London of the 1700s. So it’s fitting that the brand’s fragrances are formulated with cut-and-sew precision. A decade after its debut, Aventus remains Creed’s calling card. The fruity scent features top notes of pineapple, bergamot, and apple balanced by hints of birch, ambergris, and sandalwood—a strong, masculine combination that (much like a perfectly-cut suit) will help you stand up a little straighter and walk a little taller.

Issey Miyake “L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme”