For every perfume at SwiftScent you will see a "When" field that says Day, Evening or Day and evening. This is not a strict rule but a suggestion. You can wear any scent you like, whenever you like. But there is a reason some perfumes work better at the office and others at a candlelit dinner.
What makes a fragrance right for daytime
Daytime fragrances are usually fresh, clean and light: citrus, green notes, sea, tea and white flowers. They have moderate projection, so they do not overwhelm people around you at the office, on public transport or in a meeting with colleagues. The goal is to smell good without the scent entering the room before you.
Our daytime favourites: Parfums de Marly Greenley, Xerjoff 40 Knots and Mancera Cedrat Boise Intense.
What makes a fragrance right for the evening
Evening fragrances are denser, warmer and sweeter: vanilla, tobacco, cognac, leather, oud, amber and spices. They usually have stronger projection too, because in the evening, in cooler air and a more intimate setting, that is exactly what you want: to leave a trace.
Our evening favourites: Kilian Angels' Share, Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille, Parfums de Marly Herod and Mancera Xplicit Vanilla.
Day and evening: the versatile fragrances
Some fragrances work at any time: fresh enough for the day and warm enough for the evening. If you want one perfume for everything, start with these.
Our favourites that work for both day and evening: Parfums de Marly Pegasus, Mancera Instant Crush, Tom Ford Oud Wood and Mancera Amore Caffe.
A few tips
- For the office: one or two sprays are perfectly enough. Your colleagues will thank you.
- For a night out: you can allow yourself more, but still do not overdo it. A good scent is noticed when someone is close to you.
- The season matters too: a heavy evening scent in summer can be too much even at night, and a fresh daytime scent in winter quickly disappears in the cold. See our fragrances for autumn and winter and fragrances for spring and summer.
- Try it with a decant: the easiest way to find out whether a scent suits you for day or evening is to wear it for several days in different situations.
If you want to learn more about how long a fragrance lasts and how far it projects, read Longevity and sillage: what the dots mean.