I like Bleu de Chanel, I can take citrus, I want woods and subtlety, and I have a budget. Which car scent profile should I investigate?

Four of your five inputs are answerable from print. The fifth is the one you have measured a thousand times and never written down.

The answer, in full

Let me take your five inputs one at a time and say which are mine to answer and which are yours. Input one, your own perfume: SOSA publishes nothing about any designer or niche perfume, so I cannot tell you what the bottle on your dressing table contains and I will not guess at it. Spray your own perfume on a paper strip rather than on skin, leave the strip twenty minutes somewhere out of the sun, then write down the three words you would use for what is still on the paper. That gives you three words, and those three words outrank everything else on this page. Input two, citrus tolerance: published, and generous. Lemon ₹509 publishes a family of Citrus, fresh with top notes of cold-pressed lemon peel brightness, sharp citrus zest, natural d-limonene. Sea Breeze ₹519 publishes a citrus accent in its opening and Vetiver ₹519 publishes a light citrus edge in its heart, so you can have citrus at three different volumes without leaving the published range. Input three, woods: Sandalwood ₹509 publishes a family of Woody, creamy resinous, meditative, with heart notes of Indian sandalwood depth, creamy resinous warmth. Oud ₹519 publishes Woody, resinous, premium. Vetiver ₹519 publishes a base of dry root warmth, a residual cooling effect, under an Earthy, green family. Input four, subtlety: that one is a format decision rather than a scent decision. A 12ml hanging bottle is a refillable glass bottle whose stopper loosens for stronger and tightens for subtler, and it publishes 4 to 6 weeks, that is 28 to 42 days, of continuous diffusion. Input five, budget: eight of the nine come as a 10ml spray or a 12ml hanging at the same price per scent, from Jasmine ₹459 to Sea Breeze ₹519, with Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559 a spray only and no refill. So the profile to investigate is citrus-over-dry-wood, and the single pyramid that carries most of it is Vetiver ₹519. Two things to stop looking for while you are at it. No SOSA pyramid carries a single spice note, so there is no pepper, no cardamom and no cinnamon anywhere in the nine. No SOSA pyramid carries a fruit note either, so there is no berry, no apple, no peach and no pineapple in any of the nine. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what any reader will prefer, so the last step of this is yours. A portion of every SOSA order supports girl-child education through Nanhi Kali.

Your five inputs, and what each one can be answered from

Four of the five are answerable from published facts and the fifth is yours. I have kept them separate rather than blending them into one recommendation, because the blend is where pages start inventing.

Inputs one and two: your own bottle, and citrus tolerance

SOSA publishes nothing about any designer or niche perfume, so I cannot tell you what the bottle on your dressing table contains and I will not guess at it. Spray your own perfume on a paper strip rather than on skin, leave the strip twenty minutes somewhere out of the sun, then write down the three words you would use for what is still on the paper. Then citrus, which this range serves at three volumes. Lemon ₹509 publishes a family of Citrus, fresh, with top notes of cold-pressed lemon peel brightness, sharp citrus zest, natural d-limonene. Sea Breeze ₹519 publishes a citrus accent in its opening and a base of soft amber drydown, residual saltiness. Vetiver ₹519 publishes a light citrus edge in its heart. One family, one accent, one edge, all three in print.

Three published volumes of citrus, from a family to an edge.

Inputs three and four: woods, and where subtlety comes from

Sandalwood ₹509 publishes heart notes of Indian sandalwood depth, creamy resinous warmth, over a base of quiet musky drydown, residual chandan warmth. Oud ₹519 publishes heart notes of agarwood depth, smokeless warmth, refined resin. Vetiver ₹519 publishes a base of dry root warmth, a residual cooling effect. Subtlety is then a format question: the 12ml hanging bottle's stopper loosens for stronger and tightens for subtler, a spray leaves the dose to the number of presses, and Safar ₹3,999 publishes three speed settings.

Input five, and the two gaps: budget, spice and fruit

The single bottles run Jasmine ₹459, Lavender and Sandalwood ₹499, Sandalwood ₹509, Icy Mint ₹499, Lemon ₹509, Oud ₹519, Vetiver ₹519, Sea Breeze ₹519 and Mysore Orange Blossom ₹559, so a budget rarely decides between them. A budget decides whether Safar at ₹3,999, or ₹4,499 for the hotel-inspired variant, is in the frame at all. Then the two gaps: No SOSA pyramid carries a single spice note, so there is no pepper, no cardamom and no cinnamon anywhere in the nine. No SOSA pyramid carries a fruit note either, so there is no berry, no apple, no peach and no pineapple in any of the nine.

A budget picks the format far more often than the scent.

The profile, named, with its published evidence

Citrus-over-dry-wood. Vetiver ₹519 publishes a family of Earthy, green, Indian heritage, top notes of fresh green khus root, a cool earth opening, heart notes of deep vetiver and a light citrus edge, and a base of dry root warmth, a residual cooling effect. That is wood, earth, citrus and a dry finish in one published pyramid, which is why it goes first. Sandalwood ₹509 is the answer if the wood matters more than the citrus, and Lemon ₹509 the answer if the citrus matters more than the wood.

If you would rather test three pyramids than read nine, the three-spray discovery sets are ₹709 to ₹909 and the pack of nine is ₹3,009. See the discovery sets →

Five inputs, and what answers each

A closing honesty, because a profile-builder page is the easiest place in this series to oversell. SOSA publishes no strength ranking of the nine and no prediction of what any reader will prefer, so the last step of this is yours. What I have given you is the pyramid that carries most of your stated inputs, not a prediction that you will like it. Buy the one bottle, hang it with the stopper tightened, and let a week of your own driving overrule me if it wants to.

“Four inputs from print, one from your own nose. The one from your nose is the one that decides it.”

From five inputs to one bottle

1. Run the paper test on your own perfume and write the three words down.
2. Read Vetiver Rs 519's pyramid first: wood, earth and a light citrus edge.
3. If wood matters more take Sandalwood Rs 509; if citrus matters more take Lemon Rs 509.
4. Buy the 12ml hanging bottle and hang it with the stopper tightened.

Questions, answered