7 Sexy Perfumes to Channel Your Sensual Energy

To me, perfume is as important as the clothes you put on your body every day. A good perfume plays on your senses; a great one makes you feel something. That’s why, when I want to feel my hottest, my curated selection of sexy perfumes always comes out to play. When you hear that term, you may think of beast-mode longevity that turns every head in the room. While some sexy perfumes may offer just that, professional perfumers agree that it takes a bit more than increased sillage to make a perfume truly sensual.

​“A sexy perfume doesn’t have to announce itself when you walk into a room,” says Teri Johnson, the founder and chief executive officer of Harlem Perfume Co. “It reveals itself when someone leans in close. It’s intimate, not loud. The fragrances that captivate are the ones with depth and complexity, scents that unfold over time on your skin.” S.S.K. Labs fragrance expert and the founder of The Society of Scent, Frédéric Jacques, agrees. “It’s much more about how the perfumer plays with the notes than the notes themselves,” he says. “It’s about the depth and layering of the notes. The way they play is a slow and mysterious reveal, an intriguing discovery of what is coming next.”