If you’re fairly new FragTown, you might not know that seasonal fragrances are of relatively recent vintage. I began collecting fragrances in the early 80s, and there was no such thing as a summer or winter fragrance. We wore the same fragrances year-round. I wore the masterpiece pine-heavy Polo (now Polo “green”) in the heavy heat and humidity of northern Ohio summers, just as I did Aramis and Kouros. Everybody else in the fragrance game did also. There were no blues, “freshies,” or gourmands. I’m very happy with the multiplicity fragrances today – let me correct that: I’m very happy with the multiplicity of good fragrances today and abhor the multiplicity of bad fragrances today. I can assure you that not just numerically but proportionately there are many more bad fragrances today than there were in the 80s. The idea that some fragrances work better in different weather and climates and seasons is (mostly) a constructed category. It is true that, say, amber-heavy fragrances might radiate off your skin better in cold weather, but this doesn’t mean they should be limited to the winter. Nor does it mean that if you love Bleu De Chanel EDT or Tom Ford’s Neroli Portofino, you should not wear either when it’s below zero. Fragrances are seasonally inappropriate only when we have bought stock in the constructed reality of seasonal fragrances. Sometimes we hear that winter fragrances worn in the summer are “cloying.” But that, too, is a constructed category. It is cloying only to people who think it is cloying. And if people around you think it is cloying, remember they may dislike your fragrances for a number of reasons, not merely because they are not “seasonally appropriate.” Of course, fragrance houses benefit from fragrance seasonality. After all, they can then make fragrances for unique seasons, and, therefore, make more fragrances, and, therefore, sell more fragrances. In fact, this logic ranks right up there with their endless flankerdom. Bottom line: if you’d love Dior Homme Intense (or Creed Oud Zarian), wear it on the hottest summer days. If you love Acqua Di Gio EDT (or Roja Oceania), wear it on snowy days.

Homme Noir JMP is proof you don’t need a popular designer house behind you to produce an inexpensive, refined, quality masculine fragrance. This has the usual top citrus notes but they’re based in an expertly blended honey, lavender, tobacco and moss. This is restrained, smooth masculinity. And that’s how a 180 ml EDT $19.99 T. J. MAXX under-the-radar fragrance can score 4.17 on Fragrantica. The only frag I know in this value-for-money range is Jacques Bogart Pour Homme.