The ideal scent keeps the wearer interested, evolves with him or her; you can’t “solve” it in one go like the plot of a bad detective novel. You need a perfect structure, like Chanel No. 5, to keep you safe; and then from time to time you need to subvert expectations, with something that cuts against your style and even your gender.

Hilary Mantel, A Memoir of My Former Self-…, loc. 1068