Best unisex fragrances to shop this summer – including luxe-smelling £10 M&S buy

ok.co.uk:

This won’t be a socio-political essay, don’t worry, but I think we can all agree that gender identity is blurred like never before.

And what’s happening in the wider world is very much being echoed in the perfume halls. Unisex fragrance is booming, with the beauty world encouraging us to follow our nose and simply love what we love, instead of being confined to ‘male’ and ‘female’ scents.

If you stop to think about it, the whole concept of assigning a gender to certain fragrance notes is bizarre. Who decided that berries and flowers were female, while smoky spice and musk were male, for instance?

Advertisers, that’s who. “Historically all fragrances were all unisex,” explains Lorna McKay from The Perfume Society. “It was marketing at the turn of the 20th century which changed the landscape when perfumers blended perfumes rather than just using single flower essences.The arrival of synthetics - not a bad word in perfumery - gave rise to the creations we enjoy today.” From a perfumer’s point of view, creating a ‘unisex’ scent today means toning down the stereotypes at either end of the spectrum. “Sweet, foodie notes, and tobacco, leathery notes tend to be dialled down,’ says Lorna. “Less polarising notes - citrus, classic floral, aquatic and green notes, for instance - come to the fore.