I'd love to see the brief the Christian Louboutin creative team presented to the perfumers, because their collaborative and, I'm sure, extensive work resulted in a strong, commercially balanced line of fragrances that brilliantly explores virtually all the most popular fashion themes. They explore them with ease and irony.

Another cheeky name from Tom Ford. In reality, Bitter Peach is the scent of a teenage party, when you crave alcohol and all sorts of liberties, but your parents are vigilant and regularly check to make sure no one's spiked the punch. So, the main course and event becomes flambé ice cream cake.

Aqualis London produces fragrances in perfume concentration and is sold in one of the most elegant and expensive department stores in the world – Harrods.

For the first time in many years, I recognized it. Shalimar Philtre de Parfum Guerlain is a distinctly authentic Shalimar, without the sticky, sweet toffee and burnt rubber that have permeated the great, long-suffering fragrance over the past 20 years.

The blotters from the Gritti citrus collection all smell wonderful together: like summer, warmth, and something elusive Italian that turns even orange peel into candy.

"Eat me," says carrot cake with orange marmalade. "Drink me," echoes fragrant herbal tea with rose petals and milk. "Smell me," says a small vial of Lost Alice Masque Milano, and suddenly, eyes glow with delight and happiness spreads warmly through the chest.

The UERMI project is an olfactory wardrobe. But not in the sense that fashionable perfume stylists understand. Creators Aurora Carrara and Palmiro Picquin sought to combine scents with the tactile and visual sensations of textures and fabrics, conveying through perfume the touch of silk, the roughness of denim, or the creak of vinyl. It's a challenging task, but UERMI never stops exploring new combinations.

I've been saying for a long time that Robert Piguet's Bandit is unlike anything else. Germaine Cellier "painted" the great leather chypre with sweeping, broad brushstrokes. Greenery, bitterness, a velvety southern night with its intoxicating floral scent, and then, all at once, tough black leather and an unfiltered cigarette.

Alessandro Brun, creator of the renowned Masque Milano collection, dedicated his new perfume project to his beloved city and called it simply Milano Fragranze. Through scents, Alessandro sought to remind us, deprived of travel, of Milan's most famous landmarks and traditions.

The difference between genuine niche perfumery and the stylized versions of the "big" perfume houses is immediately apparent. Yes, the focus is on raw materials, all those tired "precious ingredients" in press releases. Yes, all the bottles are identical, and maybe even feature mother-of-pearl and rhinestones for customers in countries where oil gushes right out of the window. But brands like Guerlain don't, and never have, attempted to appeal to the sophisticated consumer.