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The Top 25 Perfumes Of The 21st Century... So Far
Here we go... a list of the Top 25 best perfumes of the century so far. -- Are your favourites here?
As 2024 came to an end, many of you asked if I’d compile a rundown of the best perfumes of the decade so far. I found the idea appealing — as you know, I do love a list — but then it occurred to me that 2025 marks an even more significant milestone. So, in my tireless and unashamed pursuit of geekery, I decided to go one better and try to put together a list of the best perfumes released since…
Vero Profumo Rubj
nose: Vero Kern
notes: passionfruit, neroli, bergamot, mandarin; cumin, tuberose, orange blossom, basil; oakmoss, musk, cedar
Ahhh. Rubj is a Big Damn Orange Blossom in a grand, old-fashioned style, with plenty of tart citrus and passionfruit singing backup. I love its glamour, its swagger, its spikiness. It disappears into green-black oakmossy depths like a classic chypre should.
A lot of reviewers find the cumin note overwhelming, too much like sweat or curry, but for me it's just a touch of skin-like muskiness that keeps Rubj grounded. Perfume for people, not angels.
What I do get a lot of is tart, almost green passionfruit. It's an unusual note in perfumery because it's tangy but much more long-lasting than citrus. So you can get that fruity-chypre effect, that black-outlined stained-glass glow, as it sinks into the oakmoss, but unlike peach- or plum-based chypres it's not sweet but zingy-tart. Still a lustful femme fatale, but high-energy and full of verve, not languorous.
An hour or two in, the passionfruit quiets down to just a hint of juiciness, and what we've got is a hazy aura of orange blossom amid warm muskiness.
Rubj is my kind of fun. Sultry, vivid, swanky; enough to stand up to a strong personality.
Literally every one of Vero Kern's perfumes is a winner. They're all very different from each other -- but they're all bold, distinctive, and grand in scale. Kiki is a light-and-sweet lavender, Onda a dank, rainy vetiver, Naja the world's sunniest floral tobacco; Mito's a cool and ladylike green floral, Rozy's a mellow, tender, mossy rose chypre, and finally Rubj is the "sexy one", the musky orange blossom. I can't really pick a "favorite" but wearing Rubj definitely feels like coming home.
Vero Profumo Rozy
Vero Profumo Rozy
nose: Vero Kern
notes: rose, honey, passionfruit, peach, powder, lilac, sandalwood, tarragon, hyacinth
Rozy — a scent inspired by 1950’s actress Anna Magnani, known as the “She-Wolf” for her passionate performances — opens with a liquored aldehydic rose, very retro glamour, and then quickly gets dusty and musky. It’s a cloud of slightly-peachy warmth and dry darker mossiness.
A few minutes in, Rozy is dominated by cooling, sharp-green tarragon against the mossy-earthy backdrop.
On me, Rozy is a rose chypre, emphasis on the chypre — it’s all about deep mossy forest greens with a bit of aldehydic & animalic bite. We’re firmly in femme fatale territory: a style of classic glamour that comes with raw sensuality and a mean streak.
half an hour in, Rozy relaxes and actually starts to become rosy — or, rather, has a rose/amber/peach phase, warm and skin-like and expansive. I think I do sense a bit of passionfruit here as well; there’s a tart, purplish fruity facet alongside the soft peach. As fruit, rose, and ambery-musky warmth intersect the green moss, the effect is symphonic and glorious.
The far drydown is a hazy, skin-like amber-peach-moss, a comfortable sort of sensuality that stays with you all day.
Rozy reminds me a bit of Chypre Palatin (another niche fruity/green chypre with a retro-glamour sensibility) but Chypre Palatin is much more aggressive and high-contrast — its greens are sharper, its fruits jammier, its base darker. Rozy is a holistic blend. Its sharp edges are tamed into loving warmth.
The other natural comparison point for a peachy chypre is Mitsuoko, but Rozy is from a totally different planet: Mitsuoko has a tender, sweetly spiced, peach-and-cinnamon thing going on, and even at its mossiest it’s rather sentimental in spirit. Rozy is spice-free, much drier, and never loses its edge.
Vero Profumo Naja
Vero Profumo Naja
Nose: Vero Kern
notes: osmanthus, melon, linden, tobacco, honey
Naja opens with juicy bright cantaloupe melon, followed by a haze of summery, powdery flowers with a honeyed touch.
and then before you know it, we’re in tobacco land and it’s beautiful. Honeyed, golden, mellow, like nothing else on earth. Gradually it gets smoky, and then the smoke goes down to a dull hum and the powdery, fragrant linden blossoms return.
Naja is inspired by 1920's tobacco fragrances like Tabac Blond, but I think it's unique. It's certainly not like any other tobacco scent I know; it's golden and sun-drenched, a daydreamy afternoon of a fragrance. It’s not overly sweet or heavy, like most “tobacco” scents; instead, it’s all layered, fragrant, powdery and pollen-y nuances. The prettiest snake around.
Vero Profumo Onda
Vero Profumo Onda
Nose: Vero Kern
notes: passionfruit, ginger, citron, basil, coriander, bergamot, mandarin; honey, ylang-ylang, iris; vetiver, patchouli, cedar, musk
Onda is a tremendous smoky, grimy, dank, decaying-forest-log scent — it’s controversial, but I love it. There’s a slight funkiness like a mud puddle after rain, or a damp spent charcoal fire.
The charcoal-black grime covers a core of citrusy radiance — yes, with a bit of the tart passionfruit note that Vero Kern puts in every perfume. It feels like morning, clear skies amid the aftermath of chaos.
over time, Onda turns grayer and drier, becoming more explicitly a vetiver scent with a smoky touch. The “brisk morning sky” feeling (probably an abstraction around citrus) remains to balance the gray woodsmoke. The dank weirdness is gone by this phase and Onda is almost a “normal”, refined smoky-woody scent with a remarkably cheerful spirit.
It feels like exploration, like going to an unfamiliar part of town full of abandoned warehouses. Somebody might be making a bonfire; someone might be running an exquisite little print shop in one of the warehouses; somebody might be giving away a truckload of 2x4’s or an antique desk; you half expect to meet a strange little old man who will give you a magic ring and a quest.
Vero Profumo Mito
Vero Profumo Mito
Nose: Vero Kern
notes: galbanum, champaca, hyacinth, citrus, cypress, moss, jasmine, magnolia
Mito opens vividly green and citrusy and then immediately hits a weird, unpleasant note …hay? sort of barnyardy and grassy, anyway.
As it opens out further, there’s a creamy mellowness to the florals, lots of dreaming magnolia with a slightly aldehydic refinement. There’s a delicate pale-yellow almost-sweetness to this stage; it’s gauzy but rich, and beautifully calm.
We’re firmly in the 60’s/70’s green chypre tradition: Chanel No. 19, Weil de Weil, YSL Y, Piguet Futur, etc. (And other recent revivals of the genre like Tom Ford Vert Boheme.) Traditionally this is a feminine genre of rather ladylike and aloof daytime scents, but they wouldn’t be bad on a guy branching out from green colognes.
I love the Green Chypre Zone, and Mito is a graceful modern-niche entry in the genre. Cool, green, effortless elegance. Perfect in summer.