7 best trending pheromone perfumes, in UAE, for 2024

Some perfumes boost your mood, while others invoke nostalgic memories and take you back to a happier time. Pheromone perfumes, however, have only one goal: to completely mesmerise.

Perhaps the closest thing you’ll find to fairy tale love potions (except here, you’ll need to take a whiff of it, not ingest it), pheromone perfumes work by imitating your hormone signals and evoking involuntary responses in other people. Similar to skin scents, they create a subtle, but intriguing appeal, making the wearer of the perfume more magnetic and alluring to the people around them.

It’s no wonder TikTok’s #PerfumeTok is exploding with pheromone perfume recommendations. From warm, soft notes of vanilla and musk, to cosy and woody amber notes, these perfumes can vary in formulations used, but at their core, they amplify the wearer’s own unique scent.

We scoured through social trends to curate a list of the best pheromone perfumes you can buy right now, on Amazon. We also spoke with Dan Terry, creative director of Oo La Lab, a perfume making fragrance lab based in Dubai and Singapore, who shared his feedback on this trend, and decoded the best way to choose a pheromone perfume for yourself. Scroll down to learn more, and don’t forget to opt for Prime membership, so you can enjoy free, fast delivery.

1. Best Overall: Frédéric Malle Carnal Flower 

Sultry and sophisticated, Carnal Flower makes you feel mysterious and powerful with just a spritz. Do note, however, it’s not for the faint of heart. It has a bold sillage, and you can smell its heady combination of tuberose, jasmine and musk from a distance. In fact, Carnal Flower contains a larger dose of tuberose absolute than any other perfume. It opens with green and citrusy notes of eucalyptus, melon and bergamot. As the tuberose develops, it softens the opulent flowers at the heart of this perfume – ylang-ylang and jasmine. Orange blossom absolute, coconut and musk round out the base notes. Overall, it’s a strong, luxurious perfume that commands attention and lasts for hours. Reviewers avoid wearing it to work, but bring it out for social gatherings and nights out.

2. Best Perfume Oil: Pure Instinct Pheromone Unisex Perfume Oil 

With close to 80,000 ratings on Amazon, and a viral following on social media, Pure Instinct’s perfume oil cannot be dismissed. It reacts to the pH of your skin, so no two people smell the same, when they’ve applied this product. The perfume oil has a unique fruity, floral and spicy blend of notes, thanks to the use of Australian mango, honey, cinnamon, mandarin and musk. Reviewers say it lasts all day and blends well with other colognes or perfumes, if you’d like to layer it with another favourite scent. A little goes a long way, and the rollerball format of this perfume oil makes it easy to apply, and to take along in purses or on flights.

3. Best Unisex: Escentric Molecules Molecule 01 

If you want to completely dive into the trend, consider Escentric Molecules’ Molecule 01. The perfume consists of just one note: Iso E Super. This synthetic ketone note has a remarkably pleasant smell – it’s dry and woody with subtle hints of ambergris, vetiver and patchouli. The note can stimulate specific hormone receptors in others, which is why Molecule 01 can be thought of more as a skin scent enhancer than a perfume. Reviewers say the perfume has a velvety effect that ebbs and flows on the skin, and they’ve been stopped countless times by passersby who are curious to know what perfume they are wearing.

Bonus: Buy with zero per cent installments and pay Dh80.14 for 12 months with select banks.

4. Best Balance: Glossier You 

Another skin-scent enhancer that smells a little different on everyone, Glossier You is soft, warm and familiar. It combines sparkling pink pepper with earthy iris, ambrox and ambrette seeds to create a fresh and clean fragrance with a slightly spicy kick. What makes it stands out, however, is that it gets the balance of fresh and warm notes absolutely right. Hundreds of reviewers say they’re calling it their signature scent, because it works well in all seasons. The uniquely shaped bottle, which has a thumbprint indent, needs the wearer to complete it – a fitting design for a skin scent that perfectly captures your exclusive essence.

5. Best for Travel: Phlur Missing Person 

A fan favourite on TikTok, Phlur’s Missing Person is a skin scent that’s positively addictive. Its top notes of skin musk, bergamot nectar and sheer jasmine lead to a heart of fresh cyclamen, neroli blossom and orange flower. The scent is then grounded in sandalwood Australia oil, blonde wood and white musk. Light but provocative, it’s a musky scent that melts delicately into the skin, leaving a mesmerising trail of floral and woody notes that are both deep and complex. Reviewers say that the perfume reminds them of someone or something they’ve smelled in the past, but they can’t quite put a finger on who or what it was. It’s why they keep coming back to it, with a sense of craving and longing.

6. Best for Layering: D.S. & Durga I Don't Know What 

Like Molecule 01, D.S. & Durga’s I Don't Know What uses Iso E Super to create a light, understated scent that enhances the wearer’s natural aroma. It’s a bright, clean fragrance that opens with bergamot essence, leads to heart notes of vetiver acetate and Iso E Super, and ends in base notes of synthetic civet, Firsantol (a more potent, synthetic form of sandalwood) and ambrox super. Although some reviewers wear the fragrance on its own, others enjoy layering it beneath other perfumes to create a unique scent. Some comment that it smells vibrant and fresh on silk and cotton clothes, and warmer and muskier on bare skin.

Bonus: Buy with zero per cent installments and pay Dh42 for 12 months with select banks.

7. Best for Hair: Byredo Blanche 

You likely focus on pulse points when applying perfume – the wrist and neck, for instance – but why not leave your hair smelling divine, too? Byredo Blanche’s hair perfume does exactly that. Created with the intention to capture the colour white in a scent, Blanche conjures images of white roses, gossamer clouds and fresh linen. It’s an undeniably fresh and airy scent, with top notes of aldehydes, rose and pink pepper, middle notes of peony, violet and African orange flower, and base notes of musk and sandalwood. Spritz it onto your hair to create a light, invisible veil that leaves your tresses luminous and subtly perfumed all day long.

What are pheromone perfumes?

Can body chemistry truly be used to create a perfume? It may seem like something out of a fantasy fiction novel, but decoding human reactions to scent, is at the centre of creating pheromone perfumes.

Terry explained: “Pheromone perfumes are fragrances that claim to harness the power of pheromones — naturally occurring chemicals that are believed to trigger social responses, particularly related to attraction, in others. While the science of pheromones is still debated (in humans), the idea behind pheromone perfumes is that they can influence how people perceive you, enhancing social or romantic interactions.”

Even as you wrap your mind around the idea of perfumes imitating hormonal signals through synthetic compounds, there’s another factor that’s worth considering. What exactly do pheromone perfumes smell like? Are they fruity, floral, woody, spicy, or something entirely different?

Terry shared some insight: “Typically, pheromone perfumes don’t have a strong or distinct scent of their own, as the aim is not to mask or overpower the wearer’s natural scent. Instead, they are often designed to be subtle, allowing the pheromones to interact with your body’s unique chemistry. As a result, the fragrance might change slightly depending on who wears it, blending with your own natural scent. In this sense, they are personalised, but they are often layered with other fragrance notes to create a more complex experience.”

Like skin scents, which are subtle and have a feel-good quality about them, pheromone perfumes often rely on warm, soft notes, like vanilla, to enhance your own unique scent.

When it comes to choosing a pheromone perfume, Terry advises it's best to consider how it makes you feel rather than focusing solely on the concept of attracting others. He added: “Fragrance is deeply personal and plays into confidence. Testing is key — wear the perfume for a few hours to see how it interacts with your skin and body chemistry. Many pheromone-based perfumes are subtle, so pairing them with a scent you already love can create a unique signature.”

Our recommendations are independently chosen by Gulf News editors. If you decide to shop through links on our website, we may earn an affiliate commission, as we are part of Amazon Services LLC Associates Program.