The Trained Nose

Fleur du Mâle against Oesel

One number per era rather than one number overall — two fragrances can be near-identical at the opening and different things by the evening, and an average hides exactly that.
Jean Paul Gaultier

Fleur du Mâle

· lasts about 3.2 h
Xerjoff

Oesel

· lasts about 7.1 h

How close, and when

Across a whole wearing, Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle and Xerjoff Oesel are related, not interchangeable. They are nearest during the drydown and furthest apart in the heart, which is the part a single figure would average away.

45% opening · 0–1 h
40% heart · 1–3 h
52% drydown · 3–8 h
Measured across all twenty-four facets, from the notes below — not from the families on the boxes. They share 1 of 13 materials, which is worth holding beside the figures: a pair can share almost nothing and still converge, because different materials can smell of the same things.

What AKIN predicts

AKIN predicts these two are alike, and the evidence behind that is substantial.

Two signals sit on this page and are never averaged: what the note pyramids measure these two to share, and what AKIN’s resemblance graph predicts. Where they part, that is the finding rather than a fault.

The pyramids, side by side

Compared by material rather than by spelling, so a note recorded two ways is not counted as a difference.
top
both — Petitgrain
Oesel only — African Orange Flower, Lemon
heart
Fleur du Mâle only — Neroli
Oesel only — Jasmine, Mimosa, Rose
base
Fleur du Mâle only — Basil, Chamomile
Oesel only — Amber, Patchouli, Tobacco Blossom, Virginia Cedar