Methodology
Data source
Reviews are Reddit comments. Because Reddit blocks automated access from our servers, we read comments through the Arctic Shift Reddit archive. For this edition we pulled every comment posted on sampled days (the first 5–7 days of each month, May–October 2026) in r/fragrance, r/FemFragLab, r/Perfumes, r/fragranceclones, r/Colognes, r/DesiFragranceAddicts, r/FragranceStories: 309,406 comments. Bot, AutoModerator and deleted comments were dropped.
Matching and owner detection
- A comment is matched to a fragrance by name or common abbreviation (for example BR540, CDNIM, BdC). Ambiguous names (Libre, Legend, Angel) need the brand in the same comment. Flankers we do not track (Intense, Elixir, Extrait, Exclusif and similar) are not credited to the base fragrance.
- When a comment names several fragrances, only the sentence(s) naming each fragrance are used for it. Long lists of fragrances are counted as mentions but not rated.
- A mention counts as an owner comment only when the writer describes their own experience (I own, I wear, I bought, my bottle, on my skin, sampled it...). Wishlists, questions and "thinking of buying" comments are excluded, as are comments where a fragrance is only named as the target of a dupe ("Zara's version of...").
- Copy-paste campaigns (the same text from 3+ accounts) are flagged and excluded. One comment per person per thread per fragrance is counted.
Result: 52,703 fragrance mentions, of which 8,104 are owner comments and 4,636 carry a clear rating.
Scores
Each component is 1–5, or Not rated when there is no evidence. The overall score is a weighted mean of the components that exist; missing components never count as zero, and their weight is shared among the rest.
| Component | Weight | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|
| Owner sentiment | 0.4 | Bayesian mean of owner ratings: (C·m + Σwᵢrᵢ)/(C + Σwᵢ), C = 5, m = category mean (3.96). Ratings come from the comment's own words (love/amazing = 5, good/nice = 4, mixed = 3, meh/disappointed = 2, hate/scrubber = 1). Weights wᵢ grow with upvotes and are 1.5× for detailed comments. Shrinkage stops one glowing comment from reaching 5.0. |
| Recommendations | 0.15 | 1 + 4·ln(1 + recommendations) / ln(1 + the most-recommended fragrance's count). A recommendation is an explicit "would buy again", "safe blind buy", "worth it" or "highly recommend". |
| Longevity | 0.15 | Owner comments saying it lasts (all day, 8+ hours) vs fades (gone in an hour). Score = 1 + 4·(pos + 3·p₀)/(pos + neg + 3), shrunk toward the category share p₀ = 0.58. |
| Projection | 0.15 | Same rule on projection/sillage comments (beast mode, room-filling vs skin scent, sits close). |
| Compliments | 0.15 | Share of a fragrance's owner comments reporting compliments, shrunk toward the category rate and scaled against the best fragrance with 5+ owner comments. Not rated when no owner mentions compliments either way. |
Scores are computed once per data refresh and stored; every page shows the same stored value, and the build fails if any page disagrees.
Evidence thresholds
- A fragrance is published with at least 1 owner comment; with fewer than 5 it shows a limited-data warning and is kept out of search indexes (noindex) and the sitemap.
- Brand pages need 5+ owner comments to be indexed; season, occasion, family, gender and price-tier lists need 3+ fragrances with 5+ owner comments.
- Head-to-head comparisons are only built when both fragrances have 5+ owner comments and share a family. Dupe pairings need 2+ comments naming both with a dupe/clone/smells-like phrase to appear and 5+ to be indexed.
Families, gender and price tier
These are classifications, not review data. Family and "marketed for" follow the brand's positioning and common fragrance references. Price tier reflects the house's price class (budget/clone, designer, niche/luxury), not an observed price.
Amazon links and counterfeit risk
We only link Amazon listings sold by Amazon.com itself or by the brand’s own Amazon store, because fragrance on Amazon carries a real counterfeit and grey-market risk. If no such listing exists, we show the fragrance without a buy link. We search Amazon, open each candidate's own product page, and accept it only if the buy box shows "Sold by Amazon.com" or the brand's own store, the title names the exact fragrance (not a tester, sample, set, dupe or different flanker), and it is in stock. Every Amazon link uses our affiliate tag. Prices are dated snapshots, never live prices.
Known limits
- Sampled days, not every day: counts are a sample of roughly six months of discussion.
- Lexicon-based ratings miss sarcasm and nuance; quotes are linked so you can read them in context.
- Reddit fragrance communities skew toward enthusiasts and toward certain houses; popularity on Reddit is not the same as popularity overall.
- 22 of 205 fragrances have fewer than 5 owner comments.
Updates and independence
We plan to refresh Reddit data and Amazon seller checks monthly. Commissions never affect scores, rankings or verdicts.