Fragrantica

Fragrantica is the largest perfume database in English and the one most fragrance conversations eventually point to. Its own counters put it at 142,000 perfumes, 2.7 million reviews and 2 million members. Elena and Zoran Knezevic started it in 2007, and it now publishes in 23 languages with a team of more than 45 contributors across 29 countries.

A perfume page gives you the house, family, launch year and perfumer, the note pyramid with each note linked to its own page, and a weighted list of main accords. Below that sit the community's rating, its votes on when to wear it, member photos and the reviews themselves. Dior Sauvage alone carries more than 4,000 reviews and 34,565 rating votes. Around the pages you can search by note, by accord, by perfumer or by house, and compare perfumes side by side.

It is also a magazine. The homepage is a dated, bylined news front page covering launches and reviews, and it runs its own awards each year. The forum, Fragrantica Club, has more than 2 million registered users and over 4 million posts, with busy boards for advice such as choosing a scent for someone else.

Reading is free, and so is an account, which lets you rate, review, build a wardrobe and see fewer ads. It does not sell perfume itself; some perfume pages show sponsored shop offers.