On most of our product pages you will find a short line in gold under the name, for example Creed – Virgin Island Water / Louis Vuitton – Afternoon Swim. That is the inspiration behind the composition. We print it because it is the single most useful piece of information for someone who cannot smell a bottle through a screen, and because we would rather say it plainly than let you guess.
What it means
It means the perfumer set out in the direction of that fragrance: a comparable accord, a comparable mood, a comparable structure. If you know the named fragrance and you like it, you have a reliable starting point instead of a blind guess.
Some of our perfumes name two sources, separated by a slash. Those are hybrids, and the slash is doing real work. Mykonos x RRQ Empire sits between Creed's Virgin Island Water and Louis Vuitton's Afternoon Swim rather than following either one. Mykonos Aphrodite reads as Kilian's Angels' Share crossed with Maison Margiela REPLICA's Jazz Club. Reading only the first name would give you the wrong idea of both.
What it does not mean
It is not a copy, a clone or a replica, and we do not describe our perfumes that way. A fragrance formula is the property of the house that made it. What an inspiration line tells you is the direction, not that two bottles are interchangeable.
It also does not mean any association with the named house. Mykonos is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to Creed, Louis Vuitton, Kilian, Maison Margiela or any other brand we name. We use those names for one reason only: to describe a scent accurately. All trademarks belong to their respective owners.
And it does not mean an identical experience. Concentration, raw materials and the balance of the blend all differ, so longevity, projection and the way a scent develops on your skin will differ too. Sometimes that difference is the point: a few of ours are deliberately louder or softer than their starting point.
Perfumes with no inspiration line
Roughly a fifth of the range carries no inspiration at all, because there is none to report. Penthouse, Vanilla Clouds, Coconut Dreams, Monaco Royale, Luminos, Hawaiian Crush, Paradise, Verve, Baby Love and Caramel Fudge Cookie are original compositions. We leave the line off those product cards entirely rather than inventing a comparison, which is why you will see it on some cards and not others.
How to actually use it
Treat the inspiration as a map reference, then read the notes. The line tells you the neighbourhood; the note pyramid on each product page tells you the house. If you liked something fresh and saline, start in Citrus. If you liked something sweet and warm, start in Gourmand or Woody & Vanilla.
If you are new to reading a note list at all, our guide to top, heart and base notes is the place to start, and fragrance families explained covers how we group the range. If you are weighing concentrations, see extrait de parfum versus eau de parfum.
Why we publish it at all
Plenty of shops in this category stay vague, or hint at a resemblance without ever writing it down. We think that is the wrong way round. You are spending money on something you cannot smell first; the honest thing is to tell you what it is close to, tell you what it is not, and let you decide. If a description on this site ever seems to overstate what a perfume is, tell us and we will correct it.
Browse the full range in All Perfumes, or start with the bestsellers.