Bond No. 9 Greenwich Village Eau de Parfum 100ml

This is the one people stop you about. Greenwich Village opens juicy - lychee and cassis with mandarin behind them - and then does something unusual by going floral and watery in the heart before landing in praline and vanilla. The result is a fruity floral that finishes like a soft gourmand, which is not a combination many houses attempt. Bond No. 9 files it under oriental vanilla. In practice it reads sweet, clean, and slightly luminous.

Top: cassis, lychee, mandarin · Heart: peony, waterlily, jasmine petals · Base: ambrox, peach musk, vanilla, praline, oak moss

Bond No. 9 formulates strong and this is no exception - eight hours on skin is a low estimate. Miami heat is kind to it, and the watery floral heart is the reason. Waterlily and peony read as cooling in humidity where a heavier white floral would go soapy, so this stays comfortable through a Coral Gables lunch in August in a way most vanilla-based perfumes simply do not. The praline gets louder as the day runs on and your skin warms, so what starts as fruit is closer to caramel by hour six. Sillage is generous without being aggressive - people notice, nobody moves away.

Year-round in this climate, which is rarer than it sounds. Daytime, office, brunch, shopping, and it holds up after dark too. Unisex on paper and in practice, though it leans feminine on most wearers.

A Bond bottle is a commitment, and this is one worth living with before owning. Take a 5ml or 10ml and run it for a week. Or test it at the Miami Gardens shop, where you can smell it directly against the rest of the Bond lineup rather than from memory.