Certain perfumes emerge from their bottles like movie stars, pure liquid glamour. What differ are the kind of glamour and the kind of star. The modern paradigm of olfactory glamour is Fragile by Jean Paul Gaultier, a scent like an instantly recognized face passing through a gauntlet of flashbulbs. You glimpse the sleek black dress, and then she’s gone. Chanel No. 19, by contrast, is rather a stunning ingenue; Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew Amber Nude is glamour morphed into sensuality. Juicy Couture’s eponymous first scent is a surprisingly restrained glamour: a starlet wearing pink flowers in the cool Los Angeles air. Roberto Cavalli’s Serpentine is a star in the tropical heat of Rio, where she’s gone for a face lift. Following are three of the more interesting ways glamour is turned into fragrance.

Awards season in Hollywood now has a scent. Badgley Mischka is the abstracted fragrance of gowns and diamonds and the purple smell of lilies around Benedict Canyon pools in the early evening when the caterers are setting up. Lean in, and you also get the hostess’s makeup and that young bartender’s early sweat. Technically solid (it lasts beautifully on the skin), the success of this perfume couture lies in its virtual reproduction of the brand’s clothing couture. Badgley Mischka produces creations that project off the body; the perfume finishes the gown to the degree that it will be hard to imagine getting dressed in one without getting dressed in the other.