Just as BMW offers its more accessible 3 Series to younger buyers, many perfume houses offer beginning fragrances for their younger consumers. Each house follows its own logic.

Chanel has gone the Rothko route with Coco Mademoiselle . Chanel’s perfumer Jacques Polge has lowered the age of entry while creating a scent that still appeals to the granddaughters of women who wear Chanel No. 5. He has also created a scent that’s every bit the work of art that the youthful No. 19 is. Here, accessibility is created through straightforward olfactory style, not engineering. Where Ralph by Ralph Lauren condescends shamelessly to the young buyer (pure sugar candy), Coco Mademoiselle graces her with youthful sophistication. This is a Mercedes-Benz C-Class. It is both an entry-level scent and a very smart marketing decision. It smells like a 17-year-old in a divine summer dress. Using a core of beautifully engineered patchouli, its scent is floral without a trace of heaviness, fresh without green, sweet without sugar— in short, the scent of loveliness. Come across someone wearing it, and you want to lean closer.