You Beauty!

Nothing tugs at memory like smell. The meagrest trace of aftershave can spin you into romantic recall (Chanel Egoïste) or post-traumatic stress (Acqua di Parma Colonia Intensa) — à la recherche du temps perdu, if you like. I know that makes me sound like a bit of a tool so I’ll put it this way: smells distil feelings gone by. Sensory recall, like genetic memory, is tough to swerve.

Largely I drift about unaware, but smells I notice. Candles, coffee, apples, petrol, basil, wood smoke, lemons, leather, marker pens, gum, basil, clementines, detergent and so on, ad infinitum. I am content to leave the house barefaced, but if I go out unscented, I feel as though I’ve forgotten something. I feel as though I have forgotten myself.

Diptyque’s Philosykos Eau de Toilette has been with me for 15 years. It is a stroll through a wild fig orchard, beginning with the greeny fruit and ripening into something sweet and woody before fading away too soon to skin. But Diptyque has now launched an Eau de Parfum, which, with its higher concentration of perfume oil, is truer to the heart note of fig and blossoms as the hours roll by.

I try other scents but they always turn out to be mere flirtations. Philosykos takes me back to times joyous and appalling, triumphs and indignities, calm and storm. They are who I am. So I wear Philosykos when I want to smell like who I am.

Diptyque Philosykos Eau de Parfum, £85, at liberty.co.uk