What celebrities smell like, according to celebrities

Unlike in the '90s, this distinctly musky oil isn't just for the lady running the "grain" aisle at your local food co-op or the hackey-sack hippies hanging out on your college quad. Today, America's sweetheart/daytime host Drew Barrymore wears this affordable perfume oil (even if it's most associated with Phish shows). According to the star's website: "Drew feels her best with a drop of Triloka Patchouli Perfume Oil on her wrists and neck. The fragrance transports her to a lush, luxurious place each moment she catches a slight scent."

Have to say, I love the idea that Jennifer Garner, a woman I associate with the clean smell of Ivory Soap, is in real life devoted to this sexy, vanilla-sandalwood scent. Among a certain set of jet-setting ladies, Byredo Gypsy Water is legendary (Sienna Miller and Rihanna are also fans) for its unique, distinctly smoky vibes. Garner told Vogue last year that she’s “been wearing it forever.”

This subtly floral, gardenia-based oil has legions of famous fans — there’s an entire page devoted to them on Kai’s website. It launched in 1999 and since then, the light roll-on has become an in-the-know fragrance staple for celebs and everyday folks alike. Oprah, for her part, loved the Kai signature scent so much, she included it in her Favorite Things List of 2007, and even requested the oil be made into a customized body butter, which she raved about on her then-daily talk show. 

More than a decade later, reviewers still can't get enough of it: "The smell of heaven‘s garden in a bottle," raves one 5-star reviewer.

"Smells amazing," proclaims another. "I always get compliments when I wear it. Floral scent, really yummy."

When asked if she has a "signature scent" in a 2015 interview with Harper's Bazaar, Hayek offered up this iconic fragrance from designer Narciso Rodriguez. To say it's popular is an understatement: A bottle sells every 15 seconds worldwide, even 22 years after its launch. 

With a combination of light rose and just a hint of patchouli, For Her is well-balanced, elegant and both floral and woodsy. "It's very musky," Hayek shared with Harper's Bazaar.

"I have fallen in love with all of Michelle Pfeiffer's Henry Rose fragrances," Kidman told People magazine in 2019. "My favorites are Torn [shown] and Last Light." Actress Kate Capshaw is also taken with the vetiver-and-vanilla unisex scent.

In an interview with Elle Decor in 2022, the White Lotus actress explained just why she loves this jasmine-neroli-orange-blossom blend (also from Pfeiffer's line, Henry Rose): because it's both all-natural and makes her feel at home. “When I was 13, I would wear every chemical I could think of. And when you’re a kid, you’re never thinking about ingredients. Now I have to be careful," she said. 

The 66-year-old Waiting to Exhale actress favors this sophisticated scent from iconic French fashion house Dior, which ecstatic reviewers have called "rich," "subtle and simple" and the "greatest scent you can find in a perfume bottle."

Bassett told the Los Angeles Times in 2016: "I like Miss Dior fragrance, and I always put on coconut oil — skin is the biggest organ!"

“I used to wear Coco by Chanel. But now I wear Portrait of a Lady," Carter told New York Magazine in 2023. "It’s one of the most famous scents in the world. I always get compliments: ‘Oh, you smell so good.’ That’s the key. I don’t get as many compliments when I wear other things.” 

Stewart is known to be a bit fickle with her personal fragrances but this scent remains close to her heart: The tuberose and jasmine perfume was created by a dear neighbor who gifted her a bottle prior to his passing at age 93. "He would induce me to bring over a six-pack of Corona beer and he would give me a bottle of Fracas," she told Allure in 2021.

Who doesn't want to smell like a classy dame? Helen Mirren shared this favorite scented spritz with Glamour back in 2020, calling it her "go-to perfume." Fragrance scholars say it's a light mix of bergamot, lemon, mandarin orange and fig leaf, which makes it bright and spicy, just like the ageless beauty herself.

That Jennifer Aniston perfume Emma Stone was overheard fangirling over? According to InStyle, it may have been this uber-popular scent from Jo Malone. The mag says this bright citrus-floral cologne is an Aniston fave (it's also a signature scent of stylish celebs such as Katie Holmes).

However! According to Women's Health, Aniston prefers this old-school Frenchy floral scent, which just happens to be the perfume I saved up for and wore in my suburban Philadelphia high school to seem worldly and très parisien.

OK, in the interest of fair and accurate reporting — I am a journalist, after all! — the only scent-savvy businesswoman Ms. Aniston has for sure recommended is, in fact, her own. This breezy perfume was "inspired by the beach at sunrise with new hopes at dawn" and is meant to reflect the actress's "timeless beauty, spirited personality and serene elegance."