Escentual Molecules Molecule 01 is a perfume which is designed to react with your body’s own pheromones to create a scent that’s unique to you. That alone would probably have been enough to draw me in – because who wouldn’t want their very own scent, that no one else can possibly have? – but once I read the reviews, I was slightly confused, because reactions to Molecule 01 tend to fall into two broad camps:

01. People who genuinely can’t smell it AT ALL, and consider it to essentially be the Emperor’s New Clothes of Perfume.

02. People who claim it makes them smell so UTTERLY AMAZING they literally have people chasing them down the street, all “Y U SMELL SO GOOD?”

I’m honestly not exaggerating here, by the way. If you have a quick Google, you’ll find countless reviews from people claiming to have been chased down the street, and as soon as I read them, I was like: YES. I, too, would like to be chased down the street by people who suddenly find me totally irresistible.

Reader, I ordered it.

When the package arrived, however, I was suddenly worried. What if I was one of the people who couldn’t smell this perfume at all? What if NO ONE could smell it on me, and it was literally just like wearing water? WHAT IF, people?

Happily, though, as soon as I opened it and had a tentative spray, my worries were assuaged: not only could I smell Molecule 01, for me, it actually has quite a strong, and very distinctive smell. It’s kind of woody and musky, and while that wouldn’t normally be something I’d go for (My current most-used scent, for instance, is Lancome’s La Vie Est Belle, which is sweet and floral), I was surprised by how much I liked it.

It didn’t seem to smell any different on my skin than it did in the bottle, but, undeterred, I headed down to the office, where Terry was working at his computer. I assumed he would probably be so bowled over by the amazing scent of me that he would fall off his chair or something, but, alas he gave no sign that I was even there, much less that I was smelling like HEAVEN.

Sad trombone.

An hour or so later, my parents appeared with Max, who they’d just picked up from school. Surely this time they would all be drawn to me like flies to honey? Or would faint, at the very least?

NO.

Again, no reaction.

Slightly deflated, I sat things out, then, two days later, prepared for Molecule 01’s biggest test yet:

A trip to Ikea.

Now, I was a bit worried about this one. As you probably know, Ikea is always hectically busy, and if the reviews turned out to be true, and everyone within smelling distance suddenly wanted to chase me, there was a strong possibility of me ending up wandering around the store like some kind of perfume Pied Piper.

Well, spoiler alert: NO. That didn’t happen either.

To date, no one has stopped me in the street to ask what perfume I’m wearing, or to shower me with compliments. That’s not, however, to say that won’t happen to you, obviously. This is, as I said, a perfume which smells different on everyone who tries it, and I don’t know, maybe I just have faulty pheromones or something?

What I will say about Molecule 01, though, is that it’s one of the few perfumes I’ve tried that actually seems to last all day on me. Most of the scents I use smell amazing when they’re first applied, but after a few minutes, I stop being able to smell them. I’m not sure if it’s just because I get used to the scent, or if it genuinely doesn’t last on me for some reason, but, whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to happen with Molecule 01. I will continue getting whiffs of this all day (I can smell it as I’m writing this, in fact), and that alone makes it worth it for me.

I would still quite like to be stopped in the street, though, so I’m curious to know if anyone else has tried this, and if that’s bee the reaction, if so? (And, if not, well, there’s always La Vie Est Belle…)