The same fall fragrance at three prices

Four fall ideas, each shown three times: the Niche bottle, the Designer bottle and the Budget bottle in the same lane. Read each row top to bottom and the price drops while the drydown mostly stays. What changes is the first hour, and the rows show where that matters and where it does not.

How to read the rows

• Niche first, Budget last. Each idea runs from the most expensive bottle to the cheapest, and the card shows the live price in your market.
• Same lane, not always a clone. Where our clone table links two bottles, the entry says how close. Where the threads only pair them, it says "same lane".
• The drydown converges. After the first hour the three bottles in a row land in the same place on most skins. The first hour is what the price buys.

Boozy spiced gourmand

1. Kilian Angels' Share

The top of the first row and the Niche pick for the whole list. The last hour of a good dinner party: cognac, cinnamon on warm apple, candle smoke and a blanket, edible and expensive at once. It projects hard for the first two hours and lasts a full day. The two bottles below it keep the cinnamon and the vanilla; neither has the cognac. It is a crowd-pleaser in our data. For dates and special occasions on cold evenings, if the opening is the part you would pay for.

2. Giorgio Armani Emporio Armani - Stronger with You Intensely

The Designer step, and the sweetest of the three. A bakery on a cold morning: toffee, cinnamon, roasted chestnut and a creamy vanilla with a whisper of suede. Angels' Share above it has cognac and apple instead. It lasts fifteen hours and fills a room, so two sprays in a warm room is the limit. It is a crowd-pleaser in our data, and it is everywhere. It sits at the warm end of the season. For dates and nights out, if you want the row's idea safer and sweeter.

3. Lattafa Khamrah

The Budget step, and the clone. Cinnamon apple pie next to a glass of spiced rum, then dates and praline, then a resinous vanilla. It rates very close to Angels' Share in our data and matches it for a full day with room-filling projection from two sprays. What it loses is the cognac and the woody finish, so after the first hour it lands where the two above it do. It is a crowd-pleaser in our data. For dates and nights out, if the price was the only problem.

Smoke and honeyed tobacco

4. Xerjoff Naxos

The top of the second row, and the honeyed cousin rather than the copy. A Sicilian pastry shop that also sells cigars: honey and lavender first, tobacco leaf behind the counter, a cashmere softness over it all. The threads pair it with By the Fireplace below it for the same warm, smoky-sweet evening, though the smoke here is tobacco rather than wood. The opening is rough for twenty minutes, then it lasts twelve hours. For dates and nights out, if you like lavender.

5. Maison Margiela By the Fireplace

The Designer step and the reference for this row. A wood cabin, a fire going, chestnuts roasting on the stove and a bowl of vanilla sugar on the table. Real woodsmoke for the first hour, then sweet roasted chestnut and a soft balsam. It is polarising for a reason, cosy to half the room and ash to the other half. It lasts a full day and fills a room. No live price in our default market yet. For nights out and special occasions, if you want the actual fire rather than the idea of one.

6. Lattafa Ameer Al Oudh Intense Oud

The Budget step, and the clone. Marshmallows burning at the edge of a fireplace, sweet smoke settling on a wool coat. It rates very close to By the Fireplace in our data, with more caramel and less real woodsmoke. It matches the original for a full day with strong projection. A fresh bottle smells of burnt rubber for the first few weeks. It is an acquired taste in our data. For cold nights, if the campfire idea was the point and the price was not.

Sweet tobacco

7. Parfums de Marly Herod

The top of the third row, and the quiet one. A fresh bag of cherry pipe tobacco opened in a tailor's fitting room, with a vanilla underneath that never shouts. It stays close and reads as comfort, which is why the threads name it for people who find the Designer bottle below it loud. It lasts a full day in our data, though on some skins it turns to a skin scent early, so spray clothes. For cold evenings, if you want the sweet tobacco idea at conversation distance.

8. Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

The Designer step and the reference for this row. An old tobacconist's shop where someone is baking gingerbread in the back. Pipe tobacco, vanilla, dried fruit and a little cocoa, thick enough to fill a flat. It is the most named tobacco in the fall threads and the heaviest bottle on this list. It belongs to the cold end of the season. It lasts all night and stays in the room after you leave. For nights out and special occasions once the coat is on.

9. Al Haramain Haramain Amber Oud Tobacco Edition

The Budget step, by consensus rather than by clone link. A baklava shop that also sells pipe tobacco, clove smoke drifting in from the back. It is warm, heavy and sweet, with less tobacco than the name promises. It keeps the honeyed weight of Tobacco Vanille and swaps some leaf for clove. It matches the original for a full day with room-filling projection. Two or three sprays. For cold evenings, if you like the row's idea and do not mind clove in the opening.

Powdery iris and vanilla

10. Parfums de Marly Layton

The top of the fourth row, and the cousin rather than the copy. A green apple sliced over warm vanilla, with cardamom and pepper behind it. The lavender reads as menthol to a third of the room. The iris in its heart is what pairs it with Dior Homme Intense below it in the threads, though the apple is its own idea. It is a crowd-pleaser in our data and lasts a full day with strong projection. For dates and formal evenings, if you like apple over vanilla.

11. Dior Dior Homme Intense (2011)

The Designer step and the reference for this row. A dark suit, cocoa powder and a cedar wardrobe: powdery iris that reads as lipstick for the first quarter hour, then a creamy suede-and-cocoa warmth. Many call it the best Designer fragrance ever made, and it is a crowd-pleaser in our data. It lasts a full day. It sits in the middle of the season, too dressed for the beach and too soft for deep winter. For dates and formal evenings, if you like iris.

12. Al Wataniah Kayaan Classic

The Budget step, and the one to end on. A lady's leather handbag with a lipstick in it: buttery iris, a soft leather behind it, a sweet sandalwood-cocoa warmth by evening. It rates very close to Dior Homme Intense in our data and matches it for a full day on paper. On many skins it fades in two or three hours, so spray generously and test first. What it loses is depth. For formal evenings, if you want the lipstick-iris idea for a tenth of the price.

Common questions

What is the Budget version of Angels' Share?

Lattafa Khamrah, which rates very close in our data and matches it for a full day. It loses the cognac opening and the dry woody finish.

Is the Niche version worth it over the clone?

For the first hour, yes; for the drydown, mostly no. The worth-the-Niche-price list names the bottles where nothing cheaper gets close.

Why is the Designer bottle sometimes the reference?

Because the idea started there. By the Fireplace, Tobacco Vanille and Dior Homme Intense are Designer bottles that Niche and Budget houses both answer to, so in those rows the Designer bottle is the original.