In the absence of a time machine, or right now even travel beyond the local supermarket, fragrance remains one of the best ways for us to transport ourselves back to places and times less ordinary. “Of the five senses,” Mr Andy Warhol acknowledged in his 1975 book The Philosophy Of Andy Warhol (From A To B And Back Again), “smell has the closest thing to the full power of the past”.

The ability of fragrance to perform this clever magic trick is part science, part art. The science bit centres on the fact that our sense of smell, unlike our other senses, has access to the amygdala and hippocampus, the areas of the brain associated with memory. Because of this connection, memories of events – of your last Italian holiday, say, or a divine first date – are inexorably linked with the smells you encountered while experiencing them. It’s as if smell is your memory’s wingman.

If you’re stuck inside and you fancy a little hit of the Amalfi Coast, you’ve always wondered what a stylish gent in the 1900s might have smelt like or fancy reading Mr Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness while wearing a scent that evokes a voyage up the Congo River, then let these truly transportive scents be your guide.

These fragrances will take you around the world in 80 sprays.

TOM FORD Neroli Portofino

Apart from the Middle East, nothing has inspired Mr Tom Ford’s Private Blend fragrances quite like the Italian coastline. Both Mandarino Di Amalfi, a slightly spicy citrus fragrance that takes cues from the aromas of the Amalfi Coast, and Costa Azzurra, a woody citrus scent with a marine sharpness inspired by the juniper woods of Sardinia, are as crisp and summery as the bottles that house them. But it’s Neroli Portofino, a modern take on a classic cologne inspired by the legendary fashionista hangout, that stands out. Perfect for daytime, it’s as clean and crisp as a cotton work shirt and the nearest thing you’ll find to sunshine in a bottle.

Czech & Speake Oxford & Cambridge Cologne

Few smells are as quintessentially English as the smell of lavender (yes, there’s the French stuff, but that’s lighter and more herbaceous), so it was to this aromatic flowering shrub that Mr Frank Sawkins, founder of Czech & Speake, turned for his homage to Englishness. A light, everyday cologne with a sporty edge, it takes inspiration from both the smell of a traditional English garden and the sporting excellence of the country’s best-known universities, hence the two blues on the packaging. Cool and fresh with a hint of mint, it epitomises a very British kind of excellence that’s rooted in effortless understatement.

Doctor Who might have a Tardis in which to traverse space and time, but we mere mortals have a range of fragrances that can whisk us off into the past. Fasten your seatbelts.

Haeckels GPS 23’ 5”N

It’s no surprise that Margate-based grooming brand Haeckels might turn to its surroundings for inspiration for one of its signature scents. It even gives you the GPS coordinates as a clue. What is surprising is that it chose Dreamland, a burnt-down 19th-century amusement park, and the gardens that surrounded it as its starting point. There’s rose here, but there’s also smoky wood and a hint of charred leather seating. The real achievement of this scent isn’t that it takes you to a specific place and time, it’s that it manages to make destruction smell good.

19-69 Villa Nellcôte

Until there’s a Berlin-inspired Mr David Bowie fragrance that smells of Hansa Studios and the concrete of the infamous wall it overlooked, rock fans will have to be content with 19-69’s musky floral number, inspired by the estate in the French coastal town of Villefranche-sur-Mer where The Rolling Stones recorded their seminal Exile On Main St. album. Citrus notes add some local character, floral ones hint at the estate’s gardens and patchouli references the early 1970s when it was recorded. The only thing absent is the smell of Mr Keith Richards’ cigarettes, but that might be for the best.

Perfumers have always turned to literature for olfactory inspiration perhaps because, like great stories, great fragrances have layers of meaning and a story that develops over time.

TIMOTHY HAN / EDITION Heart of Darkness

Anyone who’s read Mr Joseph Conrad’s Heart Of Darkness, the 1899 novella that inspired Mr Francis Ford Coppola’s Apocalypse Now, will know that it’s as much a journey into the dark depths of the human psyche as it is along the Congo River. It’s serious stuff, as is Mr Timothy Han’s dark, woody, almost hallucinatory evocation of the book, referencing, as it does, the green, mossy wetness of the jungle and the burning coal used to power the steamboat. “The mind of man is capable of anything,” claims Mr Conrad in the book. Successfully transforming a novel into a fragrance included, it seems.

Byredo Bibliothèque

The starting point for Byredo’s unisex Bibliothèque scent was creating a fragrance that evokes the comforting feeling of being surrounded by books. That doesn’t mean it smells like your local library, though. Yes, there’s a hint of a leather-bound tome or two in there and a powdery note reminiscent of dusty old paper, but it’s sweet and fruity, too. By the way, it’s also Byredo’s most popular candle scent.

TIMOTHY HAN / EDITION On The Road

Mr Jack Kerouac wasn’t just a gifted writer and hipster figurehead for the Beat Generation. He was a ludicrously stylish man to boot. Nobody’s worn a bowling shirt better before or since. It’s fitting, then, that Mr Timothy Han’s dirty, smoky and green homage to Mr Kerouac’s famous 1950s novel On The Road is both effortlessly sophisticated and an authentic representation of the post-war road trip depicted in the book – a trip that takes the wearer from New York City, via notes of rubber on road, to the cedar forests of the Pacific coast. Enjoy the ride.

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