Just as you swap flannels for chinos or coats for unstructured blazers, here are our strategies for discovering your fair-weather scent.

For many of us, winter creates a sensory blindfold. When it comes to smell – the intangible sense that silently shapes our emotional world – everything is muffled. For starters, olfaction is compromised when ambient air is cool (granted, that unshakable case of flu doesn’t help either) and odour molecules (the very things that carry scent) move much more slowly in winter than they do in hotter months.

The veil of winter is so heavy, in fact, that we invariably turn to punchier and warmer fragrances – orientals, chypres, gourmands – to get us through the freeze. Fragrances need to be powerful enough to make up for the lack of obvious aromatics in the immediate environment. Cue unintentional over-spraying of that leathery eau de parfum.

But come spring, our sense of smell pulls a Wizard of Oz and suddenly transforms from black and white to technicolour. The “hot” and heavy fragrances we relied on in winter suddenly seem too high-impact and entirely inappropriate for public use. The spring thaw requires something lighter, cooler, more subtle. “Spring is all about the renewal of nature,” notes famed perfumer Mr Francis Kurkdjian. “You immediately think about green leaves and blossoms, sunshine and morning dew.” And if there were ever a time to experiment with sporting a (masculine) floral, this would be it. Read on to find the best way to lighten your scent, just as you lighten your wardrobe.

Italian Citrus Cologne by D.S. & Durga _Try if you like: Acqua di Parma Colonia by Acqua di Parma _

While it’s certainly necessary to offset the warmer weather with something “fresh”, that doesn’t mean you should opt for one of the synthetic and ozonic (marine) fragrances that dominated the 1990s (we’re looking at you L’Eau d’Issey). Better to lean towards a bright and sparkling citrus cologne, such as Italian Citrus Cologne from New York brand D.S. & Durga, which contains premium raw materials. Expect a combination of cold-pressed lemon, chinotto (a type of sour orange from Sicily) and green mandarin that, collectively, creates a bracing but sophisticated antidote to the weather.

Sunday Cologne by Byredo Try if you like: Terre D’Hermès by Hermès

This cologne from niche brand Byredo does what it says on the bottle. It epitomises “casual and clean” with a spicy-sweet quality (courtesy of star anise and cardamom) and a very faint floral accord lurking in the background. An ideal option if you’re flirting with the idea of wearing an upbeat floral fragrance, but aren’t quite ready to go the whole hog and douse yourself in roses or neroli. It also happens to be the fragrance worn by MR PORTER’s Buying Director Mr Toby Bateman.

Aqua Universalis by Maison Francis Kurkdjian Try if you like: L’Eau by Serge Lutens

Just as in architecture and music, the use of space is an incredibly important factor when composing a fragrance. Compare the minimalism of early Mr Philip Glass to a thrash metal band: with the former, notes become more apparent; they have more clarity and resonate more deeply. Parisian perfumer Mr Kurkdjian has mastered this concept in his Aqua Universalis, which he says, “captures the idea of the space between your clothing and your skin”– evoking a freshly laundered, plain white shirt, thanks to white sheer flowers, bright musky notes and a soft, woody base. A sophisticated (and incredibly French) way to offset the sweatiness of spring.

Santal by Floris London _Try if you like: Envy by Gucci _

If you’re used to large, statement-making scents in winter (eg, Dior’s Eau Sauvage), you can do the same in spring provided you don’t go overboard with the spritzing. Less is always more. Santal by Floris London is a game of two halves. It begins bright and bitter with a citrus-green accord that is fresh enough to alleviate any humidity in the air. And then, as if from nowhere, it reveals its true nature with a classic spicy-woody base that lingers for hours, making it more of an evening fragrance.

Neroli by Czech & Speake _Try if you like: Neroli Portofino by Tom Ford _

“We discovered this late 18th-century formula for eau de cologne in the 1970s,” says Czech & Speake’s founder and creative director Mr Frank Sawkins of classic Neroli. The fragrance was eventually released in 1981, and it takes a confident man to wear a floral that’s this shameless (neroli and orange blossom both ride up front), though rest assured that the concoction is grounded by a balsamic note of ylang-ylang (balsams are the watery sap from plants or trees). If you think florals are not for alphas, bear in mind that this particular formula was allegedly created for Napoleon Bonaparte.

Cologne Absolute by Tom Daxon Try if you like: A cologne with the muscle of an eau de parfum

Americans tend to use the word “cologne” to refer to any kind of fragrance but traditionally, a “true” cologne contains somewhere between two and five per cent perfume oil, a comparatively small amount that makes the overall effect light, short-lived and suitable for spring or summer. An eau de parfum, by contrast, contains anywhere between eight and 15 per cent perfume oil. As such, traditional colognes, designed for wear in spring and summer, barely make it to midday when sprayed in the morning. This can be annoying (unless, of course, you’re the type who carries a 100ml bottle around with him). Tom Daxon, however, has taken the formula for a classic cologne and managed to translate it into an eau de parfum. Cologne Absolute “lasts all day and allows the wealth of noble ingredients to shine through”. Among them are neroli, bergamot, green violet leaf, lemon petitgrain, jasmine and patchouli.

FLORAL: Florals come in a whole host of guises – they can be a bouquet of different flowers or a “soliflore”, a fragrance that showcases one particular flower in all its glory. Florals aren’t necessarily feminine either; floral musks, for example, are enduringly popular with guys (Dior Homme, Dior Fahrenheit, Bulgari Pour Homme Soir, Chanel Egoiste Platinum).

GREEN: Ingredients that are herbaceous and “grassy” such as tea leaves, fresh herbs and vines. They are crisp, sharp and, well, vegetal. If smelling like a freshly-mown lawn is your ideal, then this is your lane.

CITRUS: Citrus compositions typically contain ingredients such as lemon, bergamot, mandarin or grapefruit. As such, they “zing” and have a zesty sparkle about them.

MARINE: Also known as an aquatic scent, marines feel like a wave of cool water washing over you (hence Davidoff’s enduringly popular Cool Water). The ingredients are mostly synthetic compounds and tend to be airy, icy and watery. These fragrances enjoyed great success in the 1990s.