If you think buying another bottle of fragrance when you’re not even halfway through the one you got in your Christmas stocking seems like an expensive extravagance, think again. With the multi-million buck men’s fragrance market mushrooming year on year, the days of a solitary bottle of aftershave sitting on the bathroom shelf are long gone. Partly it’s down to the slew of smelly choice tempting us to multi-buy, but it’s also down to the fact us fellas have cottoned on to the power of the pong: that how we smell can say a lot about who we are or, indeed, who we want to be. Consequently, there’s a range of complex eaux sprays for every occasion, mood and, like fashion, season. As spring is more redolently heady with aromas than any other time of the year, here’s the best of the current crop of cologne stars.

1. Prada Amber Pour Homme
(30ml, £37): Favoured fashionista of the trend-aware cognoscenti Miuccia Prada’s first foray into the men’s fragrance field now comes in a conveniently compact 10ml bullet bottle (with refills), making this cool, clean scent a great travel bag essential for those much-needed spring breaks.

2. Eau Sauvage by Dior
(50ml, £31): Launched in 1966, it’s still the bestselling fragrance in France. Packing an aggressive citrus punch fading to a subtle woody, oriental mist, this statement scent is for the unreconstructed, machismo’d man who thinks metrosexuality is something to do with having a bit of slap’n’tickle on a train.

3. Hammam Bouquet By Penhaligon’s
(50ml, £45): A flowery number that initially threatens to overpower the senses of anyone in the immediate vicinity with the waft of roses and musk but then gently recedes to become more refined and delicate. A trad classic steeped in spring’s familiar bouquet.

4. Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur Du Mâle
Perfumer Francis Kurkdjian was just 25 when he created the seminal Le Mâle for the house of Gaultier back in 1995 and he’s been behind all subsequent olfactory offerings since, including this latest one. Based on notes - smells to you and me - of orange blossom, this has the trademark Gaultier unisex flavour.

5. Eau D’Hermès
(100ml, £45): Pungent cumin and floral undertones are in the whiff mix here, but its quintessence is raging-bull manliness reminiscent of whisky-soaked nights in dodgy gambling dens where you can still sneak a cheeky tab. If shameless and corrupt wealth had a smell, this would be it.

6. Himalaya by Creed
(75ml, £95): From the Cadillac of cologne companies, this is inspired by the bracingly crisp air of the Himalayan mountain range. It teams the freshness of grapefruit with the warm mossiness and muskiness of grass and because of the luxe packaging it also cuts a mean dash amidst all your other grooming clutter.

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