WINTER CAN GIVE the impression that perfumes last longer, as the extra layers of clothing trap fragrance. And, according to perfumer Mark Buxton, cold, wet conditions allow us to smell perfume better. "It has something to do with the small particles of water in the air, which drives fragrance, brings it out more," he says.

Mr. Buxton, whose latest fragrance, Emotional Rescue, was launched in September, is the nose who created the first perfumes for Comme des Garçons and once made a "uni-faith" perfume that aimed to capture the scent of world religions. He thinks that, rather than default to big, noisy colognes—the naff Christmas jumpers of the perfume world—men should seek more idiosyncratic scents.

"Always go niche," he advises. "Go to a boutique like Liberty's in London or Nose in Paris, where they sell small brands. There's a lot more to discover there."

One of Mr. Buxton's recent creations is Dreckig Bleiben (€120/50 mL), a limited run of 999 bottles released by German perfume house PMP and designed to evoke Hamburg's early-'80s squatter scene, where "Dreckig bleiben" (stay dirty) was a habitual greeting. "They used to live in tents and caravans around Hamburg, this gathering of punks with tattoos, drinking beer and having an open fire to grill at night," Buxton says. "Alcohol stains on your vest when you go to bed, and your clothes smell the next day—that was the ambience they were trying to capture with this fragrance."

To suggest the firepit, the perfume's opening notes are neroli and Calabrian bergamot, before deepening into smoky incense and cedar. "You get a first blast and say: 'My god, what's this?'" Mr. Buxton says. "But if you follow it, you will see how it moves—all the small facets coming out—and at the end, it's sandalwood and a trace of vanilla, which makes it really warm."

Available only in Paris, Serge Lutens's Miel de Bois (€135/75 mL) has a similarly startling quality. A sweet, woody fragrance with notes of beeswax, oud and gaiac wood, its opening blast of honey is so raw it was described by one reviewer as smelling "like a fresh honeycomb just torn from the frame, with even a hint of the smoke that beekeepers use to subdue the bees."

Of course, how we respond to a perfume can depend on our olfactory memories (Miel de Bois' resiny funk reminds me powerfully of the rosin you apply to a violin bow or ballet shoe.)

For those who prefer the invigorating smells of nature, Diptyque's Eau de Lierre (€82/100 mL) does a great impression of an ivy-covered country home. One of the first scents created by the French perfumer Fabrice Pellegrin, it has been cited by Chandler Burr, journalist and olfactory art curator, as an example of the modern trend for "representationalism" in perfume.