COSMETIC CRAVING

AT THEIR worst, summer scents can be pretty ghastly — sickly, saccharine florals or unsubtle citrus storms.

At their best, they are Annick Goutal’s Eau d’Hadrien (£110 for 100ml eau de toilette, johnlewis. com): suave, subtle, nuanced.

A cult classic, it was created in 1981, in tribute to Rome’s most refined emperor. Its blend of Sicilian lemon, grapefruit and cypress evokes sheltering from the heat of the Mediterranean under a lemon tree.

It has been sported by everyone from Prince to Prince Charles, Madonna to President Mitterrand, Catherine Deneuve to Leonardo DiCaprio.

It was a forerunner of the fresh, unisex perfume fever that took hold in the 1990s, only more cerebrally sexy. Pricey, yes, but utterly worth it.