In 1987, a Melbourne hairdresser named Dennis Paphitis was blending essential oils into products at his salon. That is how Aesop began, and he named the brand after the Greek fabulist and storyteller. The first hand product came out of the salon too: a balm, improvised after a manicurist complained about the usual formulas. The hand wash followed, and the brand says it became a fixture by the basins of restaurants, hotels and homes.

So here is what this Aesop hand soap dupe edit is, and is not. The original is a clear, gel-based wash with a citrus, woody, herbaceous aroma built on mandarin rind, rosemary leaf and cedar atlas. Esquire pointed to the amber bottles, the Helvetica type and the witty messaging as part of its pull. I have nothing but respect for all of that. What follows are pieces from other labels that share the amber glass pump bottle and the botanical, woody-citrus mood, in the same spirit and with their own names on the label.

Start the shelf with the two Marseille soaps in white tea and tangerine: amber glass, white label, a pump that sits low and quiet. The Diptyque Softening Hand Wash is amber liquid in an apothecary-shaped bottle with a black pump, and the Trudon Carmen goes the other way, ribbed amber glass with a gold pump and a woody scent. For something brighter I would line up the verbena wash in amber with a black pump. The two Essential Parfums bottles, Divine Vanille and The Musc, are warmer, with tonka and red ginger. The Moroccanoil wash is the odd one out, an amber-gold liquid in clear glass with a champagne pump.

October tip: pick the scent family first, citrus and wood if you love the original, then check the pump. A good one clicks down smoothly and returns without sputtering, and the label should be plain enough to disappear into the sink.

The original story starts with a balm, so it makes sense to treat the cream as half the ritual. Aesop's own telling has the first hand product made oily at first, then refined into a cream until it left no grease behind. That is the detail to look for in an alternative: a finish that sinks in rather than sits.

The L'Occitane shea hand cream in the classic silver tube is the easy one to start with, and the intensive shea hand balm is the richer cousin for the driest knuckles. Kiehl's makes a white apothecary-style salve with a light eucalyptus note, a good match if you like your hand care to look medicinal and plain. Caudalie's lavender tube holds a hand and nail cream with grape polyphenols, and the sage-gray Salt & Stone tube in santal and vetiver is the closest to a woody, calm scent.

For a handbag, the Nécessaire white tube with ceramides and the small green and pink Bamboo + Rose pocket tube both fit a coat pocket. Moroccanoil's turquoise tube with a gold cap is the one for cuticles.

Test it on the back of one hand and wait a minute. If you can still see a sheen, or a pen slips in your fingers, it is not the one for daytime. Then rub it in and see whether the scent settles or shouts.

What I would skip: anything heavily perfumed if your hand wash already has a strong scent. Two loud notes on one pair of hands rarely agree.

The brand's own duo pairs a hand wash with a hand balm, and that pairing is what makes a sink look finished. Bazaar made the same point about refillable bottles and a matching hand lotion placed alongside. A set does the styling for you, as long as the two bottles look related.

The Le Labo Hinoki set is a kraft box with a soap and a lotion, and the scent is inspired by the temples of Mount Koya. The Basil set pairs basil with verbena, greener and brighter, which suits a kitchen. The Apotheke sets come in white pump bottles, one in Sea Salt Grapefruit and one in Earl Grey Bitters, plant-based and easy on the eyes.

Glass is where I would look first. The Antica Farmacista Aperol Spritz set has glass pumps on an acrylic tray, the Baobab Paris set uses glass dispensers, and the L'AVANT box holds refillable glass bottles in black. The evolvetogether Monaco set pairs a Restorative Hand Wash with a hydrating cream in a dry, sheer floral, a quieter route than the woody ones.

At the fitting-room stage, which here means the shelf, check that the pumps match in height and finish, and that the labels are in the same typeface family. A mismatched pump is the one thing that makes a set look assembled.

What I would skip: a set whose two scents differ. If the soap and lotion do not share a family, the gift tray looks good and the hands do not.

Refills are part of the story of the original. The brand sells its wash in screw-cap refill bottles, and says reusing your existing pump saves plastic. A good look-alike habit follows from that: buy one handsome bottle, then keep it filled.

The Diptyque softening hand wash refill is a white stand-up pouch with lavender from Provence, and the exfoliating one adds ground olive stones for a bit of grit. L'Occitane's La Mousse refill is a large bottle of foaming shea wash. PAUME offers a blush pouch of exfoliating hand cleanser, and the Lady Primrose Royal Extract refill is simply the larger size of its fragranced wash.

The two Salt & Stone body wash refill pouches, in santal and vetiver and in bergamot and hinoki, are 32 oz, so they suit a shower bottle or a big pump by the kitchen sink. The Byredo Yuzu Tree wash is a large white pouch with a spout cap, a quiet refill for a bottle you already own.

Before you buy, check that the pouch scent matches the bottle you own, and that the neck of the pouch is wide enough to pour without a funnel. Pour slowly, with the pump removed, and wipe the thread so the cap seals.

What I would skip: topping up a bottle with a different scent. Fragrance families blur fast, and the clean citrus you picked can turn muddy.

Aesop makes body cleansers too, so the same woody-citrus mood can carry from the basin into the shower. Esquire mentioned its geranium leaf body cleanser with mandarin and bergamot rind, which tells you how far the brand takes the idea.

For an alternative, start with Salt & Stone Saffron & Cedar, a gel with seaweed extracts in a beige pump bottle, the nearest to the cedar note. Nécessaire has two cream pump bottles, Eucalyptus and Hinoki, with hinoki the woodier. The Bamboo + Rose wash in a green pump bottle is soap and sulfate-free shower gel, lighter and greener.

L'Occitane's refillable shower oil with almond oil is golden and turns to a milky lather in water, a good pick for cold months. CYKLAR's dark green Bergamot Bond is oil-infused and lathers. Jo Malone London makes two glass-pump body and hand washes, Wood Sage & Sea Salt and Cypress & Grapevine, and they can live at either sink.

Check the pump on a body wash too, since it will be wet when you use it. A wide, grippy pump head beats a slick one. Then read the scent notes against the original's: citrus, wood, herb. If a bottle has two of the three, it is in the family.

What I would skip: a body wash with a very sweet note if you want the dry, woody side of the original.

I would begin with one amber glass bottle from the first set, since the bottle is the detail that sells the look. Then add a cream in a plain tube for the desk drawer, and keep a refill pouch in the cupboard.

If I were hosting this month, I would put the Le Labo Hinoki set or an evolvetogether set by the guest basin and leave the rest in the shower.

Somewhere in Melbourne, a hairdresser once blended oils at his salon and a manicurist asked for better. It is a good reminder that a hand wash starts as a small kindness, and the best Aesop hand soap dupe is just a bottle you enjoy using. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Neutrogena Hydro Boost and Dr. Squatch.