New York, 1985. Donna Karan shows her first collection, Seven Easy Pieces, a mix-and-match wardrobe built around a bodysuit, in jersey and opaque Lycra tights she said she would wear herself. The clothes started on the body, close to the skin, and they were designed from the inside out. That is the right frame for what came next.

The Donna Karan Cashmere Mist line began in 1994 with body care, not a perfume: creams, bath products and a deodorant, before the fragrance joined them. Interparfums, which holds the fragrance licence, told Harper's Bazaar that Donna believed wearing fragrance should be part of a ritual and not just a spray. The bottle is sculptural and was created by her husband, the artist Stephan Weiss, echoing the curves of the female form. The scent itself, per the brand, is jasmine, lily of the valley and bergamot over sandalwood, amber and musk. It is soft, and it is meant to sit under a sweater.

So the trick is to treat the first grid as a system, not a menu. The Eau de Parfum is the richer spray and the Eau de Toilette is the lighter one, good for daytime. The 6.7-ounce Body Lotion and the Luxury Body Créme are where the ritual starts, and the Deodorant is the quiet one, an antiperspirant that Harper's Bazaar notes also comes in an aluminum-free version, so read the tube. Then the variations: Cashmere & Palo Santo, Cashmere & Vanilla Essence Spray and Cashmere and Rose Absolu, for when the original feels too familiar.

A sweater sleeve makes the best test strip for a musk. Spray your wrist once, wait ten minutes, then sniff the wrist and the knit sleeve beside it. Musk is meant to live close to you, so it should be quieter on cloth than on skin, not the other way around.

Glossier's You is the one that started the skin-scent conversation for many of us, and PHLUR's Missing Person is the one people keep asking about. Clive Christian's E Cashmere Musk is the most formal name on the grid, the one for a special evening. Khadlaj's Cashmere Sunshine Musk is the playful one, and the name does the work. LORE's Somewhere but nowhere comes with cedarwood, By Rosie Jane's ROSIE is built on white musk, SKYLAR's Nude Skin is exactly what it says, and Clinique's My Happy Cocoa & Cashmere is the sweeter, cosier choice for winter.

A pairing I like: a skin-close musk over a plain, unscented lotion. The scent lasts a little longer and you are not stacking two competing perfumes.

What I would skip: layering two musks at once to get more of the effect. They blur into each other, and you end up with a scent nobody can name.

A body mist is light, and it behaves better on skin that already has lotion on it. The scent needs something to hold on to, and that is exactly how the Cashmere Mist ritual works.

Touchland's Cashmere Woods Power Essence is the closest in name and mood to the original, a body and hair mist, so it works on both. Boy Smells' Soft Wood Body Mist is exactly what the name promises. Salt & Stone has the most to choose from here, with the Santal & Vetiver Body and Hair Fragrance Mist, the Santal & Vetiver Body Lotion, a second Santal & Vetiver Body Mist, and the Saffron & Cedar Body Mist in 100 ml. Glossier's Sandstone is the airy, mineral-sounding one, and Nature of Things' Awakening Santal Body Lotion is the one for after the bath.

If you like the matching set, Salt & Stone is the easiest, because the lotion and mist share a scent and can be used together without any thinking.

What I would skip: a woody mist layered over a very sweet perfume. Wood and sugar rarely agree, and the result tends to be muddy.

Rose is the question that cuts this grid in half, so settle it before you start sniffing.

Rose people should start with Montale's Roses Musk, then PHLUR's Rose Whip with Musk, then LORE's Lovely and a little twisted, which comes with Rose Milk. For no rose, there is 5 SENS' Catch Feelings, MERIT's Retrospect in an extrait strength, and FUGAZZI's Angel Dust, which adds bergamot and woody musk. Lattafa's Velvet Musk is for everyone, and PHLUR's Father Figure is the one whose name alone promises a bit of swagger. Try it on someone who does not usually wear musk, and see what they say.

A rule of thumb: wear each one for a full working day before you decide. Musks move a lot between the first spray and the fourth hour, and that change is the whole point. Write down what you notice at the two hour mark, because that is when most perfumes show who they are.

What I would skip: buying a full bottle of an extrait on the strength of a paper strip. Wear it through lunch and the commute first.

Cashmere Mist still works, to my nose, because it was never only a bottle. It is a ritual with a lotion, a deodorant and a spray, and the softness comes from repeating those three steps, not from any one of them.

If I were starting today, I would buy the Body Lotion and the Eau de Parfum, wear them for a month, and only then look at the musks that sit around them. The best of them, the Glossier, PHLUR and LORE, are quieter and more personal. Donna Karan began with seven easy pieces. You can begin with two. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together YSL Libre Dupe and Milani Setting Spray, the Drugstore Mist With a Baked Powder Past.