In 1820, a chemist in Munich named A. Vogel pulled a white crystalline compound out of tonka beans and decided it was benzoic acid. He was wrong. It was coumarin, and in the same year Nicolas Guibourt gave it that name, from coumarou, the French word for tonka. Warm, sweet and a little like hay, it went on to sit under a great many men's fragrances. Every bottle of Le Beau begins there.

JPG Le Beau, as fragrance people shorten Jean Paul Gaultier Le Beau, arrived in 2019 from the perfumers Quentin Bisch and Sonia Constant. It is a flanker to Le Male, the 1995 original, and it took the same Gaultier attitude somewhere sunnier. Fragrantica lists bergamot on top, coconut in the heart and tonka bean in the base, and the brand describes the meeting of tonka's sweetness with the exoticism of coconut wood. What I like is that the bottle is a torso with no face. Gaultier's subject is the body as a garment, and the scent behaves the same way: it is a costume you can put on for the evening.

The trick is to see it as one accord in three moods. The Le Beau Eau de Toilette is the bright one, coconut and bergamot, the one for a beach bag or a warm office. Le Beau Le Parfum goes woodier with coconut wood and ginger, an evening version with the bottle shifting to midnight blue. Paradise Garden is the green one, coconut water and green fig, a watery take for the hottest days. Le Male is the family behind them: the Elixir with lavender and tonka bean, the Le Parfum, and the Eau de Toilette with mint and vanilla. Elixir Absolu and the limited edition Le Male in Blue round out the family.

Here is how I would choose a coconut scent: skip the bottle and smell it on skin after an hour. Coconut in a men's fragrance can drift sweet and suntan-lotion-like, or it can stay dry and woody. You want to find out which one you are wearing at lunchtime, not at the counter.

Ralph Lauren's Polo 67 comes in two strengths, the Eau de Parfum and the Extreme with pineapple, cedarwood and leather, and both are a fun step away from the usual fresh blue scents. Maison Margiela's Replica Beach Walk pairs coconut milk with musk, which is the closest thing here to actual sunscreen on warm skin. Kilian's Piña Paraíso is a coconut and pineapple flight of fancy for a vacation.

For something lighter, Sol de Janeiro's Cheiroso 7 and Cheiroso 10 are cologne body mists for men, made for spraying over a wet body after the shower. Tom Ford's Eau de Soleil Blanc is a sunny, bright option, and Jo Malone's Frangipani Flower with sandalwood is the soft, floral one.

A pairing I like: Le Beau's eau de toilette on the neck, and a Cheiroso mist on the chest and forearms. The mist fades quickly, and the cologne stays.

What I would skip: two coconut fragrances at once in a closed car. One is a mood, two is a smoothie.

One rule for a fresh fragrance: apply it before you get dressed, on the neck and chest, and never rub your wrists together. Fresh scents fade fast anyway, and rubbing only makes them go quicker.

The classics do their job. Armani's Acqua di Giò, with Calabrian bergamot and cedarwood, is the white shirt of men's fragrance. Bleu de Chanel Eau de Toilette is the one that smells good on everybody in a room. Versace Man Eau Fraîche is bright and a bit peppery, and Dolce&Gabbana's Light Blue Pour Homme is a sea breeze in a bottle.

Some are underrated. Coach for Men is an easy office scent, and Calvin Klein's Eternity Aqua is an easy, clean, breezy one. Montblanc's Legend Spirit is the easy, everyday cologne, and Dior Homme Cologne is the quiet one, close to the skin.

A pairing I like: a fresh blue on weekdays, and Le Beau's coconut warmth on a Saturday night. Two different moods from the same wardrobe.

What I would skip: a heavy parfum on a humid commute. It sours on a crowded train, and a citrus cologne is much kinder.

Try this: match your deodorant to your cologne, or make it unscented so the two do not fight. Layering is how a fragrance lasts longer without extra sprays.

Dior's Sauvage is the easiest to layer, since it comes as a shower gel and a deodorant stick. Bleu de Chanel has a Deodorant Stick, Armani's Acqua Di Giò has a Deodorant, and Terre d'Hermès has its own stick, so the bottle on your shelf can have a matching partner. Gucci's Guilty Stick Deodorant for Men is another way to keep a fragrance going after your morning shower.

Montblanc's Legend Body Spray is a lighter, all-over spray for after the gym. Agent Nateur's Holi(stick) Ambroxan Cloud is a deodorant that doubles as a solid perfume, and its ambroxan note sits well under a sweet coconut scent.

A pairing I like: shower gel, then deodorant in the same scent, and the cologne on top with just one spray. The scent stays the same all day, from morning to night.

What I would skip: a deodorant and cologne from two very different families. A sweet tonka bottle with a sharp aquatic stick can smell like an argument.

I think Le Beau is the easiest way into a coconut fragrance if you are a man who thinks he does not like coconut. Start with the Eau de Toilette, wear it for a week, and see if the tonka warms you up. If it does, the Le Parfum is the winter answer and Paradise Garden is the summer one.

Vogel thought he had found benzoic acid. Wear it well and you will smell like something better: a bean a chemist once mistook for something else, at the bottom of a torso bottle.

Le Beau showed me that a coconut scent can be grown up, so here are the bottles I would wear on the days I want something different. Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Elixir Absolu and Le Male Le Parfum with lavender and vanilla are the family answer. For summer, the Hermès Eau de rhubarbe écarlate and Eau de Basilic Pourpre are colognes, and Tom Ford Eau de Soleil Blanc fits the mood. Chanel Bleu de Chanel Eau de Parfum, Acqua di Giò Eau de Parfum and Montblanc Explorer Extreme are the everyday cases. To keep things fresh, add the Versace Man Eau Fraîche and Armani Code deodorant sticks. Pick a deodorant that is not strong, so your cologne is the only thing anyone notices.