In 2010, Le Labo was commissioned by An0ther Magazine to work on an exclusive scent. The project began with Sarah of Colette, who started the creative collaboration between the perfume house and Jefferson Hack, the magazine's editor-in-chief. The result was Another 13. It began as a fashion-world commission and became the skin scent people name when they want something quiet.

Le Labo describes it as composed of ambroxyde, a synthetic animal musk, blended with jasmine and moss. Vogue India calls it "a modern benchmark for skin scents" and says it smells slightly different on everyone. That is the honest catch with any Le Labo Another 13 dupe: a perfume can share the notes, and your skin still gets the final say. So this edit gathers alternatives from other labels, built on musk, ambroxan and ambrette, in the same family and the same spirit.

Start with the clean musks. Clean Reserve's Skin is fresh musk with copaiba and salted praline in a clear minimalist bottle, a little sweeter than the original. Phlur's Missing Person is skin musk with bergamot nectar, warm and sheer. By Rosie Jane's ROSIE pairs white musk with sweet rose, and its formula lists ambroxan and ambrettolide, which is the closest line back to the original's notes. Merit's Retrospect is the dry, tidy one: bergamot, jasmine and musk in a plain glass bottle. DedCool's Xtra Milk leans on white musk with amber.

In October I would spray one of these at the collarbone, under a scarf, and wait an hour before deciding. Skin scents show their hand late.

Ambroxan is the molecule to look for on a label. Vogue's skin-scent guide says "Ambroxan is most ambery" next to the cedar of Iso E Super and the creamy, animalic Cetalox, and that is a useful map when you read a notes list.

Glossier You is the obvious start: pink pepper, iris, ambrette, ambroxan and musk in a frosted bottle. You Doux takes the same idea woodier, with sweet violet and palo santo. Juliette Has A Gun's Not A Perfume goes the other direction and uses a single note, Cetalox, so it reads more bare than blended. Escentric 02 is the technical one, with ambroxan listed at 13.5 percent next to muscone musk, vetiver and tonka. Byredo's Mojave Ghost is musky ambrette with sandalwood and cedarwood, and Henry Rose's London 1983 puts fig and musk over Orcanox.

The test is the dry-down. Spray the inside of your wrist and walk away for an hour. A good alternative should thin out into something close to skin, not turn sharp or sweet.

What I would skip: a bottle that hits hard in the first minute and then vanishes. The family is about the long, quiet stretch, not the opening.

Mists are the soft version of the idea. A mist is made to sit on hair and clothes, so the musk never has to carry the whole job on skin, and that suits anyone who finds eau de parfum too loud at a desk.

Emi Jay's Aura in Angel Wings is the one I would point to first: ambrette, ambrox and musk, warm and sheer. Her Toasted Sugar is sweeter, spun sugar and vanilla over delicate musk. Phlur's Cashmere Skin brings almond, vanilla and ambrette to hair and body, and Vanilla Skin is the cozier cousin with sugar crystals and cashmere wood. Crown Affair's Signature Scent goes fresh and woody with bergamot, green tea and sandalwood, while Glossier's Sandstone is soft fig leaf, clary sage and lavandin.

Fitting-room test, but for scent: hold the bottle at arm's length, spray twice, and walk through the cloud. Then smell your sleeve in ten minutes. If the musk is still there and the sugar has gone, you have found a keeper.

What I would skip: the sweetest gourmand mists if you want the clean, salty skin feel. Those are lovely, they are just another family.

Oils are where skin scents tend to live. Vogue notes that because it is an oil, the warm notes of ambroxan and musk linger on the skin longer than a traditional perfume, and a rollerball also lets you place it exactly where body heat will do the work.

Cyklar's Sex Musk roll-on pairs musk with orris and vanilla, and Flora Veil goes lighter with skin musk, ambrette, peony and sandalwood. By Rosie Jane's ROSIE oil is the small 7 mL version of the white musk and rose perfume, again with ambroxan and ambrettolide in the formula. Byredo's Mojave Ghost rollerball keeps the musky ambrette and cedarwood, and Blanche is the crisp white one with clean musks. Phlur's Missing Person Body Oil adds skin musk and ambergris notes for the whole body, and Glossier's You Solid Perfume is a little balm for a bag.

Apply to pulse points: the wrist, behind the ears and the base of the throat.

What I would skip: a rollerball for your first test of a scent family. Try the spray first, then commit to the oil you love.

Body care is how you make a scent feel like part of you instead of something you put on. Vogue's perfumer Frank Voelkl suggests pairing a skin scent with something lighter and fresher, and a matching wash or lotion is the gentlest way to do it.

Cyklar's Sex Musk body wash carries the musk, orris and vanilla of the roll-on, and the Vanilla Verve cream adds vanilla, musk and ambrette with niacinamide. By Rosie Jane's ROSIE Body Milk keeps the white musk and sweet rose. Josie Maran's Whipped Argan Oil Body Butter is cashmere musk with vanilla milk in a refillable jar, and Phlur's Vanilla Skin Body Oil is warm and sugary. Byredo's Blanche lotion and wash are clean, powdery musks, while Glossier's Creme de You is a dry-touch shea butter scented with the You fragrance.

Smell the lotion before you buy it, then smell your forearm ten minutes later. The scent should settle into the skin and not sit on top of it.

What I would skip: layering a heavily vanilla body butter under a clean musk perfume. Match the families, or let the body care be the whole scent.

I would pick a sample of two or three, one clean musk, one ambroxan scent and one oil, and live with them for a week. Voelkl's advice is to wear it and live with it, and ask others to take a sniff, because skin scents are hard to smell on yourself.

Then I would add body care in the same family and keep the mist for gym bags and scarves. A Le Labo Another 13 dupe is really a search for your own skin, a little edited.

Years on, a magazine commission is still the benchmark. Fine. Yours just has to smell like you.