As a boy in Reggio Calabria, Gianni Versace played with his brother Santo and his sister Donatella among the ruins of ancient Greek buildings. A Medusa set into the floor there is said to have stayed with him. He founded his house in 1978 and took her as its emblem, because, in the old story, Medusa made people fall in love with her and they had no way back. That is the head on the cap of every bottle in this edit, and it is a fair warning.

Versace cologne is really two families sharing one Medusa. Eros came first, in 2012: mint, green apple and lemon up top, tonka bean and Ambroxan in the middle, then Madagascar vanilla, cedar, vetiver and oakmoss. It is sweet, cool and loud, the kind of men's fragrance you can smell across a room. Dylan Blue followed in 2016 from perfumer Alberto Morillas, part of the older Pour Homme line, and it runs drier and more mineral, with Calabrian bergamot and grapefruit, then Ambroxan, black pepper and violet leaf.

Both are made under license by Euroitalia, the company behind Missoni and Moschino fragrances, which is worth knowing when you compare them with the fashion side. Eros Flame arrived in 2018 from Olivier Pescheux, and the brand calls it passionate and intensely masculine.

The trick is to treat the first grid as a ladder. The Eros Eau de Toilette is the original. The Eros Pour Homme Eau de Parfum, Eros Parfum and Eros Najim Parfum are the concentrated steps, and Eros Flame and Eros Energy are the variations. The travel spray and the Mini Cologne Sampler Gift Set are how I would begin.

Start with the gym bag. Half of this grid is travel sprays, and that is the clue to how the family gets worn: quick, in the locker room or the car, without ceremony.

Dylan Blue Pour Homme Eau de Toilette is the newer half, built on bergamot, Ambroxan and saffron, and it has its own travel spray for repeat use. The original Pour Homme Eau de Toilette, from 2008 and also by Alberto Morillas, is the quieter classic underneath it, with lemon, bergamot, neroli and Rose de Mai over hyacinth, cedar and clary sage. If Dylan Blue feels like too much, the older one is the calmer place to go.

Man Eau Fraiche and Eau Fraiche Extreme take the Pour Homme idea lighter and more citrus-forward, which is closer to what most people picture when they hear the word cologne. The Man Eau Fraîche travel spray and the Eau Fraiche Extreme Eau de Parfum Travel Spray are the ones I would tuck into a desk drawer for a hot afternoon.

One rule for a family this size: pick a daytime one and a night one. Man Eau Fraiche for the day, Dylan Blue for the evening, and you have a small, useful wardrobe.

What I would skip: leaving a travel spray in a hot car or a gym locker for weeks. Heat is hard on any fragrance, and a small bottle is the first to go.

Here is how I would choose: wear Eros on one wrist and the candidate on the other, and give them an hour. If the new one feels sweeter than you like, walk away. If it feels like a quieter cousin, you have found something.

Azzaro's The Most Wanted Eau de Parfum Intense pushes further into toffee and amber wood, so it is the sweetest of the group. Rabanne's 1 Million Black uses vanilla in a darker register, and Rabanne's Phantom Parfum leans on woody vanilla bean instead. Viktor&Rolf's Spicebomb Extreme goes toward bourbon vanilla and tobacco rather than fruit, which is a very different mood from Eros.

Valentino's Uomo Born in Roma Intense and Dolce&Gabbana's The One For Men Parfum both build around vanilla, with the Dolce&Gabbana one adding tobacco in a more classic shape. Armani's Stronger With You Powerfully swaps in cherry for a fruitier take on the same warm base. Dolce&Gabbana's Devotion For Men Parfum leaves vanilla behind for coffee and amber woods, and it is the one I would smell if you want warmth without the sweetness.

A pairing I like: vanilla and tobacco scents with a heavy wool coat and a cold evening. They belong to winter.

What I would skip: any of these on a July commute. Warm, sweet scents are hard to wear in the heat and hard on the people next to you.

A rule for fresh scents: judge them at the twenty-minute mark, not the first spray. Citrus is loud at the start and settles fast, and what remains is the real story.

Armani's Acqua di Giò is the reference point for this whole group, built on Calabrian bergamot and cedarwood. Dolce&Gabbana's Light Blue Pour Homme does a lighter lemon and patchouli version of the same idea. Rabanne's Invictus and Prada's Luna Rossa Ocean go further into marine territory, with patchouli and an ocean accord on one side and bergamot and iris on the other.

Ralph Lauren swaps the ocean note for fruit. Polo 67 pairs pineapple with bergamot, and Polo Blue goes with melon and sage. They are the sunniest in the group, and the ones I would hand to someone who finds most colognes too serious.

Jo Malone's Wood Sage & Sea Salt and Sea Salt & Bergamot go the most literal route, built around the idea of salt air. My suggestion is to wear them on the weekend, when you have nowhere to be and a walk by the water in mind.

What I would skip: buying three of these at once. They overlap more than you would think, and one good bottle will do more for you than a shelf of near-twins.

I think the real test is to smell Eros and Dylan Blue side by side before buying either. They are different enough that liking one does not mean you will like the other, and a strip of paper is kinder than a wrong bottle.

If Eros works for you, the Azzaro and Viktor&Rolf bottles in the third grid are natural next steps. If Dylan Blue does, start with Acqua di Giò. And if you cannot choose, the house's own Eros Flame is the closest to Eros in spirit. The old story says Medusa left people with no way back. Yours should be simpler: smell both, then decide.

After Eros and Dylan Blue, the useful question is which neighbors deserve a strip of paper. For the fresher, Dylan Blue side, I would smell Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme, Polo Blue Eau de Parfum and the Versace Man Eau Fraîche Extrême. For the warmer, Eros side, Rabanne Phantom in Red and 1 Million Elixir, Viktor&Rolf Spicebomb Night Vision and Spicebomb Dark Leather, and Polo Red Extreme are the bottles I would pick. The Jo Malone London Oud & Bergamot and Cypress & Grapevine colognes are quieter and sit well in a work week, and Prada L'Homme is a calm one. Dolce & Gabbana The One Pour Homme Parfum fits somewhere between. What I would skip: Spicebomb Dark Leather on a hot afternoon. If you want to keep browsing, I also put together Versace Eros Energy and A Shelf of Coach Blue Cologne and the Fresh Scents Beside It.