What Cologne Does The Weeknd Wear? The Truth, Plus a Scent for Every Era

Picture it. Two in the morning, a black car sliding down a wet highway, the city dissolving into streaks of red and white behind the glass. A synth line hums from the speakers, something cold and glittering, and the air inside the car is warm, close, a little smoky. If you have ever wondered what cologne does The Weeknd wear, that is the scene most fans are trying to bottle: the sound of his records turned into something you can spray on your wrist before the night starts.

The short answer: The Weeknd (Abel Tesfaye) has never publicly confirmed a signature cologne, and he has no fragrance deal or perfume line of his own. Every specific bottle linked to him online is fan speculation. The scents that best match his music are dark, after-midnight compositions built on leather, tobacco, rum, oud and amber.

That honesty matters, because the internet is full of confident answers to this question and almost none of them hold up. So this guide does two things. First, it lays out what the public record actually says. Then it does something more useful than repeating a rumor: it pairs each of his album eras with one real cologne that captures its mood, explains which notes make a fragrance feel nocturnal, and tells you how to wear the stuff when you are heading out after dark. If you are collecting famous scent stories, our roundup of the perfumes celebrities wear is the place to start; this page is the Weeknd chapter.

What cologne does The Weeknd wear? What the record shows

Start with the commercial side, because that is where celebrity fragrance stories usually begin. Abel Tesfaye has signed plenty of brand deals across his career. He worked with Alexander Wang around 2015, became a global ambassador and creative collaborator for Puma in 2016, and released capsule collections with H&M in 2017. His own XO label sells merch, vinyl and clothing, and his album rollouts have come with pop-up shops and limited drops. What none of those partnerships include is a fragrance. There is no “XO” eau de parfum, no ad campaign where he is the face of a men’s scent, and, as far as published summaries of his trademark portfolio show, his registered marks cover recordings, entertainment and clothing rather than perfume or cosmetics. That last point is not proof that a launch will never happen, but it is a clear sign that nothing has been filed publicly under his main brand names for that category.

Next, interviews. He is famously private, and the profiles he does give tend to circle the work: the music, the films, the persona he built and has since been trying to shed. We searched for magazine “essentials” features, grooming videos and beauty-bag segments of the kind GQ or Vogue run with other stars, and found nothing in which he names a cologne. The closest thing to a grooming detail on the record is about skin, not scent. Before his Super Bowl LV halftime show in February 2021, his groomer, Christine Nelli, shared the sunscreen-heavy prep she used on him, and The Zoe Report covered that routine. Fragrance never came up.

Then there is the fan layer, which is loud. TikTok, Pinterest and YouTube are packed with videos titled some version of “the cologne The Weeknd wears,” and fragrance forums have threads asking the same thing. The names that tend to surface are the usual luxury suspects, the Tom Fords, Kilians, Creeds and YSLs that every celebrity gets linked to sooner or later. We could not trace any of them back to an interview, an official post or a credible insider report. Treat those clips as taste suggestions from fellow fans, which is a perfectly fine thing for them to be, but not as evidence. Finally, the context that actually shapes his aesthetic today: in a 2023 W Magazine interview, reported by Hypebeast, he said he was getting ready to close the Weeknd chapter, and in 2025 he released the album Hurry Up Tomorrow alongside a Lionsgate film of the same name, directed by Trey Edward Shults, in which he is credited as Abel Tesfaye.

So the honest verdict on what cologne The Weeknd wears is that nobody outside his circle knows what is on his dresser. What we do know, in exhaustive detail, is how his music feels. And that is a much better starting point for choosing a fragrance than a screenshot from a stranger’s video.

One scent for every era

His catalog is unusually easy to sort into chapters. Each album arrived with its own look, its own color palette, its own character, almost like a costume change. That makes it a natural map for answering the question of what cologne The Weeknd would wear in each chapter. Below, each era gets one bottle. These are our pairings, not his, chosen because the notes line up with the mood. Note lists come from the brands or from established fragrance databases.

House of Balloons and the Trilogy years: Tom Ford Tobacco Vanille

The early mixtapes, released in 2011 and collected as Trilogy in 2012, sound like a party you were not supposed to be at. Low lights, a haze hanging under the ceiling, a sense that everyone in the apartment is a little too far gone and nobody wants to leave. The production is murky and intimate, all reverb and shadow, and the anonymity of those first releases only made it more seductive. A cologne for this era has to feel close-range and slightly narcotic, something that smells better the nearer someone leans in.

Tobacco Vanille is that scent. Its opening is dry tobacco leaf with a flicker of spice, ginger among it, and the heart melts into vanilla, cocoa, tonka and tobacco flower, settling into dried fruit and sweet wood sap. On skin it reads like a pipe-smoke room warmed by something sugary, heavy and enveloping rather than sharp. It is not subtle, so this is a one-or-two-spray fragrance, but nothing in the men’s market captures that dim, smoky, too-late-to-go-home feeling quite as well. If this direction appeals, our guide to the best tobacco fragrances has gentler and cheaper routes into the same smoke.

Beauty Behind the Madness: YSL La Nuit de L’Homme

By 2015 the secret was out. Beauty Behind the Madness took the darkness of the mixtapes and polished it for arenas, and the sculptural hair became one of the most recognizable silhouettes in pop. The songs still had an edge of danger, but now they had choruses built for radio. It was the sound of an outsider stepping into the spotlight without fully giving up the shadows, seductive and accessible at once.

That balance is exactly what YSL La Nuit de L’Homme has done for over a decade. YSL lists bergamot and cardamom up top, geranium and black pepper in the heart, and vetiver with tonka bean underneath. The cardamom is the star, cool and aromatic, sliding into a soft, powdery, faintly sweet base. It is a crowd-pleaser in the best sense, the sort of scent that earns compliments on a first date without ever shouting. The tradeoff is modest longevity, so carry a travel atomizer if your night runs long. It is also one of the easiest picks in our list of date-night perfumes for men and women.

Starboy: Tom Ford Ombré Leather

Then he cut the hair. Starboy, released in 2016, swapped mystery for swagger: crosses, cropped hair, supercars, chrome, Daft Punk collaborations and a slick, metallic sheen across the whole record. The album feels expensive and a little arrogant, wealth worn like armor. A fragrance for this era should smell like the interior of a car that costs more than a house, polished, confident and slightly cold until it warms against the skin.

Tom Ford Ombré Leather opens with cardamom and jasmine sambac, moves into black leather and patchouli, and dries down to white moss and amber. Despite the floral in the opening, it wears as a clean, smooth leather jacket rather than a dusty saddle, with a faintly sweet, suede-like softness that keeps it wearable. It projects well, lasts for hours and reads unmistakably grown-up. For more bottles in this vein, browse our edit of the best leather fragrances.

After Hours: Kilian Black Phantom “Memento Mori”

After Hours, in 2020, is the era most people picture now. The red suit, the black tie, the bandaged and bloodied face, the casino neon, the 1980s synths. It played like a feature-length nightmare set in Las Vegas, glamorous and grotesque in equal measure, a character spiraling through a city that never sleeps and never forgives. The whole campaign leaned into theatrical darkness with a wink, beauty with a bruise on it.

Only one fragrance on the market wears that kind of dark humor so openly. Kilian’s Black Phantom, created by perfumer Sidonie Lancesseur, is framed by the brand as a twist on Irish coffee with Caribbean rum standing in for whisky. It opens on rum and caramel, sinks into strong coffee, and finishes with sugar cane, sandalwood and an almond-like accord the house playfully calls cyanide, its little memento mori. The result smells like a late-night espresso martini spilled on a velvet jacket: boozy, bittersweet, gourmand and a little wicked. It is pricey and polarizing, but for the After Hours mood it is uncanny. If sweet, edible accords are new to you, our explainer on what a gourmand fragrance is is worth a skim first.

Dawn FM: Maison Margiela Replica Jazz Club

Dawn FM, in 2022, framed itself as a radio station playing in purgatory, a kind of waiting room between life and whatever comes next, hosted by a voice that sounds like an old friend. The visuals aged him into an elderly man, the music borrowed from soft-focus 1980s pop and the mood turned reflective, even tender. It is a record about looking back, nostalgic and warm, with something unsettling humming beneath the comfort.

Replica Jazz Club, from Maison Margiela’s memory-themed line, was designed to evoke a dimly lit lounge, and it fits this chapter like a vintage suit. The opening is pink pepper, neroli and lemon; the heart is rum absolute, java vetiver and clary sage; the base settles into vanilla, tobacco absolute and styrax. It smells like a leather armchair, a glass of something amber and an old record turning slowly. Compared with Tobacco Vanille it is lighter, drier and more polite, which makes it a terrific entry point into boozy, smoky scents and a safer blind gift for someone who loves his music but not loud fragrance.

Hurry Up Tomorrow: Tom Ford Oud Wood

The 2025 album and film feel like an ending. He has talked openly about wanting to retire the character, and the movie puts Abel Tesfaye the person at the center rather than The Weeknd the persona. The tone is introspective, raw, cinematic and stripped of some of the costume. If earlier eras were about wearing a mask, this one is about taking it off and seeing what remains.

That calls for a fragrance that is dark but restrained, mature without being stuffy. Tom Ford Oud Wood opens with rosewood, cardamom and Sichuan pepper, settles into oud, sandalwood and vetiver, and rests on tonka, vanilla and amber. It is a Western-style oud, smooth and dry rather than barnyard-funky, the kind of scent that suggests confidence by not trying too hard. It was part of the original Private Blend line in 2007 and has become a modern classic, which feels fitting for an artist closing the book on his own first act. Our guide to oud perfumes for men and women covers its bolder cousins.

The anatomy of a dark, after-midnight cologne

Look across those six bottles and a pattern appears. Few of them lean on citrus or ocean freshness, and none would be described as “clean laundry.” They live in the base of the fragrance pyramid, where heavier materials sit and linger. If you want a Weeknd-style scent that is not on this list, these are the notes to hunt for on the label.

Oud. The resinous heartwood of the agar tree, oud smells woody, smoky, slightly medicinal and, in some versions, animalic. In the West it often appears softened, smoothed with sandalwood and vanilla as in Oud Wood. In Middle Eastern perfumery it can be far bolder. Either way, oud adds instant depth and a sense of luxury that reads best in low light. It is the note that turns a pleasant scent into a serious one.

Leather. Perfumers build leather accords from birch tar, saffron, suede-like musks and other materials, so the effect can range from smoky and rugged to buttery and plush. Leather adds texture and a whiff of danger. It is why Ombré Leather feels like a car interior or a well-worn jacket. Pair it with a dark outfit and the effect is almost cinematic.

Tobacco. Not cigarette ash, but the sweet, hay-like, honeyed smell of cured leaf. It carries an association with lounges, jazz clubs and old-money dens, which is why it shows up in both Tobacco Vanille and Jazz Club. Tobacco reads warm and a little nostalgic, ideal for colder months and late nights.

Incense. Frankincense, olibanum and related resins give a dry, smoky, almost mineral quality, the feeling of a cathedral or a dark room after candles are snuffed out. Incense adds mystery and a slightly spiritual edge, perfect for the purgatorial Dawn FM mood. If that sounds like your thing, our list of the best incense perfumes explores the category.

Dark rum. Rum accords combine sweet, boozy, slightly fermented facets with hints of molasses and spice. They make a fragrance feel festive and intoxicating, as in Black Phantom and Jazz Club. Rum works beautifully alongside tobacco and vanilla and gives a scent that “drink in hand” glow.

Amber. Amber in perfumery is a warm, resinous accord, usually built from labdanum, benzoin and vanilla, that wraps everything in a golden haze. It is the glue at the base of most of these bottles, and it is what makes skin smell warm hours after you spray. Amber is the difference between a fragrance that fades by midnight and one that is still there at dawn.

Notice what these notes have in common: they are heavy molecules that evaporate slowly. That is why nocturnal fragrances tend to last longer and project in a warm cloud rather than a sharp burst, and why they feel more intimate than daytime citrus. Brighter top notes such as bergamot or pepper still play a role, but they are the headlights, not the engine.

Wearing it after dark: a night-out strategy

Dark fragrances are powerful, and the same bottle that smells magnetic in a dim bar can be suffocating in a crowded elevator. The trick is timing, placement and restraint. Our general guide on how to apply cologne covers the basics; here is how to adapt them for a Weeknd-style night.

Spray 30 to 45 minutes before you leave. Most of these scents open loud and sharp: pepper, cardamom, rum, a jolt of booze. Giving them time to settle lets the richer heart and base notes arrive by the time you walk through the door, so people meet the smooth middle of the fragrance rather than the alcohol rush of the first minutes. Apply to moisturized skin, because dry skin lets fragrance evaporate faster, and let it dry naturally rather than rubbing your wrists together.

Layer with intention. If you want to build a signature, try pairing a dark base with a lighter top. A quick spray of a citrus or lavender scent over Oud Wood brightens the opening without losing the depth underneath. Alternatively, layer a smoky scent with a creamy one, Jazz Club over a simple vanilla body lotion, for example, to push it sweeter and longer-lasting. Keep layering to two products. Three is where things get muddy.

Adjust the dose for the room. For a dinner, a quiet bar or a date where you will be sitting close, one or two sprays is plenty: one on the neck, one on the chest under your shirt, where body heat diffuses it gently. That intimacy is the whole point, and it is the difference covered in our explainer on sillage versus projection. For a club, a concert or a big outdoor event, you can go to three or four sprays, adding the back of the neck and the inner elbows, because movement, heat and open air will burn through fragrance faster. Even then, resist the urge to oversaturate. A dark scent should feel like a secret, not a fog machine.

Mind the season. Leather, tobacco, oud and rum shine from autumn through early spring. In summer heat they can turn cloying, so dial back to a single spray or swap to something brighter for daytime and save the heavy hitters for cool evenings.

If you only buy one

If you only want one answer to what cologne The Weeknd would wear, buy Tom Ford Ombré Leather. Of the six pairings, it is the one that best captures the full arc of his image, dark and polished, sensual and a little cold, while still being practical enough to wear to dinner, a show or a night out without overwhelming anyone. It lasts, it projects with confidence, and its leather-and-amber profile reads as luxurious without the price tag of a Private Blend. If you want something softer and more widely loved, choose YSL La Nuit de L’Homme, the cardamom-forward crowd-pleaser that works especially well as a first “nighttime” cologne. If you are after drama and want people to ask what you are wearing, go for Kilian Black Phantom, the boozy coffee-and-rum showpiece that feels most like the After Hours era in a bottle. Curious why some of these cost so much? We break it down in why Tom Ford fragrance is so expensive.

Shopping for someone else? Any of these makes a strong gift for a Weeknd fan, especially with the holidays approaching, and our guide to the best perfumes for Christmas has more ideas. And if your giftee loves Toronto’s other superstar too, our breakdown of what cologne Drake wears pairs nicely with this one.

The Weeknd cologne FAQ

Before the credits roll

Maybe the mystery is the point. The Weeknd built an empire on what he chose not to show, so it feels oddly right that his signature scent remains off the record. What he has given us is a soundtrack, six distinct moods spanning smoky apartments, chrome supercars, neon casinos and purgatorial radio. Choose the era that speaks to you, find the bottle that matches, and let it do what his music does best: turn an ordinary night into something cinematic.