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Anyone who stops to smell the roses in a batch of new fall fragrances will notice that they are positioned to be more bawdy than beautiful. Both scent and message - yes, the S&M reference was intentional - are not just seductive but overtly sexual. For every drip of post-coital perfume, there's a drop of provocative branding.

Where past hits such as Opium from Yves Saint Laurent and Christian Dior's Poison presented illicit acts in an aspirational context, they stopped shy of being playful.

Compare that to État Libre d'Orange (The Free State of Orange), a niche French collection of scents whose Putain des Palaces (it's translated as Hotel Slut but literally means "whore of the palaces") aims to bring someone's tongue to another person's cheek.

Then there's Juliette Has a Gun, a debut collection from Romano Ricci, great-grandson of Paris couturier Nina Ricci. His target audience is a woman unlikely to wear the flowery bestseller scent of his grandfather Robert Ricci, L'Air du Temps. But there's still a bit of a lady in her.

"On one side, she's romantic and she's been educated to look for love," said the dashing Ricci, 28, who was in Toronto on Thursday to make beauty editors weak in the knees. "But on the other side, she lives in a modern world and she is tempted by it and so she must fight between both sides. "

Ricci's first two scents, Miss Charming and Lady Vengeance, play on the classic dichotomy of good girl-bad girl.

"It is so much about a woman being free and taking her power against a man who is strict about his role," he said.

Of course, the French are famous for playing it both ways. Take the new Hermès juice, Kelly Calèche, named after Grace Kelly, who inspired eponymous trophy Hermes handbag. At the advance New York launch in May, legendary perfumer Jean-Claude Elena said, "We want to make pretty things and unique things."

Fair enough, but created for the launch was a stunningly sculptural Hermes riding crop, a fetish toy masquerading as a horsey-chic accessory if ever there was one.

"You can do with it what you please," he joked to guests at Perry Street, Jean-Georges Vongerichten's restaurant where exposed industrial architecture meets high design.

Even Sarah Jessica Parker's new scent, Covet, touts seduction over sweetness. Its essence is intended to leave an "intoxicating afterglow."

So shelve those bottles of pretty perfume, because raunchy has returned. Here's a sniff at how the interplay between raw and refined is redefining the high-end olfactory experience.

*****

Covet

Message from the bottle "Impulsive, Indulgent, Irresistible... Yes, Yes, Yes!" exclaims the press release.

Agent provocateur Hot on the heels of her debut scent, Lovely, SJP keeps up her feminine shtick. But this time she adds a soupçon of bitch. To covet, after all, is to wrongfully desire.

Naughty notes The names are more suggestive than the scents: wet greens, honeysuckle, musk.

Nice notes Garden fresh geranium leaves, Sicilian lemon, lavender and magnolia.

Risqué factor The packaging is relatively innocuous, and the bottle comes with a amber-coloured daisy ring around the cap (to wear it would be a fashion crime). The ad campaign is more raunchy, showing SJP smashing a window to nab the bottle and getting handcuffed and thrown into perfume prison. Now that's gotta reek.

Eau de parfum, 100 ml, $69 at the Bay.

*****

Kelly Calèche

Message from the bottle "I don't analyze the market. I create what I smell in the street. All perfumes are based on reality," nose Jean-Claude Elena said at the launch of the new Hermès scent.

Agent provocateur Indeed, Elena is considered among the industry's foremost noses.

Naughty notes The inspiration was leather, which has all kinds of associations.

Nice notes Iris roots, mimosa rose, tuberose and climbing rose.

Risqué factor The swivel cap and bolted hardware on the bottle are suggestively S&M. The fragrance is sophisticated, but the ad drips eroticism à la Equus: a beautiful blond in equestrian attire carries a crop whose curlicue tip ensnares the bottle like a serpent. She's Princess Grace ... in leather.

Eau de toilette, 100 ml, $126 at Hermès boutiques; available at Holt Renfrew at the end of August.

*****

Putain des Palaces

Message from the bottle On the scent's website: "Doesn't every woman have the fantasy of being the temptress in the hotel bar, of yielding to desire in the intimacy of a lift?"

Agent provocateur Paris-based Etienne de Swardt is the madman behind the collection, which also includes Magical Secretions and Such a Traitor.

Naughty notes 'Notes animales,' which is an elegant way of saying concentrated body odour from your four-legged friends.

Nice notes With the exception of the Rose Absolu and violets, ingredients such as mandarin orange and ginger seem more suited to an Asian marinade.

Risqué FACTOR: The bottles are understated, but the online graphic shows a phallic key inserted into a pink keyhole. It smells like a perfume from a washroom vending machine. If you're going to be a hotel slut, this one is worthy of the Ritz.

100 ml, $109, exclusively at Holt Renfrew.

*****

Juliette Has a Gun

Message from the bottle: "The fragrance of a Lady for whom the art of seduction bares no secret. You can smell ... you can dream... but the rest lies in her hands," reads the online description.

Agent provocateur: As scion of a fashion family, Romano Ricci has fragrance in his blood. Francis Kurkdjian, responsible for such potions as JP Gaultier and Narcisso Rodriguez, designed this bitch's brew.

Naughty notes: The Bulgarian rose is a thorny variety (more than 500 in every bottle).

Nice notes Patchouli and vanilla.

Risqué FACTOR Ricci, who admits to having had his share of Juliettes, says the gun in the title is about "scent being a weapon of seduction." But he's vague on whether the scent is aimed at seducing men or captivating women. Romeo is alive and e-mail.

Eau de parfum, $120 ml; available exclusively at Holt Renfrew.