Now we know how Alice in Wonderland must have felt. Miniature bottles of our favourite scents (and some rather excellent new ones) are landing on the beauty desk with increasing frequency at the moment. Curiouser and curioser...

These tiny bottles of olfactory nectar are pushing all the same psychological buttons that made us beg our parents for a dolls house that we henceforth stuffed with Sylvanian Family characters and their assorted ephemera circa age eight. There's just something so appealling about small stuff.

So, why the big shrink? Maybe, in part, it appeals to our sense of rarity. You know that feeling of indifference when you're only half way through a 100ml bottle of scent and there's still, STILL, another 50mls to go. Well with micro perfumes, there's none of that louche abandon. Oh no. These miniature vesells of fine fragrance make us want to savour every last drop and it's an emotional response not lost on savvy fragrance houses. Secondly, we're talking about heavyweight parfums, the likes of which are often so heady that just a dab warmed between the wrists is enough to scent your entire being. And lets face it, at these premium prices, it's an absolute caveat that a little goes a very long way.

Click through the gallery above to see our favourite small, yet mighty, fragrances.