How to Pick a Holiday Gift Perfume for Her
A gift you can never go wrong with for your girlfriend or wife is perfume — a nice, pretty, over-jeweled, over-priced, prismatic-shaped bottle of perfume. But, the thing is, you have to know what her go-to perfume is to buy it, or what range of notes she most prefers to make sure it will not be returned the very next day for something else.
Perfumes range from very sweet to tropical to clean smelling. (Photo: Getty Images)
What you can do is take note of the empty bottles of perfume on her vanity so you know that buying one of those would be a sure hit since she wears it every day. If you do not see empty bottles (not all women save them like some of us), then just note the one on her dresser, in the bathroom or on her vanity. That is probably the one she wears most. If she has a collection of them on a tray, then write the names down so that when you go to the store, you can tell the clerk the names of what she has and they can help you figure out what type of scents she likes to wear.
Perfume, like colognes, all have different types of notes and some can be very sweet smelling while others are very tropical. Do not just spritz them and pick one you think you would like to smell on her because, although you might like the fragrance, it might not be her style. And, she will not wear it if she does not like it.
Here are some pointers as to which perfumes she might like based on what you see in her room:
Shalimar not only smells elegant, but also looks it. The bottle can be saved as decor on her vanity.
(Photo: Guerlain)
If she has the classic Chanel No. 5, then your girl is my type of girl. She is classy and invests in a good perfume because she knows the scent does not easily wear off and can be worn as an everyday scent since it is not one specific note, but a medley of sweet meets citrus meets woody. Other perfumes that have a classic scent to them include Shalimar from Guerlain and L’Atelier de Givenchy Néroli Originel. Bottles for both of these are classically elegant and would look beautiful next to her Chanel No. 5.
If you find an empty bottle of Clinique Happy, then she is fun and flirty. This scent has Hawaiian wedding flower in it with ruby red grapefruit, so it gives it that hint of tropical notes mixed with florals. This scent just perks me up whenever I smell it, so other similar scents your girl would like include Tommy Girl by Tommy Hilfiger and Ralph Lauren’s Big Pony Women’s RL Blue Spray. Both scents are sweet but have an energizing tropical note to them.
Lazy Sunday Morning is potent, but with clean smelling notes you can always get away with it. (Photo: Maison Margiela)
If you find a bottle of Philosphy’s Pure Grace, then she is all about taking the feeling of cleanliness with her everywhere she goes. This scent smells like you are taking your shower with you because it is so clean smelling mixed with the notes of water lilies to add to the refreshing crisp scent that these ingredients all make. You should look into also purchasing Maison Margiela’s Replica Lazy Sunday Morning, which has the same clean notes going on except it is a bit stronger with notes reminiscent of just having done laundry and hung it up to dry out in the countryside.
If you would like a couple more perfume ideas, check out last year’s fall scents.
