Perfume is the best gift and the most dangerous gift. It is the best because it is personal, lasting, used daily, and associated with the giver every time it is worn. It is the most dangerous because an incorrect perfume — one that does not suit the recipient, that they have already and do not want doubled, or that smells wrong on their skin — is a gift that sits in a drawer.
This guide is for avoiding the drawer.
The principles of successful perfume gifting
- Know something about their current collection. Giving them another bottle of what they already wear is a restocking gift, not a discovery. If you want to introduce them to something new, make sure it is in the same family as what they already love.
- When in doubt, choose a classic. Classics have survived because they work on a wide range of skin chemistry and suit a wide range of tastes.
- Consider the concentration. EDP lasts longer and costs more. For a significant gift, EDP. For a gesture, EDT.
- The gift set option. Most luxury fragrance houses offer gift sets — smaller bottle of perfume, matching lotion or shower gel. These are excellent for first-time recipients of a particular fragrance.
By person and occasion
For your mother
Both are classics with the quality and history that a gift to a mother should have. Both say: I see your sophistication and I am acknowledging it.
For your partner (woman)
Choose based on who she is, not who you want to smell next to.
If she is ambitious and driven:
If she is versatile and social:
If she is distinctive and not universally liked:
For your partner (man)
Dior Sauvage EDP is the universally applicable choice — there are almost no circumstances in which this gift fails. Creed Aventus if you want to spend significantly and give something that will be genuinely impressive.
For someone who has everything
This is the perfume that people who know perfume do not yet own but want. There is no world in which this gift is wrong for the person who has everything.
For a budget of under ₦45,000
Quality fragrance exists at every price point — the key is buying authentic.
A final note on gift wrapping
Perfume does not need elaborate additional packaging. The bottle is already the object. A ribbon on the box and a card that explains why you chose that specific perfume for that specific person — that card, that sentence of personalisation — is worth more than any additional wrapping.
The note that says this reminded me of you because— is the real gift. The perfume is what it says it is.