Gifting someone perfume can be really fun. Treat it a bit like taking a personality quiz of your friends and loved ones’ tastes through scent. There have been a number of really good new launches this year, with scent profiles to fit most tastes. Whether it’s a friend who adores a specific note, loves bottle design, or simply enjoys the acquisition of perfumes – here are 16 gorgeous olfactive ideas.
Like bespoke jewellery, the five perfumes – ranging from sparkling citrus to creamy gourmand – can be personalised by layering an exclusive Magnifying Essence ($300) on top.
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This is inspired by river water and its complex mix of scents infused by leaves, flowers, roots and rocks. There’s joyful Allegresse with notes of tuberose and blackcurrant, gentle Insouciance with irises and violets, and fresh Luxuriance with fern, oak and herbs.
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A warm, fruity-floral concoction of blackcurrant, lychee, blue rose and ambrette seed – these key notes are etched on a bottle with diamond-like facets.
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The six fragrances are inspired by the maison’s crowning achievement – the 302-carat Graff Lesedi La Rona, the principal diamond that was cut and polished from a 1,109 carat rough diamond. Each fragrance has its own distinct quality: Lesedi La Rona I is a powdery- floral with a woody base, III is an opulent floral chypre, while V is a sensual oriental- floral.
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Hermes touts this ginger-spiced version of its Twilly scent as a youthful, sparkly scent. That’s certainly true, and it’s got a vibrant profile with notes of peony, candied ginger and a crisp base of cedar. True to its name, it also comes packaged with a tied silk ribbon around the white cap.
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Tom Ford’s fancy fragrances are almost always a cherished gift. This year, the brand has a whole slew of its most popular private blend scents in gifting sets that include a full-sized 50ml bottle and a handsome 10ml travel spray. This one’s Bitter Peach, a juicy concoction of ripe, nectary peaches blended with blood orange and rum-infused Davana oils that lend the scent a voluptuous body.
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A set of destination-inspired scents, perhaps, for the friend who longs for travel. This seven-piece kit of 7.5ml travel-sized vials is meant to conjure through scent some of the luxury Aman resorts from around the world. They include: Alta, cosmopolitan skylines through notes of juniper and geranium; Vayu, sun-warmed skin on the beach through white florals and citrus; Umbr, the opulence of Venice via oak, leather and spice; Ayom, a jungle scent of bergamot and cardamom; Tokyo in the spring through green tea and sakura; Zuac, the spice of Marrakech through pink pepper, cloves and saffron; and Sei, a vast, silent desert through earthy sage and smoky cedar.
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Green, verdant creations are one of the more uncommon genres in perfumery. Which is great for a real connoisseur of scents. This latest perfume, created by Anne Flippo under the Editions de Parfum Frederic Malle line, is a great newcomer. It turns the archetype of lush forests on its head by using a heady combination of synthetic notes to create a biting, technicolour rendition of greens. Think of it as a concrete jungle recreated entirely through the man-made.
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The latest in Gucci’s Alchemist Garden collection is one for the romantics. Like its name suggests, A Gloaming Night was made to evoke the turning of the day to nighttime. In particular, the magical effect of the twilight hour, which perfumer Alberto Morillas conjured using key notes of cinnamon, vetiver and patchouli.
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A Drop d’Issey is Issey Miyake’s fragrance response to the growing demand for sustainability – a great option for a friend who’s invested in the cause. It features orange blossom absolute and damask rose that are both sourced from a developing fair-trade partnership, and cedar wood recovered from wood pulp. But they key note in this scent is a light, solar lilac – which is actually entirely synthetically constructed because the flower’s scent is impossible to obtain naturally. Also, it’s got an unconventional bottle design that uses recycled glass that’s inspired by the clarity of water – like a drop in a bubble, or a curved lens.
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Moncler only recently got into the perfume game, with the release of a men’s and women’s scent. The Pour Femme women’s version is made to capture the olfactive experience of fresh snow, and contains notes of bergamot, vanilla and sandalwood. Most interestingly, the largest 150ml option comes with a bottle that’s adorned with a rechargeable LED strip that can be programmed through a Bluetooth smartphone app to display customisable messages. Great novel fragrant fun for a tech and gadget-obsessed friend!
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Miss Dior is arguably the OG perfume for the house of Dior. Which is why it was so significant that it got a refreshed reformulation this year, courtesy of ex-house nose Francois Demachy. This version is a veritable bouquet of flowers, with a creamy, velvety heart embellished with fresh notes of Lily-of-the-Valley, peonies, and iris.
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N°5 L’Eau is a fantastic, fresher alternative to the 100-year-old classic. This year, both editions get a limited edition look in a bottle that incorporates recycled glass and a new, form-fitting box in the shape of the bottle made from biodegradable paper pulp.
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For a change of pace from spray formats, consider the solid perfumes from Diptyque. For its holiday collection this year, the Parisian brand has come up with a gift-worthy edition of its Eau Capitale scent (notes of rose, bergamot and patchouli) in a golden finish, with a travel pouch and a refill included.
The latest innovation in Louis Vuitton’s fragrance collection is the Extrait de Parfum line. These are fragrances that are even more concentrated and potent than eau de parfum concentrations. They also feature stoppers designed by the iconic architect Frank Gehry, meant as sculptural evocations of emotion. Rhapsody is a beautiful modern chypre, which wraps patchouli in a radiant haze of jasmine and ylang ylang to create the sensation of an infinite horizon.
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This new scent from Byredo is great for someone who combines classicism with youthful rebellion. To wit, the rose in its name is given a twist: instead of being classic and graceful, the Damascus rose in this is layered with fiery Sichuan peppers to give it an exciting kick.
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This article was first published in FEMALE. Additional reporting: Letty Seah