The best fragrances to buy for her this Christmas

According to the women who have tried them all...

Selecting the perfect fragrance for a woman is much like selecting the right piece of jewellery; a high-risk, high-reward business. If you’re brave enough to try and purchase online, you’ll be met with a blur of incongruous scent notes, product descriptions that read more like the ingredients of a patisserie menu — and a host of brands all claiming to have bottled the world’s most powerful aphrodisiacs.

Fortunately for you, we’re on hand to ensure that you can avoid any fragrance faux pas this season, by bringing you our curated list of the best perfumes to invest in now. That way, you’re guaranteed to score some serious brownie points with the most important women in your life.

In order to craft our list, we called on friends of Gentleman’s Journal — and two of the most stylish women in London — Lady Violet Manners and Jemima Cadbury, to give us their top recommendations for the scents they swear by…

For the perfect, personalised gift…

A surefire way of graduating your gift-buying prowess from the good to the great is by adding a personal touch. For this reason — alongside the fact that the scent itself perfectly captures the scent of an English garden after the rain — we love My Burberry, because you can have a bottle engraved with the receiver’s initials.

So, for Jemima’s top choice for a Christmas gift this year, rely on the enduring British icon that brought you the trademark trench coat.

My Burberry Blush Eau de Parfum

My Burberry Blush Eau de Parfum

£99.00

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For the Christmas party season…

Broadly, feminine scents can be categorised into one of two camps — those for everyday wear and those for the evening. Superstitious by the ever-brilliant Frederic Malle is the perfect perfume for the woman looking to sparkle this party season, favoured by Lady Violet Manners herself.

Offering its wearer a healthy dose of decadence, Frederic Malle joined forces with fashion designer Alber Elbaz to create this fragrance, to create a scent that conjures the emotive response of giving a dress to someone you love. A floral scent, weighted down with a warming base of amber and (appropriately festive) Frankincense.

Superstitious by Dominique Ropion

Superstitious by Dominique Ropion

£305.00

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For an everyday essential…

Another offering from Frederic Malle, and the perfect counterpart to the evening scent, Portrait of a Lady comes recommended by both Jemima and Lady Violet as an ideal signature everyday wear. This fragrance is all about exuding charm and elegance, and possesses a timeless quality — which makes it a great choice for the gentleman wanting to mark a romantic commitment with his gifting choice.

This perfume is playful and rich, incorporating clove, blackcurrant and raspberry to create a final characterful brushstroke.

Portrait of a Lady by Dominique Ropion

Portrait of a Lady by Dominique Ropion

£305.00

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For the girl you’re looking to impress…

Acqua di Parma produce some of our favourite designer fragrances for men, with scents that make all the right impressions and stand the test of a working day to keep you smelling straight-out-of-the-shower great. Time, then, to explore their plethora of beautiful, feminine fragrances and select a scent that might just make her fall in love with you.

The Peonia Nobile perfume is light, fresh and truly intoxicating — with peony accords, Egyptian geranium and Turkish rose bringing a fresh hit of summer to the winter months. And, refreshingly, their female scents last just as as long as their collections for men.

Peonia Nobile Eau de Parfum

Peonia Nobile Eau de Parfum

£117.00

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For the other woman in your life…

Amidst the overwhelming number of gift guides helping you out when buying for your girlfriend or partner this Christmas — a lot of men can be left in the dark when it comes to buying for their mothers. Jemima recommends the Stella fragrance by Stella McCartney as the perfect gift to give the other woman in your life this Christmas.

The perfume’s tasting notes describe the fragrance composition as approachable and enduring — and if that doesn’t capture the nature of most of the mothers we have come across, we don’t know what will.

Stella Eau de Parfum

Stella Eau de Parfum

£78.00

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Looking to buy a totally unique gift this year? Why not create your own bespoke fragrance…

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