Monday Gift Tips - Five Clever Fragrance Brands - Where to Find Them - How to Choose

Monday Gift Tips - Five Clever Fragrance Brands - What to Choose and Where to Buy

Monday is going to be Gift Tips from now until Christmas - having written two books about gifts and got it wrong many times with the four other members of my family (one husband, two sons and one daughter) who have never held back on telling me exactly where I've gone wrong, I thought I'd pass some of my thoughts on to you. Needless to say, all the gift ideas I talk about will be available on the web - in my opinion you'd have to be daft to go shopping for pressies anywhere else.

So. On to Fragrance. Fragrance is always a wonderful 'gift idea'. So good that it's frequently seen as the quick and easy solution, and therefore givers frequently get it wrong.

You know what you like and you probably also know that when you're given fragrance of any kind (body lotion, eau de toilette, shower gel) that you're not enamoured with you probably won't bother to try it, but stick it in your drawer to be given on. I think there's no worse fate for a gift, that and 'can I take it back?'. The most important thing is to analysie what your chosen recipient likes, before you even think of buying. Easy if you know the exact fragrance they wear (and too easy just to buy them some more) and then to analyse why they like it.


Are they are a rose person?
Modern citrussy type?
Strong florals such as gardenia or jasmine?
Classic fragrance lover?
Always wearing contemporary scents?

There are more, and I'm not going to list them all here, but this gives you the general idea of how you need to think.

Here are five of my favourite fragrance brands for gift giving, for quality, range, innovation, clever packaging and for constantly developing new products, therefore keeping the brand fresh and interesting. Take your pick.

Diptyque - superb quality and innovative fragrance and candles
Penhaligons - Classic fragrance gorgeously presented - fragrance, bath and body
Carthusia - Unique fragrances, beautifully wrapped - fragrance, bath and body
Skeem - entrancing packaging - scented candles
Ortigia - Glamourous and beautifully packaged - bath, body and candles

Two other places you might want to take a look at are Senti and Ancienne Ambiance, both offering unique collections and from where I have picked scented gifts many times.

Most people will love to be given something with a designer name and beautiful packaging, and there are some brands that cleverly cover all the different types, although, for example, brands such as Penhaligons and Floris will always be perceived in my view as 'Classic' what ever they do, whereas Diptyque, however classic the fragrance, will be seen as much more contemporary.

You'll find these brands and more in our Fabulous Fragrance section at http://www.thesiteguide.com/, where you can just click through to order.