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Best perfumes to give as Valentine's Day gifts

Elizabeth Taylor/Carolina Herrera/Estee Lauder/Chanel

Choosing the best perfume for a Valentine's Day gift

Whether you’re gifting yourself this Valentine's season or appreciating someone else with a token of your love, one present it's hard to go wrong with is perfume. Perfumes evoke any type of mood and easily tell a story with scents that range from heavy musks to light florals and everything in between.

In this season of love, some scents are more sensual and some are sweet, and you can find one that's a perfect representation of the mood everyone is after this February. With a good fragrance, it’s easy to show your loved ones you care by giving them Valentine's Day gifts as lovely as they are. 

Shop this article: Chance Chanel Eau Tendre, Estee Lauder Beautiful To-Go Set and Versace Yellow Diamond Three-Piece Gift Set

What to consider when buying perfume

Preference 

It’s not always easy buying gifts, and if your recipient doesn't like yours, they may return it, or even worse, just not use. To avoid this, ask them what kind of scents they like, or note their preferences. Do this by paying attention to what they already smell like and what products they use, so you can choose something similar. 

Fragrance families

Perfumes often have a blend of categories that come off as top, base and heart notes. The scents gotten from perfumes fall into four major categories:

  • Floral: These are some of the most popular fragrances, with have sweet  notes that smell like fresh-cut flowers. They're great for outdoor occasions or summertime wear.
  • Woody: They usually smell like sandalwood, cedarwood or heavy amber. Woody fragrances give off earthy and musky scents and are great for evening wear.
  • Oriental: These are more exotic scents that smell like herbs and spices. They could lean toward floral scents to give floral-oriental notes or towards woody scents to give woody-oriental notes. 
  • Fresh: These usually have zesty, vibrant frasrances of citrus, oceanic scents and bright airy aromas.

Best perfumes for Valentine's Day

Chance Chanel Eau Tendre

Chanel perfume is a classic, and the timeless designer makes fragrances that are hard to go wrong with. This one has a light, airy floral scent that seamlessly goes from day to night. The fragrance is strong, but doesn’t get excessively heady and is mild enough for highly sensitive people. 

Elizabeth Taylor's Passion 

Nothing says Valentine's Day like this rich, floral, alluring scent that lasts all day long. This Elizabeth Taylor perfume combines sweet top notes of jasmine and rose with heart notes of musk and a base of sandalwood. 

Estee Lauder Pleasures

This Estee Lauder perfume has a beautiful vintage scent that smells like fresh-cut lilies and violets with subtle hints of mint. Though it’s fantastic on its own, it can also be layered with other perfumes and works especially well with amber musk. This makes the scent a little more interesting and luxurious. 

Dolce & Gabbana The One Eau De Parfum Spray

This Dolce & Gabbana perfume comes in a classy square bottle with a stunning gold-colored cover. It smells even better than it looks with rich, oriental floral notes that open into prominent musky scents. The classic palette of flowers and sparkling citrus is sensuous, seductive and a great pick for anyone with a classic style. 

Carolina Herrera Good Girl

If you’re looking for a mysterious scent for evening wear and formal occasions, this Carolina Herrera perfume is a perfect go-to. It features a lush combination of almonds, coffee, tuberose and jasmine

Design by Paul Sebastian

This perfume's bright floral scents and lightness make it work well as a mild body scent or as a hair perfume. Its major profile features flowery amber notes with subtle hints of sweet honeysuckle. It’s a great perfume for someone who doesn’t like heavy scents. 

Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium 

This warm scent of this Yves Saint Laurent perfume is popular for a reason. It opens up with bold notes of rich coffee and sweet vanilla, which then gently recline into soft floral hints for the heart and base notes. It's simple, soft and sweet. 

Dior Hypnotic Poison

For a more daring yet intimate scent, this Dior perfume balances notes of bitter almond with soft vanilla and musk to give a perfect blend. It comes in an attractive bottle you’d want to display on your shelf for a long time. 

Viktor & Rolf Bonbon 

This is a warm fragrance with a fresh twist of black currant and peach. It smells so good you might even want to eat it. It comes in a beautifully handcrafted bow-shaped bottle and encapsulates a sweet feeling of love and playfulness. 

Best perfume gift sets for Valentine's Day

Victoria's Secret Bombshell Mini Fragrance Duo Gift Set

This beautiful perfume gift set comes with a lightly scented moisturizing lotion and perfume. When paired together, the Victoria's Secret perfume gives off lush notes of purple passionfruit and vanilla orchid that are great for subtle yet extended wear. 

Estee Lauder Beautiful To-Go Set  

This three-piece set features a body lotion, full-sized Estee Lauder perfume and travel-size spray. It has prominent notes of fresh, long-lasting florals. For a gift presentation, it comes in a beautiful box and floral packaging. 

 

Versace Yellow Diamond Three-Piece Gift Set

If you’re looking for a great signature scent, this perfume gift set is a great pick. It has a balanced blend of orange blossoms, amber musks and water lilies. The mild base notes of freesia make this Versace perfume a head-turner that lasts all day. The little bottles are elegant and portable. 

Valentino Voce Viva Perfume Set 

This intoxicating Valentino perfume set takes you on a trip to Italy with key notes of Italian bergamot and golden gardenia. Its subtle, cool crystal moss notes make it a set you’d want to keep in your bag for an instant refreshing spritz. 

 

Victoria's Secret Fragrance Mist Collection

This miniature set contains four exotic scents that combine sweet florals and fruits to leave long-lasting impressions. It comes in a simply wrapped gift box.

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