Perfume for Girlfriend – Is It a Good Idea? [With 4 Options!]

If you have watched enough sitcoms, you know that gift buying can lead to some high jinks. You might be in love with a specific fragrance and may want to buy it for your partner, but it could be taken as a passive-aggressive jab at body odor. It might also be problematic if your ex-girlfriend was particularly fond of such a fragrance. There’s a lot of nuance to perfume buying for one’s girlfriend.

In general, perfume is a great gift for a girlfriend if you are in a serious relationship. However, make sure that you don’t buy cheap fragrances as these perfumes have low-quality oils and make subpar gifts. A thoughtfully purchased scent can make for a memorable gift she remembers for a long time.

In this post, you will learn more about the sensitivities of fragrance procurement for your partner, including which kinds of perfumes are great and on what occasions you can purchase them as gifts for your girlfriend. Finally, you will learn the top mistakes people make when getting a fragrance for their partners.

Before we begin – If you don’t have time to read the article and you just want to know a good perfume for your girlfriend, my recommendation would be to go with Dior Poison Girl by Christian Dior or Chanel Chance Eau Tendre. A full review of these perfumes is listed towards the end of this article.

Is Perfume a Good Gift: The Nuances

Buying perfume can be a romantic gesture if done in the proper context. But if you buy your girlfriend a perfume as a “surprise gift,” it will almost always be taken as a jab at their body odor or their current fragrance selection. People are pretty sensitive about their choice of perfume and how they smell, and ideally, buying a fragrance should not be considered during the first month of dating and the first month of moving in together.

If you buy a perfume when your partner has just begun dating you, it might be seen as a statement about their current perfume selection.

People always wear their favorite perfume or fragrance to new dates and buying them a perfume soon after can convey the wrong message. Even if you say things like “I love your perfume, you seem to have great taste in fragrances,” buying them a perfume soon after will not register as a personal or intimate gift in the first month of dating.

When the same person moves in with you, a fragrance gift can be received as an attack on body odor. Even if you’re in a place where personal gifts register quite well, buying a perfume soon after you start spending too much time together can convey your displeasure with how your girlfriend smells most of the time.

Aside from the first month of dating and the first month after moving in together, it is generally okay to buy your partner a perfume, but one should make sure it is for an acceptable occasion. Unless there’s a specific, thoughtful element embedded in the purchase, a surprise gift is generally going to raise doubts in your girlfriend’s mind.

Acceptable Occasions for Perfume Gifts

As mentioned earlier, perfumes are acceptable as gifts as long as the occasion calls for gift giving. Still, buying perfume for teacher’s day might not register as well, even if your partner is a teacher. Since fragrances are an intimate gift, I advise reserving them for only two occasions: valentine’s day and anniversary.

If you gift your partner a fragrance on the anniversary of first meeting them or the date you got together, the gesture is overtly romantic, and any connotations regarding body odor and their previous perfume choices are lost. This makes anniversaries a great time to buy your girlfriend perfume. 

It is further elevated if you buy them the perfume they’ve liked or mentioned before, a choice that will further diminish concerns regarding your judgment of how they smell.

Valentine’s day is another occasion where you can not only get away with buying your partner a perfume but be appreciated for the purchase. Here, too, the broader connotation of romantic thoughtfulness overpower any underlying concerns or insecurities.

An exception to the aforementioned points could be if your girlfriend has explicitly mentioned that she is a perfume nerd (of sorts) and a perfume is something that she really likes! In that case, although gifting a perfume won’t be considered a dig at how she smells but you will perhaps have to be very specific with which perfume to buy. Gifting a perfume without knowing her tastes accurately, in such a scenario, will almost certainly end up in disappointment!

Top Mistakes to Avoid When Buying Perfume for a Girlfriend

So you have decided to purchase a fragrance for her but aren’t sure if it will be received the right way. As long as you don’t buy her one within the first month of dating or the first few weeks of moving in together, you’ll be in the clear. Still, you must avoid the following mistakes.

• Saying “I love this perfume” while giving it to her – Such a statement can imply you smelled the fragrance on another woman and decided your girlfriend should smell the same way. “I thought you would love this fragrance” is a better statement as it conveys you put thought into the kind of perfume she likes.
  
• Buying a cheap perfume is a bad idea because heavily discounted perfumes are often imitation fragrances with cheap oils and low-quality essence. There’s little note-differentiation, and it can set up your partner for embarrassment if they wear it to work.
  
• A perfume is a practical gift and buying your girlfriend a perfume that contrasts her current choice can be a wasted opportunity. If your girlfriend wears the same kinds of perfumes, then her preference is informed and set. Getting her anything outside that family or seasonality is like begging for the fragrance to be regifted.
  
• Buying your partner a perfume they already use is the safest gift yet makes the gesture entirely forgettable. When you buy her just another bottle of what she already uses, your gift fades into the forgetfulness of the minutiae of one’s routine.

Best Practices for Buying Your Girlfriend a Perfume

When you buy your partner a perfume, you want to make sure it isn’t forgettable and invites repeated use. Remember, good perfumes are expensive, and you don’t want a costly gift to go to waste. You can make sure your gift is valued and remembered in a few ways.

Buy her a fragrance that matches her current choices but isn’t something she already has. Taking a sample of her perfume and analyzing the scent family it belongs to or its top notes can be an excellent indicator for the kind of perfumes she might like. 

If you live together, you can simply check the packaging, but if you haven’t moved in, you might need to use a ruse along the line of “remember when we hung out with X, Y, or Z, they later wanted to know which perfume you wear.” Once you know the perfume’s name, you can figure out similar fragrances.

Purchase a fragrance that has a strong connection with a specific memory. If you met during springtime or took a trip together into nature, a spring season fragrance will have more of an impact, especially if accompanied by the explanation. If you have always hoped to visit Paris, a Parisian fragrance might invoke the right feelings. Ultimately, a perfume gift is as good as the thought behind it.

Best Perfume Gifts for Your Girlfriend

If you haven’t been able to narrow down or identify a perfume to gift to your girlfriend based on the aforementioned suggestions, in this section, I will share with you a few specific perfumes you can consider as a gift!

Please note – the list of perfumes that I have curated below is based primarily on mass-appeal so you won’t go wrong even if you go with any one of these options!

1. Dior Poison Girl EDT

Overall, just a FANTASTIC perfume to buy as a gift to your girlfriend!

Perfumer – The nose behind this fragrance is Francois Demachy.
Top Notes – Frosted Orange, Bitter Orange, and Lemon
Middle Notes – Neroli, Orange Blossom, Grasse Rose, and Damask Rose
Base Notes – Vanilla, Caramel, Tonka Bean, Heliotrope, and Cashmeran
Price Rating – $$$$

2. Dolce Gabbana Light Blue Intense

Perfumer – The nose behind this fragrance is Olivier Cresp.
Top Notes – Lemon and Granny Smith Apple
Middle Notes – Marigold and Jasmine
Base Notes – Musk and Amberwood
Price Rating – $$$

3. Chanel Chance Eau Tendre

I like to say that no list of perfumes is complete without a Chanel, and that is especially true when it comes to gifting perfume!

For this perfume, I would recommend going with the Eau de Toilette version as it really good and smells just like the Eau de Parfum. In m opinion, you don’t need to spend any extra money on the Eau de Parfum when Eau de Toilette can deliver the same performance!

Perfumer – The nose behind this fragrance is Jacques Polge.
Top Notes – Quince and Grapefruit
Middle Notes – Hyacinth and Jasmine
Base Notes – Musk, Iris, Virginia Cedar, and Amber
Price Rating – $$$$

4. Burberry Body

The only drawback with Burberry Body is that it doesn’t last too long. That said, it will get through a good 5-6 hours, and most women will be quite happy with that!

Perfumer – The nose behind this fragrance is Michel Almairac.
Top Notes – Peach, Wormwood, and Freesia
Middle Notes – Rose, Sandalwood, and Iris
Base Notes – Musk, Cashmere Wood, Vanilla, and Amber
Price Rating – $$$

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4. 19 Tips to Buy Genuine Perfume for Cheap! [And Save Money]
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6. 13 Reasons Why Your Perfume Fades So Quickly!

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