Funny Valentine – tips & tricks to buying a scent for someone you love

Valentines Day – love it or loathe it – is just around the corner, and it’s still the day that generates the most fragrance sales, peaking at 42% of all prestige beauty products sold. So if you’re thinking of splashing out on a fragrance for your significant other, follow our guide to ensure a scented success…

 

If you just have no idea where to start

Don’t panic and just buy something random! The best idea is to get a curated Discovery Box of fabulous mini sizes and samples from a wide range of fragrance houses, that way they can start exploring and trying them all in the comfort of their own home, and most importantly, in their own time. Each box is carefully put together to include something for all tastes – so they’re bound to fall for one of them.

Once they’ve found ‘the one’ (or perhaps several) you can then buy a full size later, safe in the knowledge they’ve already fallen for it.

 

 

If you already know what they love (and they don’t want to change)

Great! But instead of buying just another bottle, why not have a look at matching products available, such as a gorgeously decadent bath oil, rich body cream or even a fragranced hair mist. It’s often possible to find travel-size versions of perfumes at this time of year, and if you really wanted to push the boat out – how wonderful it would be to book a couple of nights in a nice hotel or day spa trip, and add the ticket to the box of mini sizes in a golden envelope! (Well, we can dream…)

 

 

If you already know what they love (and they DO fancy a change)

This is a fantastic starting point, now all you need to do is type the name of that scent into our genius Fragrance Finder, and the clever algorithm – based on information we source directly from the fragrance houses and perfumers themselves – will suggest six new fragrances that, while different from the original you typed, share a similar mood, character or key ingredients.It really works!

 

 

If you’ve an idea of fragrances they like, but aren’t sure which they have

A ‘selection box’ of scents showcasing a range of fragrances from the same house is your best option, here. Brand Boxes give you breathing room if they happen to have already got one of them, but haven’t yet explored the rest of their range. It’s a brilliant way to ensure they’ll love such a thoughtful gift, while encouraging them to smell their way through others they perhaps wouldn’t have thought about trying!

 

Written by Suzy Nightingale

Last-minute Christmas gifts (that DON’T need posting!)

Last-minute Christmas ideas are all very well, but what if you’ve left it so late (yes, we’re looking at you!) that you’ve already missed the last post?

Here are two thoughtful gift ideas for fragrance lovers that need no desperate scurrying for leftover crumpled scraps of wrapping paper – no wrapping or queuing at the Post Office required at all, in fact. What’s more, they last for an entire YEAR, and one of them can be sent to anyone, no matter where they are in the world. Hallelujah!

Perfume Society VIP Club Membership: £25 for an entire year

Seriously the best gift you can give anyone who loves fragrance – after purchasing, simply contact [email protected] with the recipient’s details and we’ll do the rest!

As a member of The Perfume Society VIP Club, they will receive the following exclusive benefits…

•  Six issues a year of our online/downloadable digital magazine The Scented Letter – (virtually) the only publication in the world devoted to all things fragrant. For more info on which, please scroll down…

Exclusive competitions with fab fragrant prizes – including bottles signed by perfumers.

•  Early access to tickets for all our events (when we can do these in-person again) – meeting with leading ‘noses’ and key figures from the perfume world, attending in-store events, workshops, etc. (Our VIPs are first to hear about these.)

•  A special member’s discount on our Perfume Society Discovery Boxes (normally £19 – but £15 to our VIPs)

•  Plus choose a FREE Discovery Box when you sign up (see options in the drop-down menu, here)

 

Print Subscription to The Scented Letter Magazine: £75 per year

Described as a ‘must-read’ by industry insiders and perfume-lovers, and after so many asked for a printed edition, we also offer a print subscription to our multi award-winning magazine, The Scented Letter. Filled to bursting each issue with in-depth interviews with the world’s top perfumers, as well as news, hundreds of fragrance reviews and behind-the-scenes scented secrets, alongside features by leading fragrance writers – from Thomas Dunckley (The Perfume Candy Boy) to Persolaise, via Viola Levy and our Senior Writer Suzy Nightingale.

 

 

The Scented Letter print edition will be delivered to their door for an entire year of fragrant reading ahead, all without you having to lift another finger!

 

International Subscription to The Scented Letter Magazine: £20 for a year

We’re overjoyed that we can now offer overseas subscribers an International Subscription to our digital downloadable magazine, The Scented Letter. (Alas, we still can’t ship our boxes overseas – and we’re as gutted as you are about that!)

Your subscription gives you six 60-page ONLINE editions a year of this beautiful, multi-Jasmine Award-winning magazine: the only one of its kind for perfume-lovers.

Because of the way our system works, when you click Add to Cart it will send us an e-mail – and we’ll follow up for payment. To buy this as a gift; please let us know in your e-mail to us if it’s for someone else.)

So now you can gift an entire year of reading to a fragrance-lover you know, no matter where they live. And from the feedback we receive from overseas fans, we know they’ll be utterly thrilled!

So, it’s really NOT too late to send them something to show you care, to cheer up a fragrant friend you’ve perhaps not been able to see for so long – and these are perfumed presents that last a full 365 days ahead. Now that’s truly a gift that keeps on giving

Marie Kondo-up your collection – scent storage solutions

If you haven’t seen the show already, you’ll definitely have heard about it, because – love it or hate it – Tidying Up With Marie Kondo seems to have got the entire Internet talking.

Lifestyle guru Kondo helps people tackle clutter that she feels is holding them back. And for Kondo, choosing what to keep all comes down to one question: does it spark joy?

It seems in some quarters her philosophy has sparked controversy and even anger, with memes quoting her out of context, suggesting she wants everyone to throw their books away, for example (she doesn’t). But if we all calm down a litte bit and focus on that central ethos, perhaps we can all have a good sort-out of our collections and therefore get even more pleasure from those perfumes that are often hidden away or forgotten about.

To get a sense of what the series is all about, have a look at the official trailer, below.

Now let’s suppose that, seeing as you’re here, perfume sparks a lot of joy for you. Perhaps you have a collection of hundreds of bottles, or would just like to organise the few you have in a more aesthetically pleasing (and practical) way? Have a look at some of the ingenious storage solutions and suggestions below, and perhaps have a January re-jig of your own…

Photo by thehappysloths.com

Muji 3 Tier Display £14.99

  • Rather than riffling through an old shoe-box, acrylic shelves and boxes allow you to store smaller sizes and decants, while seeing at a glimpse what you want to wear next. Muji always have a great selection, but check out Hobbycraft and stationery shops, too.

  • Places like Etsy and Not on the High Street are great places to search for vintage cake stands – why not choose all those fragrances that are ‘sparking the most joy’ for you right now and arrange them on the tiers, with lighter scents on top, going down to more sultry or heavier, evening-appropriate ones on the bottom layer?

  • In the days when travelling was infinitely more glamorous, one carried one’s essentials (perfume, obvs) in specially made trunks. Look on auction sites, in second-hand shops and boots fairs for similar vintage cases. Stack them up in a corner, with the top case open, holding your chosen fragrances for the month(s) ahead.

 

Photo by lipstickandlibraries.com
  • Sample bottles and tiny vials can be tricky to store en-masse, so consider using lab equipment items like test-tube holders and racks, or look for bullet boxes, fishing tackle boxes, and tool boxes. You can often find these on Ebay and similar sites, so when trying to store these smaller items – think outside the box!

  • Spice racks used to be a feature of everyone’s 1970s kitchen, but now we’re more likely to have whole cupboards-full of exotic ingredients than a faded jar of ‘Mixed Herbs’, so you can usually find the racks cheaply in charity shops. They’re perfect for holding miniature bottles! Also search for nail varnish shelves online, and consider the homeware section of your local £1 shop or hardware store.

  • Consider challenging yourself to trying new fragrances each week (be they samples or bottles you have but rarely use). Lay them out on a pretty tray – easily found in a charity shop or jumble sale – and it will focus your attention on them, rather than falling back into the same old habits of wearing the same old thing. And if they’re not sparking joy? Swap them with friends, or treat yourself to something you’ll really love from our Discovery Box sale selection.

PS: Our boxes are the perfect size to store your samples neatly – sort them alphabetically, by name of house or type of fragrance – but most importantly, make sure you use and enjoy them!

By Suzy Nightingale