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“It’s always tricky, buying perfume for someone else,” says Frédéric Malle. As the architect behind Editions de Parfums—a collection of original scents created in collaboration with the world’s top noses—he appreciates the value of a beautifully crafted fragrance. Still, he insists, when it comes to gifting fragrance for the holidays, it’s not about playing it safe.
“A lot of people give Chanel No. 5 for the same reason they might buy an Apple computer—because they think they can’t go wrong,” says Malle. “But perfume is more personal than that. It’s not about choosing a ‘good’ fragrance. It’s about choosing the one that’s a good match with the person who will be wearing it.”
To tip the odds in your favor, Malle swears by a few simple tricks. First, remember: “Perfume is not an intellectual thing. It’s very primal. You have to use what you already know about someone, but you also need to trust your instincts,” he says. “When I’m smelling a fragrance, I try to really imagine the person wearing it. You can guess that someone who wears white all the time, for instance, might like the idea of lightness. She is going to want something that’s pure and airy and transparent.” Try to envision her wearing a heavy, spicy fragrance, he counters, “and it just doesn’t fit.” Likewise, it stands to reason that a sportif-chic friend who spends her holiday marathon-training in Montauk and is obsessed with the scent of saltwater-kissed skin may gravitate to an equally fresh perfume.
Something else to keep in mind, says Malle, is the question of occasion. If your sister wears fragrance only for major parties or events, “a squeaky-clean perfume does not make sense.” In that case, he suggests something with a little more weight. “When you give it to her, you could say that you were thinking it would be something great for evening,” he adds. (Note: According to Malle, a smooth delivery is imperative when presenting a fragrance. “When you give someone a perfume, it’s sort of telling them how you see them,” he admits with a laugh. “You have to hedge your bets.”)
There is, of course, one fairly surefire way to bypass the hassle of holiday guesswork altogether. “If you know what kind of perfume someone has worn in the past and you go to a specialty store, like Barneys New York or Aedes de Venustas, for example, the fragrance expert there should be able to suggest something similar,” says Malle. “That saves time.”
So does a good cheat sheet, which is why Vogue has assembled a handful of Malle’s best suggestions—along with some of our own—that are guaranteed to satisfy every personality on your list.
