A perfume gift set is a fragrance with company. Most pair the perfume with a matching body lotion, a smaller spray for the handbag, or a shower gel and cream in the same scent, and a few add something unexpected. To choose one, start with the scent family she already wears, then decide what you would like to come with it: care for the skin, a bottle for travel, or a complete routine from shower to spray.
What Is Inside a Perfume Gift Set?
Read the box before the bottle. Every set lists its pieces and their sizes, and that list tells you how it will be used. Four arrangements cover the sets we have chosen here: the perfume with a body lotion; the perfume with a second, smaller spray; the perfume with shower gel and body cream; and the perfume with a pouch, a make-up piece or a body spray. Each is described below exactly as its house lists it. If the difference between eau de parfum and eau de toilette is part of your decision, we explain it in Eau de Parfum, Eau de Toilette, Eau de Cologne: What the Difference Means.
Perfume and Body Lotion
This is the most familiar pairing, and the easiest to give. A body lotion in the same scent is a softer way to wear the fragrance, so it suits someone who likes scent to stay close to the skin. It is also a gentle introduction to a house she has not worn before.
Gucci Bloom Eau de Parfum Gift Set brings a 50 ml eau de parfum spray with a 50 ml body lotion, around a heart of tuberose and jasmine. Donna Karan's DKNY Women Eau de Parfum Gift Set pairs a 100 ml spray with a 100 ml body lotion; it opens on blood orange, with a floral heart and a white birch base. Alejandro Sanz's Mi Acorde Eau de Toilette Gift Set combines an 80 ml eau de toilette with a 100 ml body lotion enriched with shea butter, in a floral-fruity composition. Pacha's Ibiza Eau de Toilette Fragrance Set places an 80 ml eau de toilette beside a 75 ml body lotion: citrus at the top, a floral heart and an amber-woody base.
- Gucci Bloom Eau de Parfum Gift Set
- DKNY Women Eau de Parfum Gift Set
- Mi Acorde Eau de Toilette Gift Set
- Pacha Ibiza Eau de Toilette Fragrance Set
Perfume With a Travel Spray
For someone who travels, or who likes to carry her scent through the day, choose a set with a second, smaller bottle. The large one stays on the dressing table and the small one goes in a bag.
The Narciso Rodriguez All Of Me set holds three pieces: a 90 ml fragrance spray, a 50 ml body lotion and a 10 ml spray. Its notes are centifolia rose and Bourbon geranium over a white musk milk accord. Trussardi's Pure Jasmine Fragrance Gift Set is a jasmine-led floral, with a 60 ml eau de parfum, a 10 ml eau de parfum spray and a third, 7 ml spray. Hannibal Laguna's Moonglow Eau de Parfum comes as a 100 ml spray with a 30 ml bottle, which the house presents as one size for home and one for travel; the scent is an oriental-floral.
Perfume, Shower Gel and Body Cream
A set like this covers every step, from the shower to the final spray. Washing and moisturising in the same scent builds a quiet layer beneath the perfume, and it suits someone who enjoys a complete routine more than a single bottle.
Aire Sevilla's Gardenias Eau de Toilette Gift Set holds a 150 ml eau de toilette with a 150 ml body lotion and a 150 ml shower gel. Gardenia, tuberose and milk jasmine lead, over sandalwood, Siam benzoin and musk. Aire Sevilla's Azahar Eau de Toilette Gift Set is built around orange blossom, with clementine, mandarin and bergamot at the top, lily of the valley and jasmine at the heart, and amber and musks at the base; it brings a 100 ml eau de toilette, body lotion and shower gel. Roger & Gallet's Rue Saint-Honoré Eau de Cologne Toiletry Bag pairs a 100 ml cologne spray with a 200 ml shower gel, citrus over a herbal heart, in a grey fabric toiletry bag with a red embossed emblem: something to keep once the bottles are finished.
- Gardenias Eau de Toilette Gift Set
- Azahar Eau de Toilette Gift Set
- Rue Saint-Honoré Eau de Cologne Toiletry Bag
Something Unexpected in the Box
Some sets add a piece you would not expect, and that is often what makes them feel personal.
Agatha Ruiz De La Prada's Look Eau de Toilette set pairs an 80 ml eau de toilette, in a bright pink, eye-shaped bottle with a heart motif, with an eye stamp eyeliner; the scent is fruity and oriental. Scalpers' Her&Here Eau de Parfum comes with a coordinating toiletry bag. It is a floral chypre: pink pepper and mandarin, then apricot nectar, jasmine and rose, over Peru balsam, vetiver and musks. Reebok's Cool Your Body Eau de Toilette Gift Set pairs a 100 ml eau de toilette with a 150 ml deodorant spray, a fresh gourmand-floral with musk, vanilla and patchouli in the base, for someone whose day includes the gym.
Choosing by Scent Family
What comes in the box matters less than the scent itself. If you know what she already wears, start there.
- Fresh and citrus: DKNY Women, Pacha Ibiza, Aire Sevilla Azahar, Roger & Gallet Rue Saint-Honoré.
- White florals: Gucci Bloom, Aire Sevilla Gardenias, Trussardi Pure Jasmine.
- Rose and musk: Narciso Rodriguez All Of Me.
- Fruity and sweeter florals: Alejandro Sanz Mi Acorde, Reebok Cool Your Body.
- Warmer and richer: Hannibal Laguna Moonglow, Agatha Ruiz De La Prada Look, Scalpers Her&Here.
If you know little of her taste, our guide How to Choose a Fragrance or Beauty Gift for Someone Else sets out how to read the clues you have, and when a lighter choice is the kinder one.
How to Choose
- She likes scent close to the skin: perfume and body lotion.
- She travels or is often out: a set with a travel spray.
- She enjoys a full routine: shower gel, body cream and perfume together.
- You would like to surprise her: a set with a pouch or a make-up piece.
Choose the scent first and the company second. A set in a fragrance she would choose for herself is the one she will finish.
