Fragrance is one of the easiest gifts to get wrong. Buy the wrong scent and it sits on a dresser for three years. Buy a gift card and you've announced that you didn't know what they like.
Everything below is under $50, and every option is built to get around that problem: a few scents instead of one guess, or small sizes so they can find what they actually like. All of it is extrait de parfum, hand-blended in small batches.
One honest piece of advice before the list: if you already know their taste, skip the sets. A single 30 mL bottle of the right fragrance ($49) beats any sampler. Everything below is for when you don't know, or want them to have options.
For him: Top Drawer travel trio, $49
Three 5 mL travel sprays, each for a different part of his week:
- Craggy Dome (Creed Aventus): the signature. If he only wears one, it's this.
- Iron Mountain (Chanel Platinum Égoïste): clean and sharp, for the office.
- Devils Courthouse (Dior Sauvage Elixir): nights out and cold weather.
These are three of the best-known men's fragrances around, so even a guy who "doesn't know fragrance" will recognize what he's wearing.
For her: Hope Chest travel trio, $49
- Toxaway (Parfums de Marly Delina): the one she'll reach for first.
- Deep Creek (Byredo La Tulipe): fresh and green, for daytime.
- Natural Bridge (Yves Saint Laurent Black Opium): for nights out.
A rose, a tulip and a coffee-vanilla. Different enough that she'll know by the end of the month which one is hers.
For someone you don't know well: Front Porch travel trio, $49
The safe bet for a coworker, an in-law, or anyone whose taste you'd only be guessing at. No his or hers, just three fragrances that work on whoever wears them:
- Cades Cove (Le Labo Santal 33): the signature.
- Roaring Fork (Creed Asian Green Tea): light and fresh.
- Chimney Rock (Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540 Extrait): for evenings.
For a couple: Two Chairs by the Fire, $34
One for him, one for her, both warm, both a little sweet, and made to share a room:
- Sugarlands (Xerjoff Naxos) for him
- Vogel (Kilian Love, Don't Be Shy) for her
Two 5 mL travel sprays. At $34, it's the cheapest way on this list to cover two people with one gift.
Want a third one to share? Mine, Yours, and Ours ($49 for three travel sprays) adds a fragrance they'll both wear: Cathedral Falls (Tom Ford Shanghai Lily) for her, Roan Highlands (Creed Green Irish Tweed) for him, and Blackwater Falls (Maison Margiela Replica By the Fireplace) for both. Mine, Yours, and Ours
For the hard-to-buy-for: a $20 sampler
This is the gift I'd give someone who's particular. Five 2 mL vials, enough to wear each one for several days instead of judging it off a paper strip. Each sampler comes with a $10 credit toward any 30 mL bottle, so when one of them lands, half of what it cost comes back.
Pick the one that fits:
- Fireside Sampler: warm and smoky, built for winter. Shop it
- Date Night Women's Sampler: rose, vanilla, tuberose, warm milk. Shop it
- Men's Creed Impressions Sampler: five Creeds, including Aventus 10th Anniversary. Shop it
- Parfums de Marly Men's Sampler: Pegasus, Layton Exclusif, Althaïr, Galloway, Perseus. Shop it
- Men's Penhaligon's Sampler: the boozy, spicy, strange end of men's fragrance. Shop it
- Sunday Best Sampler: the classic barbershop, five ways. Shop it
- Louis Vuitton Impressions Sampler: five Louis Vuitton fragrances almost nobody gets to try. Shop it
Stocking stuffer: a single travel spray, $19
If you know what they wear, a 5 mL travel spray of it costs $19 and fits in a stocking, a glovebox, or a carry-on.
Worth the extra $9: Here and Yonder, $59
It's over budget, but it's the best-value gift we make: a full 30 mL bottle plus a matching 5 mL travel spray of the same fragrance, so they have one for home and one for the road. Bought separately, those two would cost $68. If you know their scent, this is the one. For him · For her
Maison Appalachia is an independent fragrance house. Our fragrances are inspired by the originals we name and are not affiliated with, endorsed by, or produced by those houses.