Looking for a Valentine’s Day fragrance? I’ve done the research and these 10 perfumes *always* earn me compliments
Perfumes that'll prompt an "ooh, you smell good"
There are few better indications that you’re wearing one of the best perfumes than it prompting comments from whoever you're with. And with Valentine's Day mere weeks away, as a beauty editor I've already received a flurry of messages from friends asking which fragrances are guaranteed to make them smell amazing for their date night plans. Expert perfumers will tell you that first-hand compliments are the biggest sign they've created something great. So which scents are the best perfumes for compliments?
I'm extremely lucky in that I get to test a whole bunch of fragrances as part of my job as a beauty editor—everything from classic perfumes and the most popular scents on the market to niche perfumes. But when I'm not doing so, I naturally have my favourite kinds. I love woody scents, I like musky perfumes, heavily citrus fragrances do not suit me and I’m rarely drawn to anything extremely sweet and fruity (though there are always odd exceptions to the rule).
As a fun little fragrance experiment earlier this year, I decided to wear a different perfume nearly every day for a month to see which ones got the most attention. I tried scents I’d smelled before and some that were completely new to me. I wore both expensive perfumes and more affordable scents, with options from pretty much every fragrance family. And the ones that got me the most compliments were actually surprising.
The best perfumes for compliments: Quick Links
- Best fruity-floral perfume for compliments: Phlur Not Your Baby, £99 | Selfridges
- Best creamy-floral perfume for compliments: Parfums de Marly Darcy, £230 | Harvey Nichols
- Best earthy perfume for compliments: Sana Jardin Sandalwood Temple, £115 | Cult Beauty
- Best fruity perfume for compliments: Malin + Goetz Strawberry, £89 | Cult Beauty
- Best rich perfume for compliments: Jo Malone London Myrrh and Tonka, £160 | Cult Beauty
- Best summer perfume for compliments: Tom Ford Soleil Blanc, £145 | LookFantastic
- Best amber perfume for compliments: NOYZ Sh**ty Day, £85 | Harrods
- Best woody perfume for compliments: Gabar No.2 Ground, £120 | Gabar
- Best musky perfume for compliments: Glossier You, £62 | Glossier
- Best powdery perfume for compliments: Bibbi Iris Wallpaper, £225, Liberty
No matter your personal taste or the occasion you've got in the diary. (Romantic dinner or Galentine's drinks with friends? These will have you smelling great.) So, without further ado, here is a deep dive into the perfumes that got me the most attention during my experiment, plus one or two that have always got me compliments thrown in for good measure.
1. Phlur Not Your Baby
Phlur perfumes originally burst onto the scene with the brand's viral sensation Missing Person, which I do quite like but just doesn’t last on my skin. This one, however, does. Not Your Baby is a bit sweet and a bit spicy, starting off with floral and aromatic notes like violet, mimosa and cardamom before settling into something more warming. The base of sandalwood, tonka and vanilla, which isn’t at all sickly, hangs around for a few hours, and it definitely caught people’s attention. I think it’s quickly becoming the next cult favourite.
2. Parfums de Marly Darcy
As you'd expect from this fine fragrance house, Darcy is a very sophisticated scent, and has a luxurious price tag to match. There's a little bergamot and orange when you first spritz, but not what I would describe as being 'in-your-face' citrus. It's floral and has a lot of depth—when paired with praline, the patchouli and musk base makes for something that I found lasts very well on the skin.
3. Sana Jardin Sandalwood Temple
For the uninitiated, Sana Jardin is described as a 'socially conscious' natural perfume house, providing the female harvesters in its supply chain with more work opportunities through making and selling their own products—which are made from what would otherwise be their waste materials. Sandalwood Temple is a comforting and warming blend of bergamot, cedarwood, sandalwood, guaiacwood and a little vanilla. It's impressively long-wearing; I could still detect it on my skin the morning after I applied it. It is quite earthy, but it's a great one to have in your fragrance wardrobe for layering as well as wearing alone.
4. Malin + Goetz Strawberry
I’ll admit, I had some concerns that this perfume was going to be very, very sweet and therefore not my vibe. The name gave me flashbacks to Natural Collection’s Strawberry Body Spray, but this is not that. It does open with a hint of strawberry, though it’s fresh rather than sickly sweet, but quickly develops into something fresher. It's kind of addictive with its musk, jasmine and pepper, and has a similar feel to Glossier You—so if that’s your vibe you’ll really like it.
5. Jo Malone London Myrrh and Tonka
Jo Malone London's Colognes Intense are made with richer and often precious ingredients, and therefore tend to make more of an impact and last longer on the skin. Myrrh and Tonka is deliciously rich, ambery and warming—the lavender and honey at the beginning is subtly sweet before getting to the rich and fragrant myrrh and tonka that give it its name. It has good projection, too, which is no doubt why it gets so many compliments. It's one I'll always go back to.
6. Tom Ford Soleil Blanc
I’m conscious that 'like sunshine, bottled' is a really, really overused phrase when describing perfume. The problem is, Tom Ford Soleil Blanc really does smell like that; very few other fragrances make me think of a sun-soaked holiday in the same way (though you can of course wear it all-year-round). It really is up there with the best summer perfumes. With pistachio, cardamom, ylang-ylang, amber and tonka bean, it’s got that addictive quality to it and is an icon in its own right. You probably won't be the only one in your social circle who knows about it, but people will notice how great you smell.
7. NOYZ Sh**ty Day
NOYZ launched in the UK just a few months ago but immediately got my attention and, soon after, my approval. I love the packaging, the branding and the fact that it’s fairly reasonably priced, as the perfume scale goes. It just feels like a fun celebration of how we relate to perfume. Some of the fragrances have already cemented themselves into my regular rotation, including Sh**ty Day. A little fresh, it’s balmy, salty, ambery deliciousness. This one caught the attention of and got me a compliment from my partner. When I pressed him for more of the why, he said, “I just like it,” but hey, that’s as good a compliment as any.
8. Gabar No.2 Ground
This fragrance has had so many compliments when I’ve worn it that, on reflection, wearing it for the 2.0 run of the experiment was probably cheating slightly. But it fits the criteria—and did indeed yield a compliment. Gabar is perhaps one of the more niche perfume brands in this guide, but this scent definitely deserves your attention. With cedarwood, sandalwood, pink pepper, musk, vetiver and a touch of oud, No.2 Ground is a gorgeous, slightly smokey woody perfume. It’s one of my most reliable scents; I'll often layer it for an evening or any time I want to wear something with that classic woody vibe. It also really lasts—on this occasion, it was complimented after a work meeting some five or six hours after I’d first spritzed it.
9. Glossier You
Ah, Glossier You. This popular perfume is unlikely to need any introduction, but if the two of you have never met here’s the rundown: it’s comprised entirely of base notes, namely pink pepper, iris and ambrette seeds, and has an understated and cosy feel. It’s not a statement perfume, but it’s wearable and comforting—and arguably played a big role in the recent trend for skin scents. I reach for it when I want something lovely but not particularly punchy, and I know more than one beauty editor who deems it the closest thing they have to a signature perfume. Though it’s not an intense fragrance, its loveliness does get noticed; during my recent Experiment Week it caught the attention of a friend and fellow beauty editor who said it “really wafts”. It’s true.
10. Bibbi Iris Wallpaper
"Not only does this perfume genuinely get me compliments every single time I wear it, but I think I'm yet to wear a perfume from Bibbi that I don't get comments on when I step out with it on. If you like to smell unique but not overpowering then I can't rate this highly enough. It's definitely a floral—the freshness of peonies really comes through—but there's fruity notes too and an almost powdery sweetness that reminds me of sweets from childhood. It's an undeniably pretty perfume, but the addition of leather and vanilla gives it a bit of an edge that keeps it feeling chic and sophisticated rather than anything too girly. Trust me when I say that you won't have smelt anything like this before, but it will keep you coming back for more." - Mica Ricketts, freelance beauty editor and Marie Claire contributor
