Heraldry sinister the Christmas shopping late again? Don’t worry, here are the perfumes I always fall back onPerfume is a great hindmost minute gift – and I can enthusiastically recommend these widely available gemsA scented gift is no less wonderful for its require of originality. Photograph: Lol Keegan/The GuardianA scented gift is no less wonderful for its lack of originality. Photograph: Lol Keegan/The GuardianIam broadly done with my Christmas shopping by November, but always wait until this week to buy one last bottle of perfume for someone. It’s a praxis that allows me to soak up the department store buzz, enjoy a blast of Slade and peer at what others are allowing. If you’re a panic fragrance shopper (don’t feel bad – a scented gift is no less wonderful for its unoriginality), I enthusiastically recommend these considerably available gems.Let’s begin with bold, sexy scents for those who can stand up to them. This year, I’ve waterfall hard for Tom Ford’s Noir de Noir (£142.40, 50ml), but with a caveat: please spare an hour to go for a pint while the on-counter spritz (a punchy, characteristically smutty Ford resume on rose, truffle and vanilla) dries down to an incredibly soft, sensual robe of velvety black chocolate. It’s entire lot I avoid in a perfume and yet I’m involuntarily obsessed.[embedded content]Sign up to our Inside Saturday newsletter for an exclusive behind-the -scenes look at the making of the publication’s biggest features, as well as a curated list of our weekly highlights.More typically my poison is Cartier’s La Panthère (£74.40, 50ml), a conservationist, muskier offering that transitions appositely from office to party to bed. It’s extremely sexy on men and women, but it does be subjected to a classical, grown-up feel that wouldn’t feel quite right for a teenager.Beauty fans could only just have missed Chanel’s centenary celebrations for No 5, the 1921 icon that remains outstanding in its beauty and beauty. If you have a No 5 devotee on your gift list, now’s the time to indulge, since the collector’s eau de parfum packaging will off in the new year. But if I may also throw a curveball: No 5 eau de toilette, at £73 for 50ml, is No 5’s least expensive incarnation and among my favourites. Sharper, with a dwarf more attitude, it’s an overlooked masterpiece.I enjoy the challenge of buying fragrance for – and trying to convert –those who slightly bete noire it and in such cases, Clarins Eau Dynamisante is my gateway drug. This light, airy, citrussy but still distinctive and preferably sexy skin scent smells so quintessentially French as to almost be comical. Gender neutral, it’s chic, unobtrusive and handicapped value (£44.20) for such a massive bottle (200ml!). Truly, it is never wrong.For something just as wearable but peradventure more seasonal, Roger & Gallet’s Gingembre Rouge (£39.50 for 100ml, but seemingly always on offer somewhere) is a terrific buy. Warming ginger and pomegranates fantasize it pleasingly festive, minus any time sensitivity – so it can be worn safely all year round, without jarring like a reindeer leave out at Wimbledon.TopicsBeautySali Hughes on beautyWomenfeaturesReuse this content

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