With Mother’s Day almost upon us, chances are you’re racking your brain trying to decide what to get the mothers in your life. Well, we have the perfect suggestion—perfume. It’s the one gift that never grows old, and you simply can’t ever have too much of it.

Some avoid gifting perfumes because choosing the right fragrance is often an issue. However, sites like Fragrantica have made that more straightforward, as you can thoroughly research perfumes before purchasing. These sites carry detailed information about popular fragrances. You can select a perfume and then examine its accords, notes, and reviews.

Say goodbye to buying a perfume that’s never used. It’s now so much easier to choose the ideal perfume for your loved one. Once you know which scents the person, you’re shopping for finds appealing (e.g., citrus, fruity, or floral), you can search online for known fragrances that have incorporated those notes or ingredients.

Before we get to discussing popular perfume, let’s talk a bit about perfume composition.

A Quick 101 on Perfume Composition

A perfume’s composition consists of different layers of scents categorised as notes. Notes are the various ingredients used to create a perfume oil, such as tonka bean, vanilla, and coffee. They are discussed as top, middle, and base.

The top notes are the combination of scents you smell immediately after applying the perfume. Once they fade, which is usually after five to 15 minutes, the middle or heart notes follow and linger for the duration of the application. Within 30 minutes, the base ones are activated, and they blend with the middle notes. These notes are the perfume’s foundation and longest-lasting scents, remaining evident hours after your first application. The blending of the individual notes (ingredients) creates a fragrance’s unique or signature aroma and is referred to as an accord.

When it’s all said and done, you should pay attention to the notes while shopping for perfume. Often, this information is indicated on the packaging.

Here’s an example of a fragrance pyramid displaying the note categories and how they work to create accords. In the diagram, the accords are listed on the right.

Armed with this information, you’re now ready to go shopping. Still, we want to make it even easier. So, we’ve listed 12 popular perfumes for women in fragrance categories. These are good places to start searching for the ideal perfume gift for Mother’s Day.

SIX TOP FLORAL (FRUITY) PERFUMES FOR WOMEN

Lancôme La Vie Est Belle

Top notes: Black currant and pear

Middle notes: Iris, jasmine, and orange blossom

Base notes: Praline, vanilla, patchouli, and tonka bean

I Want Choo Forever by Jimmy Choo

Top notes: Bitter almond and rose.

Middle notes: Cherry, jasmine, and vetiver.

Base notes: Vanilla, tonka bean, amber and oakmoss.

Scandal by Jean Paul Gaultier

Top notes: Blood and mandarin orange.

Middle notes: Honey, gardenia, orange blossom, jasmine, and peach.

Base notes: Beeswax, caramel, patchouli, and liquorice.

Coach Poppy Flower

Top notes: Citruses, litchi (lychee), ivy and black currant

Middle notes: Water lily, peony, rose, jasmine, and raspberry

Base notes: Apricot, musk, sandalwood, and amber.

Juicy Couture by Juicy Couture

Top notes: Watermelon, passion fruit, hyacinth, marigold, green apple, green leaves, and mandarin orange

Middle notes: Tuberose, lily, and rose hip

Base notes: Crème Brûlée, caramel, vanilla, precious woods, and patchouli

Light Blue by Dolce & Gabbana

Top notes: Sicilian lemon, apple, cedar, and bellflower

Middle notes: Bamboo, jasmine, and white rose

Base notes: Cedar, musk, and amber

SIX TOP ORIENTAL/AMBER (FLORAL) PERFUME FOR WOMEN

Miss Dior Parfum (2024) by Dior

Top notes: Apricot, peach, and mandarin orange

Middle notes: Wild strawberry, floral notes, and jasmine

Base notes: Patchouli, amberwood, amber, moss and atlas cedar

Good Girl by Carolina Herrera

Top notes: Almond, coffee, bergamot and lemon

Middle notes: Tuberose, jasmine sambac, orange blossom, Bulgarian rose, and orris

Base notes: Tonka bean, cacao, vanilla, praline, sandalwood, musk, amber, cashmere wood, patchouli, cinnamon, and cedar

Gucci Guilty Eau de Parfum Intense Pour Femme by Gucci

Top notes: Violet, mandora, and litchi (lychee)

Middle notes: Plum, tuberose, and ylang-ylang

Base notes: Patchouli, vanilla, and vetiver

C’est La Vie by Christian Lacroix

Top notes: aldehydes, bergamot, orange blossom, peach, pineapple, and raspberry

Middle notes: Jasmine, iris, heliotrope, ylang-ylang, tuberose, carnation, rose, and osmanthus

Base notes: Sandalwood, amber, patchouli, cassia, musk, vanilla, cedar, and benzoin

Yara by Lattafa

Top notes: Orchid, heliotrope, and tangerine

Middle notes: Gourmand accord and tropical fruits

Base notes: Vanilla, musk, and sandalwood.

Black Opium by Yves Saint Laurent

Top notes: Pear, pink pepper, and orange blossom

Middle notes: Coffee, jasmine, bitter almond, and liquorice

Base notes: Vanilla, patchouli, cashmere wood, and cedar.

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Shopping for Mother’s Day gifts will be less of a hassle this year, especially if you plan to shop for perfumes. You’re now well-equipped to choose one she will love. All that’s left is locating your nearest cosmetics store. Well, we’re simplifying that, too.

Search Findyello’s Cosmetics & Perfume-Retail or Duty-free Shops listings for a comprehensive list of stores.

Sources: Harper's Bazaar, Fragrancex, Fragrantica, Parfum Plus, and Sillage Paris.