Top Fragrances Everyone Wants to Sample

Ever wished you could ‘try before you buy’ when choosing a new fragrance? Of course you have. Quality perfumes and colognes don’t come cheap. Before you part with your hard-earned cash, you want to make sure you’re getting something you’ll love.

That’s why we set up Fragrance Samples UK. Sure, you can head to a cosmetics shop and try out various perfumes. But those little strips of paper you get don’t give you a true idea of what a product is like when you wear it. And one fragrance soon starts to blend into another.

What we’re about is letting people test out fragrances properly, in their own time, in real-life situations. We send you miniature sample-sized bottles of genuine products through the post straight to your door. For a few pounds a throw, you can wear the fragrance out and about, several times, to get a real feel for whether you like it or not.

Not only do you get to really dig deep into how a fragrance suits you before you splash out on a big bottle. It’s also a fun process finding out.

We stock sample-sized bottles of hundreds of leading fragrances from the biggest brands in the business. So which are the products that people just love to sample? Here are some of our biggest sellers.

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Baccarat Rouge 540
Baccarat Rouge 540 has become something of a modern classic in the world of fragrances. A sensual blend of woody cedar, resinous amberwood and fir, with a warm, mildly floral spiciness over the top, it’s a prime example of the current trend in luxury unisex fragrances, with enough depth and subtle complexity to intrigue all wearers.

It’s also a fragrance with a luxury price tag. As a highly concentrated, intense eau de parfum, a 70ml bottle will set you back the best part of £200. That’s definitely not money you want to throw around if you are not 100% sure it’s the right fragrance for you.

By contrast, you can buy a Baccarat Rouge 540 sample for as little as £4.36 for a 1ml spray bottle. That doesn’t sound very much, but that can give you as many as 10 sprays. And because eau de parfum is so strong, one spray is really all you need.

Creed Aventus
Chypre is a classic fragrance style characterised by woody, mossy aromas cut through with citrus and with certain musky, animalic undertones. A key ingredient is labdanum, a plant resin that has elements of all the above with a resinous sweetness thrown in for good measure.

Aventus from Creed is a riff on the classic chypre style that has proven to be one of the best-selling men’s fragrances of the past decade. In a twist on previously held conventions about ‘masculine’ aromas, Aventus is a distinctly fruity fragrance, with juicy pineapple, black currant and apple complementing zesty bergamot in the top notes. There are even floral hints of jasmine and rose which, contrasting with the earthy, woody, musky base, make it an exceptionally well-balanced fragrance.

Tom Ford Private Blend Tobacco Vanille
Fashion house Tom Ford has become a real force to be reckoned with in the world of fragrances, combining a no-nonsense simplicity that consumers love with big, bold, in-your-face aromas that scream opulence and sensuality.

Part of the premium Private Blend range, like most Tom Ford fragrances the name of this top seller tells you everything you need to know. The first hit is the earthy, spicy, slightly sweet aroma of tobacco leaf, followed by a beautifully creamy, luxuriant blend of vanilla, cacao, tonka bean and vanilla blossom. Underpinning it all are some deep woody notes offset by dried fruits.

Sweet without being cloying, this is another product that exhibits the depth and balance typical of high-end modern unisex fragrances.

Byredo Gypsy Water
Gender-neutral fragrances sure are popular these days, and Gypsy Water from Swedish fashion house Byredo is yet another unisex entrant in our best-selling samples list.

The best way to describe the impact of this sensual feast of a fragrance is to say that it’s like taking a walk in a particularly verdant forest at springtime. There's a strong woody base, albeit the exotically aromatic fragrance of sandalwood. Then on top of that you get the herbal greenery of pine needles and herbal incense, and cutting through it all is a sharp, fresh, spicy mix of juniper, bergamot, lemon and pepper.

Uplifting and invigorating, just like a woodland walk in spring should be.

Layton Parfums de Marly
And another… If your idea of a great fragrance, man or woman, is something so exotically and evocatively rich and spicy that it will guarantee heads turn when you walk into a room, then Parfums de Marly is the fragrance for you.

On the face of things, this is the kind of resinously floral concoction that has long been a staple of perfumes intended for women. It’s laced with lavender, geranium, violet and jasmine, sweetened with vanilla and cut through with zesty bergamot and mandarin.

But where other fragrances would be happy to stop there, Parfums de Marly is just getting started. Offsetting this sweet bouquet is a spicy kick of cardamon and pepper, underlaid with an exotic mix of sandalwood, patchouli and rubbery guaiac wood. It’s complex, it’s intense, it’s a real feast for the senses.

Le Labo Santal 33
Santal is both an alternative name for sandalwood and the name given to an aromatic chemical used in the perfume industry that is derived from sandalwood. So you know exactly what you are going to get from this hit fragrance - the buttery, woody, exotic aroma of sandalwood brought right to the fore and made the star attraction.

This is layered with the earthy, woody aromas of leather and papyrus, and cut through with spices such as cardamon. Apparently inspired by the imagined scents of the American West - earning it the nickname the ‘cowboy fragrance’ - Santal 33 has become a cult classic among a young, metropolitan crowd drawn to its heady sophistication.