The Best Fragrances from the 2021 Beauty Crush Awards
Fragrance
BCA - Fragrance
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Smell is one of our most powerful senses, evoking memories, desires, and moods with one sniff. Just a few spritzes of perfume can change your whole vibe, so it's key to find the scent that screams "you." And while fragrances can be pricey, they'll last for months, so they're often worth the splurge. We tested more than 60 fragrances and sniffed out our five faves in each category: fresh, florals, fruits, woods, and citruses.
Henry Rose Smyth
Best Fresh Fragrance
In response to most perfumes that don’t disclose their ingredients, Michelle Pfieffer launched a radically transparent fragrance brand in 2019 and changed the game. Every perfume is poetry in a scent—telling a story from the top to the base notes and wearing uniquely on each user’s skin. This particular fragrance smells crisp and sharp, with notes of green apple accord, apricot nectar, and white woods. Or, as one tester put it, “it smells like the fanciest, cleanest medicine cabinet that you want to wrap yourself up in.”
- 120 Available at Henry Rose
Burberry Her London Dream Eau de Parfum
Best Floral Fragrance
All testers agreed that the vibe of this perfume is effortlessly classic. While the main notes are peony and rose accord, which blend beautifully with the lemon and ginger top notes, the scent becomes muskier and subtle as it settles into the skin and blends with your natural pH.
- 99 Available at Sephora
Guerlain Aqua Allegoria Granada Salvia Eau de Toilette
Best Fruity Fragrance
Picture it: You're in the picturesque region of Andalusia in the southern coast of Spain, the sun is hitting your back, you’re wearing a lemon-printed sundress, and you’re drinking a glass of crisp chardonnay to accompany your fresh bowl of juicy pomegranate. This is the scene this inviting scent creates after just one sniff. It’s an exquisite blend of bergamot, white musk, crisp pomegranate, and sage—it’s the vacation in a bottle you didn’t know you needed. And, in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it detail, the honeycomb on the bottles pays homage to Guerlain’s ongoing commitment to saving bees through its partnership with UNESCO and its sustainability efforts (Guerlain offers refills of its bee bottle perfumes).
- 140 Available at Nordstrom
Chloé Nomade Absolu De Parfum
Best Woodsy Fragrance
Addicting... wild... the one that got away... These are words that describe the personality of the carefree person who wears this alluring scent, otherwise known as the “cowboy-hot-girl,” in one tester’s words. (Fine, we’ll take it.) The fragrance combines notes of seductive chypre, juicy mirabelle plum, creamy sandalwood, and vibrant oak moss for an unforgettable and aromatic escape to a warmer, wilder place.
- 142 Available at Sephora
Krigler Villa America
Best Citrus Fragrance
The House of Krigler was founded in Paris in 1879 and has since been loved by timeless icons such Grace Kelly and Jackie Onassis. One whiff of any of the brand's fragrances will tell you why. Villa America, for example, was inspired by Cap d’Antibes in the 1920s—the summer that Ella and F. Scott Fitzgerald vacationed in the southern French peninsula for the very first time and discovered the brand. “[It] was wild with flowers and it had a huge forest with pine trees,” explained Ben Krigler, scion of the family fragrance house, in a press release for the brand. There, Villa America was born. It smells of lemon, sage, sandalwood, and amber—the perfect home-for-the-summer scent. Just one sniff will comfort and energize you, feeling familiar while at the same time energizing you for the future.
- 515 Available at Krigler
Hero Image Credits | Art Director: Jenna Brillhart, Illustrations/Animation: Sarah Maiden
To see all 187 winners of Hellogiggles' 2021 Beauty Crush Awards, click here.
