Hi there Posse, Every year we are bombarded with more and more and more choice. It’s getting harder and harder to choose a sensible Man Gift. What I really love though is finding something really special but reasonably priced to add to Jin’s Santa Bag. Of course all these gifts are cross sexual and just because I think they’re nice for Jin doesn’t mean you and your female friends and relatives won’t love them too.
Buying the Man Gift 2015
Photo Stolen Oriza L Legrand
Oriza L Legrand: Rêve de Noël Luxury Christmas Box 3 soaps: I love having beautifully scented soaps in the bathroom, there’s something so elegant and refined about it that makes me feel like I’m a glamorous movie star or a trophy bride in a fabulous mansion whose sole job is to be gorgeous. Even Jin, the rough around the edges electrician, loves to have some luxury soap on hand and these three are a great set, come beautifully boxed and will last him months. Classy Man Gift, and you can steal one. The scents are Pin de Jérusalem, Relique d’Amour and La Trêve des Confiseurs and the set is €30 from Oriza L Legrand
Pamplemousse Rhubarb by L`Occitane en Provence & Pierre Herme 2015: I came a bit late to the Pamplemousse Rhubarb and I was a little less than enthused to try it. Isn’t Pierre Herme the luxury Maccaron Man? I thought it was going to be ULTRA sweet gourmand. Not even a bit. Sweet (in a good way) and sparkling grapefruit shorn of its more challenging facets and loads of creamy pith, some green that is not brittle or aloof but friendly and endearing and the whole shebang finishes up with a really enjoyable white musk and polished wood, 10 hours later I still smell very nice. This is a PERFECT work, gym, movies and life scent for a very reasonable price and comes with all the bathing accessories. This is the kind of Man Gift that wins hearts. PLUS $10 from the sale of every gift box will be donated to the not-for-profit organization Dress for Success
This set contains:
– Pamplemousse Rhubarbe EDT 2.5 fl.oz
– Pamplemousse Rhubarbe Shower Gel 1.7 fl.oz
– Pamplemousse Rhubarbe Body Milk 8.4 fl.oz
– Pamplemousse Rhubarbe Perfumed Soap 1.7 oz.
– L’Occitane Holiday Box
L’Occitane USA $72 (Value$99)
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Intense Issey Miyake 2007: I know, you are all groaning but I have had this bottle for years and only spritzed it maybe 5 times. While going through for a cleanout when Jin & I moved into the new apartment I was selling off some stuff but I tried everything before it went. BAM! It hit me. I love this scent. L’Eau d’Issey Pour Homme Intense has been a constant respritz ever since. That weird, wet pepper and citrus opening, the green and spicy heart and the ever so slightly warmer dry down are freaking killer. Exactly as the picture above describes, a solid wall of water. How many Man Gifts can make him wet? Fragrance Shop has $33/125ml before coupon
Photo Stolen Amouage
Amouage Mughal Garden Candle: You want your gift to look and smell luxurious beyond belief? Rose, lavender,sandalwood, amber, moss and frankincense all combine in Mughal Garden to take you back to the heady days of Mughal India. A candle fit for a Maharaja. Man Gift him this one and you can be his Maharini. Perfume Shoppe has $95/7oz
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Dark Horse by Dame Perfumery Scottsdale 2015: The bright start, warm spicy floral heart and oud/woods and musk dry down of Dark Horse has had the scentbloggosphere going crazy this year. Jeffrey Dame has had an enormous hot with it and if your guy is pretty cool, laid back and/or hipster then this could be the perfect Man Gift to get him in the saddle. Dame Perfumery Scottsdale has $65/50ml
I hope this has helped you. What is your guy getting for his Man Gift this season?
If you liked this then come over and continue the fragrant conversation at Australian Perfume Junkies. We love visitors.
Portia xx
Lately my husband’s favorite soap is Kiehl’s Ultimate Man Body Scrub Soap. It is good sized bar of soap that has a luxurious lather and has an effective scrubbing component too. I use it occasionally as well. Very nice soap and at $15 it makes for a nice stocking stuffer. Recently, during a visit to our favorite store he tested Serge Lutens Jeux de Peaux and he loved it! So that is also on Santa’s list. I love giving him presents. I think we both still feel like kids together on Christmas.
Can I just add my “two scents” and tell you that Dark Horse is glorious on a woman as well? For Christmas I am gifting my parents Dark Horse and Black Flower Mexican Vanilla…in one order…to share…or to layer! I am absolutely in love with Mr. Dame’s work and have bought about ten full bottles for family, friends and myself….and they are so darn affordable!!!
and to answer your question my guy is getting all natural unscented soap from Inland Fog…that is about all he can handle when it comes to fragrance!
Portia, you Princess Bride, you. Le sigh on all this – El O would….would….words fail me but let’s just say there would be quizzical looks…and then he would probably wonder if I’d taken a lover, since there is no way in hell he would ……..le sigh. Now….if you could do a gift list of power tools…..<3 xxxoxoxoxoA
Funny you should mention that Musette, I have a Power Tool aficionado around here too. He would be as happy with a Hardware Gift Card as he will be with a BarBQ book and soaps. He grew up so poor that gifts were not something they did, now that he has money he buys what he wants for himself and can’t believe his great good fortune.
Portia xx
Ooooh candle…..Amouage caaaaandle. Wiping drool off face to tell you thanks for the ideas. My husband does wear scented things and will generally tell me that I have to like it if he is going to wear it, lucky old me!
He told me he wants a skateboard this year. Wha? He is 57, what will he even look like with the backwards baseball cap?
Jackie, your comment had me doubled over giggling, but really, I think it’s kind of neat that he wants that at his age. And all the kids will think he’s cool for an “old” guy. 😉 (Just make sure he wears a helmet and the appropriate padding to stay safe.) P.S. I’m with you on the candle — me likey, too!
Oh yes JackieB, Those Amouage candles are STELLAR! Buy him one for the living room and burn it when YOU want.
Portia xx
Howdy, Portia! Thanks for so many great gift ideas. Although I’m eyeing that candle for myself 🙂 . DH is not much on scent but he does like a bit of after shave, so think I’ll snag him one or two Tom Fords, which he has used before and liked. Also, he’s wanting a smoker, so I’ll have to see if I can’t pull one of those out of my sleeve, ha! BTW, I didn’t know Jin was an electrician; how cool is that?
Hey Ann,
What is a smoker? Are we talking YSL Jacket or for smoking meat?
Yes, Jin is an electrician. In South Korea he was a Korean Literature teacher but there’s not much call for that here in Australia so he retrained as an electrician. He’s really good at it, his bosses love him because he can think through a problem and often comes up with new simple ways to problem solve because he has been trained to think. He is Jin BKLit with Sparky on top. Yes, I know how lucky I am.
He’s also very funny.
Portia xx
Oh, mercy, I’m ROFL — my DH in a smoking jacket? Ai, yi, yi!! Seriously, though, it’s a big, black contraption that smokes meat. Not very sexy if you ask me, but it’s what he wants, so what can you do? And I am looking forward to some lovely roast chicken and turkey. BTW, tell Jin that I think it’s so cool that he can love literature, teach, and be creative, and also be analytically minded enough to figure out voltage, watts, and other complicated stuff — now that’s what I call a modern-day Renaissance man!
I was unsure so better to ask, he could have been a Le Smoking type. Smoked meats! Heavenly.
Jin is quite a catch, I will pass on your comment. He will be chuffed.
Portia xx
Ann, without knowing exactly what he wants and what he has, there’s a basic smoker at Lowes for around 80 bucks, maybe less. It’s called a portable BBQ, but you can attach it to your grill. It’s very basic, so it may not be what he has in mind, but David got himself one last week. (He’s a complete smoker newb, so again, very basic, starter type thing)
It can be bought in store (we did) but I found a link:
http://www.lowes.com/ProductDisplay?partNumber=11236-49769-11236&langId=-1&storeId=10151&productId=3049705&catalogId=10051&cmRelshp=rel&rel=nofollow&cId=PDIO1
Portia, you ARE a glamorous movie start, for crying out loud! You and Jin need to get hitched next time you’re stateside so you can fulfill that gorgeous trophy bride fantasy, too.
My husband is impossible to buy for; he’s a musician who is also very in to the editing side of it, and there is no way I’d dare to pick out any equipment/software for him, let alone a new guitar. He just gives me a list to choose from. This year he’s getting a new keyboard/midi controller, a stand for it, and a sustain pedal from his list. I always get him a bottle of absinthe and this year his surprise is going to be an absinthe fountain. He’ll either hate it or love it, it’s hard to say.
He has zero interest in anything scented; I honestly don’t think his sense of smell is very good. I go light in public, but at home I marinate myself, I mean DOUSE myself in perfume, and he seldom notices I’m wearing anything. And I tend toward heavy perfumes…we’re talking Jubilation 25, Opium, Party in Manhattan over here.
So I guess those soaps and that candle will just have to go in MY stocking, right??
HA! Tammy, you are funny. Frankly marriage scares me to death, it seems too fraught with centuries old symbolism and so eternal. I like making the choice to be with Jin, my choice, our choice, it keeps us on our toes and grateful.
Musicians. Another addicted species. Yes, I bet his hearing is phenomenal and his sense of smell in the lower scale (obviously a dreadful generalisation but….). You are lucky, although Jin rarely comments on my scents nowadays unless they REALLY irritate him. I’m not allowed wear Mitzah around him because his nose shuts down and a couple of the Slumberhouse, everything else is fair game.
Portia xx
My dad is more of the Cool Water type of guy when he does wear perfume and my other guy friends stick to the Bath and Body Works carp, so anything like Habit Rouge would either go over their heads heads or they would be offended if they were gifted that. I myself would love the Amouage candle. The guy friends are getting $15 gift cards and my dad hasn’t told me what he wanted yet, so I have yet to get him a gift.
Yes, the men are hard. Jin asked for a BarBQ book and I’ll give him some soap because by then he’ll need a new one in his bathroom.
This is going to be a happily frugal Xmas.
Portia xx
Portia, I’m chucking some BBQ things in David’s stocking, or possibly as 12 Days of Christmas gifts; I’d be happy to send you the list if you’d be interested. They’re all mostly right around 10 USD, too. Of course, Jin may already have it all!
You’re so sweet Tammy.
Jin has my Dad’s old BarBQ set. It’s from the 1960s and super cool. It’s all he needs at the flame.
This year is purposely flagged as a cheap one. We have so much stuff and what we give each other is another year of our lives. That’s so special that gifts seem slightly inadequate.
Portia xx
Aww that gave me the warm fuzzies!