The Perfume Shop said it had a strong Valentine’s Day season with 200,000 bottles sold and an 18% increase in sales volume compared to the same season in 2023.

It’s perhaps no surprise that the UK’s largest fragrance retailer did well given the fast pace of store openings in the past year, as well as the upgraded profile of those new stores.

The company said the sales hike was driven by a 67% increase in sales of classic fragrances and a 110% increase in gift sets compared to last year. Promotional deals also proved popular and there was clearly plenty of last-minute gift buying as its webstore’s busiest day was Tuesday 13 February, when perfume sales rose 23% year on year.

Customers seem to have wanted something very personal too and the business said that its personalisation services delivered over 32,000 ribbons and 1,200 engraved fragrances, up 13%.

So what were people actually buying? For women the most popular scents were the heavily marketed YSL Black Opium, followed by Marc Jacobs Perfect Intense, Carolina Herrera Good Girl, Mugler Alien, Prada Paradoxe, Chanel Coco Mademoiselle, Lancôme La Vie Est Belle, Emporio Armani She Diamonds, YSL Black Opium Over Red, and RobertoCavalli.

For men, the even-more-heavily-marketed Dior Sauvage headed the list. It was followed by Boss Bottled Night, YSL Myself, Rabanne 1 Million, Montblanc Explorer, Rabanne Phantom, Axis Caviar Premium, CkBe, Emporio Armani Stronger With You, and Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male.