Aftershave - a Great Gift This Christmas

For many men, receiving that annual aftershave Christmas present is often as much of a painful joke as trying to avoid eating Auntie Muriel's fruitcake. However, the fact is, the right aftershave can be a delightful, cherished and intimate gift when the giver ? for our purposes here, a woman giving to her man ? does some exploration into the plethora of scents that are out on the market. There is no way around the fact that sex is a great motivator. If a woman's intention is to seduce or flatter her lover, then her own attraction to an aftershave scent should definitely be a factor in the purchase since her responsiveness to him wearing it will be as much a part of the present as the bottle itself.

At the same time, she should consider how comfortable and self-confident the aftershave scent would make him feel. Is he the musky, leathery type? Is his personality better suited to something brisk and spicy? Alternatively, will he be at his best and sexiest with a mysteriously discreet citrus fragrance? Scientists have conducted many experiments over the years and proven that aftershave does, in fact, make a man more attractive ? but more because of the way an alluring, masculine scent can help boost a man's self-confidence and self-esteem irrespective of his physical looks. Experiments also show that women are attracted not only by the smell itself, but also by the effect the scent has on the wearer.

In a recent Unilever consumer science experiment at the University of Liverpool in the UK, a group of women were asked to rate the looks of a group of young men based solely on photographs. Next, half the men were given a fragranced deodorant to use, while the others got an unscented variety. Two days later the men spoke on video about themselves for 15 seconds. The women then watched these clips with the sound turned off. Even though they had no idea how the men smelled, the women gave significantly higher scores to those who had used the scented deodorant. The men in this group reported that their self-esteem had risen during this phase of the experiment. Conclusions were that the watching women picked up on the new self-confidence in the men.

According to several online forums for Christmas gift-giving, among the most popular aftershaves scents to offer under the mistletoe are The One by Dolce & Gabbana, Issey Miyake, Lacoste, Armani's Aqua di Gio and Black Code, JOOP!, Bodyshop's White Musk (aftershave balm), Hugo Boss, Echo by Davidoff, Diesel Fuel for Life and Jean Paul Gaultier. Also receiving votes were Truth for Men by Calvin Klein, Paco Rabanne, Brut 55, Hai Karate, Intimately Beckham and Aramis. While many of these scents would be quite expensive in department stores, most of them can be found online at very affordable prices that will make the giving and receiving even sweeter.