10 Best Carolina Herrera Perfumes for Women
Updated January 2023
How We Found the Best Carolina Herrera Perfume
5 Experts Interviewed
15 Fragrances Tested
Top 10 Picks
Menu
Madison McCord
Diploma in Perfumery Science and Sensory Evaluation
Since it’s launch in 1980s, Caroline Herrera has symbolised the idea of American chic. The brand was an instant hit amongst celebrities and beauty editors, with its first perfume launching in 1988. The eponymous fragrance ‘Carolina Herrera for Women’ started the fashion brand’s perfume catalogue, which has now amassed over 140 scents.
The Carolina Herrera perfumes symbolises everything the brand stands for – modern elegance and sophistication, with a focus on classic pieces that will never age. The brand’s mission is to make women “feel confident, modern, and above all else beautiful”. Before turning her hand to designing, Carolina Herrera was named amongst the Best Dressed in the world. With the support of Vogue’s Diana Vreeland, Carolina Herrera launched her eponymous label.
With its infamous perfume that looks like a heel, Carolina Herrera is one fashion label that is perhaps as famous for its fragrance as its clothing. We are taking a deep dive into their catalogue to find which Carolina Herrera perfume is the best for you.
Summary List
Carolina Herrera Perfumes Ranked by Cologne Critic
Why we chose it
This Carolina Herrera perfume for women is a versatile oriental vanilla scent, launching in 2018 as a follow-up to the top-rated ‘Good Girl’ perfume. The smell describes the duality within every woman, their feminine nature, and a darker seductive side. The scent is one that can see you through day to night through the all the seasons.
The ylang-ylang amplifies the jasmine notes, while the tuberose is more muted than in the original perfume and the coffee scent is noticeable missing. Compared to the first fragrance in this line, Good Girl Legere is lighter, with a focus on the floral notes while the tonka bean gives it the same allure. It also has the addition of Dulce de Leche to give the aroma a more sensual feel, which made it easy for our experts to nominate this as our top pick.
This bold and alluring scent is housed inside the same stiletto bottle as the OG ‘Good Girl’ perfume.
Main Accords
- Sweet
- White Floral
- Lactonic
Our Take
Good Girl is the perfume everyone associates with Carolina Herrera with its bottle shaped like a shoe. This fragrance encapsulates the feminine ideal of the brand, with the sweet and alluring scent of jasmine being the primary note. It’s given a more daring side with rich notes of cocoa and tonka, while the almond and coffee notes make this perfume impossible to miss in a crowd. As a sexy floral oriental scent, the perfume carries the tagline that “it’s so good to be bad!”.
This scent is one that could quickly become your everyday signature perfume – seductive but with a subtle understated elegance that makes it appropriate to wear anywhere. The famous bottle, with its sky-high stiletto, reflects the enticing personality of the woman who wears this fragrance.
Main Accords
- White Floral
- Warm Spice
- Sweet
Our Take
The brand’s original fragrance is still one of its best selling as a feminine floral scent with a focus on the notes of jasmine and tuberose. It reflects the personal style and grace of Carolina Herrera herself, who had the help of legendary perfumer Carlos Benaim to create the scent. The base note of sandalwood gives this fragrance a warmer feel, encapsulating the effortless elegance of Herrera.
This Eau Du Parfum is a classic scent, with its art deco bottle reflecting the refinement of the perfume’s smell and the brand’s identity. As the brand’s original fragrance, the smell takes its inspiration from Herrera’s childhood in Venezuela. It has a blend of five notes – apricot, cistelebdanum, jasmine, tuberose, and sandalwood.
Main Accords
- White Floral
- Tuberose
- Animalic
Our Take
If Carolina Herrera is what your elegant boss wears, CH is what the young twenty-something with a hunger for success is wearing. The scent remains true to the brand’s focus on floral scents, opening to notes of bergamot and grapefruit. Bulgarian rose and jasmine sambac give the scent its relaxing heart, while the base notes of patchouli and praline finish the fragrance with a fresh base.
CH is described as an “optimistic” scent, designed to carry you through the most memorable moments of your life. It’s a fragrance you’ll smell years later that will be able to bring you back to a moment in time.
Main Accords
- Woody
- Citrus
- Sweet
Our Take
212 VIP smells like a jet set lifestyle, with a campaign that called the perfume a “private party”. It’s a scent that puts you centre of attention in every room, something that will turn heads wherever you go. It’s glamorous and seductive, personifying the urban jungle of New York.
It’s one of the youngest smelling scents in the Carolina Herrera catalogue, formulated for a more contemporary audience. It’s modern, sleek, and just the fragrance you’ll want to be wearing to a VIP club. The scent is sweet with a woody twist, balancing seductive notes of pass fruit with classic feminine notes of gardenia. The rum accord draws you in from across the room, while the base notes of benzoin and musk give the scent a softer base that acts like a magnet to turn people towards you.
Main Accords
- Vanilla
- Sweet
- Rum
Our Take
This fragrance encapsulates the idea of sensual and feminine charm, with an irresistible scent that you’ll want to wear on your next date night. Like most of the Carolina Herrera scents, 212 Sexy is a floral oriental fragrance. This perfume is a night-time scent that blends seductive and fresh notes to create a smell that is magnetic as you walk through a room. It represented a more carefree side of the brand, with notes of cotton candy and pink pepper to add a touch of spice.
212 Sexy is alluring and sweet, softer than some of the typical night-time scents that you’ll find on the market. It’s not loud or demanding, but instead subtle, sneaking up on you with its notes of vanilla, gardenia, mandarin, and sandalwood.
Main Accords
- Sweet
- Musky
- Powdery
Our Take
For a brand that is famous for personifying the idea of American elegance, it’s no surprise that one of their fragrances is called “Chic”. It’s light and feminine without being too young or innocent. The notes are a simple blend that is sophisticated with a contrast between floral and wood notes. The red of the bottle reflects the natural seduction of the scent, which is graceful and fresh. This is a scent you’ll find yourself instinctively reaching for every spring and summer as a daytime perfume to carry you through the season.
Chic opens to notes of Bulgarian rose and red freesia, while mandarin blossom and orange sit in the heart notes. The sweetness of the scent comes from its base notes of vanilla and white musk. If you can track down a bottle of Chic, it’s deserving of an ‘add to cart’ moment.
Main Accords
- White Floral
- Tuberose
- Rose
Our Take
As a floral oriental fragrance, Good Girl Fantastic is one of the latest scents in the Carolina Herrera catalogue. It takes the original Good Girl smell and makes it sweet, with an alluring sensuality that explores the mysterious side of every woman. Fantastic maintains most of the original primary notes of the original scent, including the potent cocoa and base of tonka, along with the boldness of the almond and coffee notes.
Fantastic is a fragrance is an everyday scent that brings together timeless sophistication with the vibrancy of the modern woman. It’s contained in the most unique fragrance bottle within the brand, the signature stiletto with a coating of mauve glitter. Fantastic captures Caroline Herrera’s concept of the contemporary woman, who balances her duality of femininity and seduction.
Main Accords
- Sweet
- White Floral
- Vanilla
Our Take
VIP Rose smells like you would imagine a high-profile hotel nightclub to feel. It’s a follow-up to the original 2010 scent. It’s unlike anything else from the brand, using champagne rose as its opening top note, infusing it with the lighter note of peach blossom. The fragrance has a more feminine base than others in the catalogue, using amber and queenswood notes instead of the typical woodier notes of cedarwood and musk.
This perfume is fresh and dynamic, taking its inspiration from the woman who isn’t afraid to party all day. It has the spirit of the New York night life, with heart notes of roses and peach tree flower.
Main Accords
- Fruity
- Champagne
- Floral
Our Take
This fragrance is inspired by the intimacy of private moments, of those brief glances with someone across a bar, of the stolen moments in each day when your thoughts come to dominate your being. CH Privee is an intriguing night-time scent that is elegant and sensual, blending floral notes with aromatic leather for an avant-garde feel that follows the Herrera tradition.
As an oriental vanilla fragrance, this perfume opens with a top note of pink pepper, while Osmanthus and leather accord sit in the heart. This scent closes with the traditional notes of vanilla and musk to give it a sweet and seductive base.
Main Accords
- Leather
- Vanilla
- Animalic
Other Colognes We Considered
CologneCritic.com is a participant in the Amazon Services, LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
Researched by a team of fragrance experts.