The Gardenia Perfumes best for a beginner are included in this Gardenia Perfume sample set.  Gardenia is a note that cannot be distilled into perfume, they have to use other notes to re-create the smell or headspace technology to try and capture it.  

I read this crazy article while doing research on gardenia perfumes that said, and I have to quote it because I laughed so hard at how untrue it is! "Gardenia flowers are prized for their light, sweet scents."  That writer has apparently never smelled Gardenia in the raw.  While it can be dumbed down to a light, sweet scent, at that point, it's NOT a gardenia perfume.  It's probably another Victoria's Secret Body Spray that you'll never remember the name of once you're over the age of 17.

The best gardenia perfumes smell like gardenia, something that is not easy to do and is not for everyone.  Gardenia smells slightly rotting, earthy; it is a big old indolic white floral that smells a little like Bleu Cheese.  Hey, I didn't include many bleu cheese smelling perfumes in this sample set, just one because, well, you need to know!  Many of these are ones that you can get the gardenia from, but you won't be looking for the rest of your Cobb salad, they are a little more refined.

1. Hermes Jour d'Hermes Gardenia
2. Isabey Gardenia 
3. Tom Ford Private Blend Velvet Gardenia