Le Male Elixir Parfum Gift Set

Giving fragrance to a man who already has a signature is difficult, which is where the Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Elixir Parfum Gift Set earns its place: it is a heavier reading of a very familiar idea rather than a new direction entirely.

Inside are the 125ml Eau de Parfum, a 75ml shower gel and a 10ml spray. The familiar idea is lavender with sweetness under it. Lavender here is cool and clean, with the slightly medicinal edge that makes it read as grooming rather than gardening. Tonka bean supplies the sweetness, and it is thick and a little floury, a sweetness that settles rather than lifts. Benzoin is the third and last material, a balsamic resin with a smooth, lightly smoky warmth, and it is what makes the drydown feel dense and golden instead of merely sweet. Three materials, a short list, and the scent is correspondingly direct about what it is and what it is not. There is no fourth material hiding behind the other three.

Parfum is the strongest of the concentrations, and the practical consequence is longevity at close range. It does not fill a room. It stays on skin and fabric for a very long time, so one or two sprays is the correct amount and anything more is simply wasted.

Who it suits: somebody who wants to smell warm and clean at once, in cold weather, in the evening, and indoors rather than out. For a Christmas present it is better judged than most, because the season and the scent agree with each other, and the box removes any need to wrap it, which is the small mercy of buying late.

Gaultier's is a Paris label that started with womenswear in 1976 and its own boutique in 1984, took up perfume in 1993, and has had Puig as majority owner since 2011, with scent production brought inside from 2016.