Les Eaux du Monde Vanilla Gift Set

Fruit before sugar is the order in Chanson d'Eau Les Eaux du Monde Vanilla Gift Set, which is not how most vanilla scents are put together. Pear and apple come first and they do most of the early work. Pear is juicy and slightly green, apple is crisper and tarter, and between them they keep the opening light and a little watery rather than immediately sweet. It is a brighter start than the name on the box suggests.

Spun sugar follows, and it is exactly what it sounds like: candyfloss, airy and sweet with no depth to it, the sort of sweetness that smells of a fairground rather than a kitchen. Vanilla then gives it the depth it was missing, warm, soft and faintly powdery, and anchors everything the fruit started. With four materials there is no long development and no hidden base. The fragrance is legible from the first spray to the last, which is honest enough for a scent at this price and makes it very easy to wear without thinking about it.

It suits younger wearers and anyone who likes sweet fragrance without complication, and it works best in cooler weather, when vanilla is at its most comfortable. Presented as a set, it is a simple present to give someone whose taste runs sweet, and it needs no explaining when they open it. One practical point is worth making: sweet fragrance reads stronger on warm skin than on cool, so one spray in July goes further than two in January. Used with that in mind a set like this lasts a long time, and none of it needs saving for best.

Chanson d'Eau is a Spanish market brand selling affordable fragrance in large bottles through supermarkets and high street perfumeries. It is held by Coty.