Mademoiselle Rochas Eau de Parfum Gift Set

Fifty millilitres is the right amount of this one for most people, and Mademoiselle Rochas Eau de Parfum 50ml is sized for somebody testing whether it will turn into a daily habit.

The scent itself is economical in the same way. Anne Flipo gives it a single material at the top, apple, green and crisp with a clean tartness, and it works precisely because nothing else is competing with it. Most fragrances spend their opening on a crowd of citrus. This one does not, and the difference is obvious the moment it goes on.

Rose, jasmine and violet leaf make the middle. The rose is classical and full, the jasmine warmer and creamier behind it, and the violet leaf keeps a cool green thread running through both, which is what stops the whole thing reading as a floral from another era. Sandalwood, ambergris and musk close it out, creamy, dry and soft in turn, holding the flowers close to the skin rather than pushing them into the room.

At eau de parfum strength it lasts most of a working day without ever making itself conspicuous, which is the main reason people stay with it for years. It suits any season, reads as feminine, and causes no difficulty in an office, a car or at a dinner table. Seven materials, cleanly arranged, with no stage that needs enduring. A 50ml bottle will last months at two sprays a day, and it fits in a bag, which the larger size does not. If it turns out to suit you, the bigger bottle is always there.

The couturier Marcel Rochas opened in Paris in 1925 and entered perfumery in 1936. The company went to his wife Helene in 1955, and she made fragrance its main concern. Interparfums completed its purchase of the brand from Procter and Gamble in 2015.