Note Pyramid
L'Homme Ideal Gift Set
Anniversaries, retirements and sixtieth birthdays are what the Guerlain L'Homme Ideal Gift Set tends to be bought for, because it looks like a considered present and smells like one. The fragrance has a clear structure. Bitter orange and orange blossom open it together, sharp peel against soft white flower, with rosemary cutting across both of them, dry and herbal and slightly camphorous. Almond then takes the middle, and it is the material the whole scent is built around: cool, nutty, faintly bitter, never sweetened, with tonka bean behind it adding a soft dusty warmth. Underneath, the base keeps it firmly masculine, leather giving a smooth dark depth, cedarwood a dry sharpness and vetiver an earthy, rooty finish that lasts well into the evening.
Inside are the 100ml Eau de Toilette and a 75ml shower gel. Eight materials and a confident shape. It is not a loud fragrance but it is a distinctive one, and it is unlikely to be mistaken for anything else on a shelf. The first hour has the most movement in it, as the bitter opening gives way to the nut, and from there it settles and stays put, which is the behaviour most men want from something worn to work.
Buying it as a set makes it a better present than a single bottle, because the recipient has more than one way to wear it and the packaging does the formality for you. It also suits a man who would not know where to start choosing fragrance himself. Thierry Wasser is the perfumer behind it.
The house began in Paris in 1828 and is part of LVMH. Its founder was appointed official perfumer after making Eau de Cologne Imperiale for the imperial wedding of 1853, and the family after him created Jicky, L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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