Le Male Gift Set
There is a practical argument for buying fragrance boxed rather than loose, and the Jean Paul Gaultier Le Male Gift Set makes it well: presentation is part of what you are paying for, and at gift time that counts.
The box holds the 125ml Eau de Toilette, a 50ml aftershave balm and a 75g deodorant stick. The scent is the constant. It is built from mint, lavender and vanilla and nothing besides. Mint gives it the cold, almost astringent opening that makes the first minute so distinctive, green and clean rather than sugared. Lavender steadies it, herbal and dry rather than floral, and it is the note that keeps the whole thing from reading as a dessert. Vanilla then warms the base and sweetens the finish, which is the part that lingers on a collar hours later. It is a short composition and it works because the three are in proportion, not because anything is hidden underneath.
It wears best in cold weather and at night, and it reads as a confident, slightly loud choice rather than a discreet one. That is worth knowing before you hand it over to somebody who prefers to go unnoticed.
Who it suits as a present is easy to pin down: a man in his twenties finding his first signature, or one in his fifties replacing a bottle he has already bought a dozen times. Either way it will be used rather than shelved, and the box makes the handover feel like an occasion rather than an errand, which is most of the point of buying a set at all.
Jean Paul Gaultier is a French fashion house. Its founder's first womenswear show was in 1976 and his first boutique opened in Paris in 1984. Fragrance arrived in 1993, and since Puig took a majority stake in 2011 the perfumes have been developed inside the group.
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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