Fame Eau de Parfum Gift Set

A first serious perfume is a particular kind of purchase, and the Rabanne Fame Eau de Parfum Gift Set is one of the better answers to it that the house currently makes.

The fragrance is bold without being difficult. Mango opens it, ripe and juicy with a faint resinous edge, and bergamot gives the fruit a bitter citrus cut so the start is not pure sweetness. The heart pairs jasmine with incense, the flower broad and heady, the smoke dry and faintly austere, and that contrast is what makes the scent memorable rather than merely pleasant. Sandalwood and vanilla close it out, the first creamy and the second plainly sweet. Six materials, well chosen, with nothing in the row that could fairly be called filler.

Eau de parfum strength gives it the oil to last well into an evening, with real carry in the first hours and a long quiet stay afterwards. One or two sprays is the correct amount and more is not better, which is a lesson most people learn with a fragrance like this one rather than before it.

Cold weather and nights out are where it belongs, and it suits somebody who actively wants a fragrance that people comment on rather than one that sits in the background. In a boxed set it is ready to give as it arrives, which makes it an easy choice for a birthday or for Christmas. Dora Baghriche, Marie Salamagne, Alberto Morillas and Fabrice Pellegrin are credited with the fragrance itself.

Rabanne is a French name that came out of fashion, the founding designer's first collection having been shown in 1966. The fragrance arm dates from 1968, created by the Spanish group Puig. Ownership of the brand itself followed in 1987.