Fame Eau de Parfum Gift Set

If you know for a fact that somebody wears this, the Rabanne Fame Eau de Parfum Gift Set is the least risky present in the range.

Buying a fragrance that is already in use removes the only real gamble in perfume gifting, which is taste, and leaves you with nothing to worry about but the wrapping. What you are giving is six materials: mango, ripe and resinous at the top, bergamot cutting it with bitter citrus, jasmine filling out a heady floral heart, incense running dry and smoky against it, then sandalwood and vanilla closing creamy and sweet. The fruit and the smoke together are the signature, and it is a combination few other fragrances attempt, let alone pull off at this sort of volume.

As an eau de parfum it lasts. The first hour or two carries noticeably, after which it settles onto skin and fabric and stays legible for a long while, so a light hand is the right approach and a reapplication is rarely needed.

It belongs to cold weather and to evenings, and it suits somebody who likes being noticed rather than somebody who would much rather not be. That is not a criticism of it, only a warning worth passing on. Boxed as a set, it needs no wrapping and no decision about size, and it looks like more than a bottle when it is handed across. Dora Baghriche, Marie Salamagne, Alberto Morillas and Fabrice Pellegrin are the four perfumers named on it.

The house is French and started out in fashion, with its designer showing a first collection in 1966. Perfume arrived in 1968 through Puig of Spain, which has owned the brand completely since 1987 and has since dropped the designer's first name from the label.