Eau de Rochas Eau de Toilette Gift Set

Giving fragrance is difficult, and Eau de Rochas Eau de Toilette Gift Set gets around most of the difficulty by holding a scent that has been familiar to several generations of buyers.

What is inside is a citrus led eau de toilette composed by Nicolas Mamounas. It starts on bergamot, mandarin orange, lemon and lemon verbena, which together produce a clean, slightly bitter brightness rather than a sugary one. The verbena is the detail worth knowing about, herbal and leafy, closer to a greenhouse than to a fruit bowl. Daffodil, jasmine and lily of the valley make the middle, cool and green at first and then a little creamier as the jasmine comes through. The last stage is darker and more interesting than the opening promises, with oakmoss and patchouli bringing damp earth and myrrh laying a dry resin over the top of it.

For a present this is a safe landing. It is not a heavy fragrance, it is not loud, and it does not demand that the person receiving it changes how they dress. It works across a wide age range and it suits spring and summer especially well.

Sets of this kind are bought for birthdays, for mothers and aunts, and for the moment in December when a reliable gift matters more than a daring one. If the recipient already knows the scent, a set is simply the better way to buy it, and nothing here needs explaining at the moment it is unwrapped.

Rochas opened in Paris in 1925 as the couture house of Marcel Rochas, a designer nicknamed the couturier of youth, and perfume became part of the business in 1936. Helene Rochas ran the company after 1955. Interparfums has owned the brand since buying it from Procter and Gamble in 2015.