Mademoiselle in Love Eau de Parfum

Rochas Mademoiselle in Love Eau de Parfum is the softer, warmer reading of the Mademoiselle idea, and it leans on vanilla where the sharper sort of modern floral would lean on citrus. Apple and pear open it, both of them crisp rather than candied, the apple with a green bite and the pear with a watery sweetness, and together they make the first few minutes light and easy. Rose and peony follow. Peony is the brighter of the two, slightly peppery and almost transparent, and rose fills the middle out with a soft pink fullness that never becomes heavy.

Where the fragrance earns its name is at the bottom. Vanilla is the most obvious material there, smooth and sweet and comforting, but it is cashmeran that does the interesting work: a smooth, slightly musky material with a warm clean feel to it, somewhere between skin and clean laundry, and it gives the drydown the hug the name promises. Cedarwood keeps it dry and patchouli adds a little earth so the sweetness has somewhere to sit rather than simply spreading. Amandine Clerc-Marie composed it. At eau de parfum strength it stays close to the skin after the first hour and lasts through a working day, which makes it an everyday fragrance rather than an occasion one, and the sort of thing that becomes a habit. It suits autumn and winter, younger wearers in particular, and anyone who wants something sweet without the fruit syrup that usually comes with it.

The house was founded in Paris in 1925 by Marcel Rochas, nicknamed the couturier of youth, and his wife Helene took over after his death in 1955 and built the perfume side of the business considerably.