Dylan Purple Eau de Parfum Gift Set

Nothing is hidden in the Versace Dylan Purple Eau de Parfum Gift Set. It is built from five materials and it behaves exactly like the short composition it is. Bitter orange opens it, and the bitterness matters, because it keeps the citrus from going soft. Pear arrives alongside, juicy and a little green at the stalk, and bergamot sharpens the whole opening with its cooler, slightly soapy brightness. That trio is the fragrance's loudest moment and it does not hang about.

Freesia is the only flower in it. On its own it reads crisp, clean and faintly watery, and with nothing in the heart to argue with it the floral stays simple and legible all the way through. Cedarwood closes the composition, dry and pencil sharp, and that single base material is what stops the fruit floating away entirely. There is no slow unfolding to wait for and no second act an hour in, which some people much prefer and others will find thin, so it is worth knowing in advance.

The eau de parfum concentration gives it more weight than a list this short might suggest, so expect it to hold through an afternoon and into an evening without being loud about it. It reads feminine, it works in daylight and in mild weather, and it is easy to wear in close company. Christophe Raynaud composed it. If you want a perfume that unfolds in stages across an evening this is not that, and the simplicity is a choice rather than a shortcoming. As a gift set it is a sensible present for someone who likes fruit and flowers but finds a dense perfume hard going, and it is boxed, so there is nothing left to do but hand it over.

The house is Italian. Gianni Versace opened it in Milan in 1978, Donatella Versace took charge after his death, and the name covers clothes, furnishings, hotels and fragrance.