Gentleman Eau de Parfum 100ml

Iris is an expensive material and it is rare to find it used as generously as Givenchy Gentleman Eau de Parfum 100ml uses it in a men's fragrance.

The opening is brisk. Black pepper gives a dry prickle and lavender comes in cool and herbal beside it, a combination that lasts about ten minutes before the fragrance changes character entirely. Iris takes over, and it is the cool, powdery, slightly earthy kind rather than anything floral, with a grey metallic edge that makes a scent feel tailored. Peru balsam sits beneath it and does the warming, sweet and resinous with a faint smokiness, and the pairing of a cold flower root with a warm resin is the whole point of the composition.

The base is patchouli and vanilla. Patchouli keeps things earthy and slightly damp, vanilla smooths the resin without turning it into dessert, and the two hold the fragrance on the skin long after the pepper has gone. Nathalie Lorson and Olivier Cresp are credited with it, and the six materials are deployed for depth rather than for novelty.

At eau de parfum strength expect eight hours and more, with the first couple of hours projecting properly and the rest close in. It is a masculine fragrance for cool weather, evenings, offices and formal occasions, and it is one to buy in the full 100ml if it suits you, because the drydown is where it earns its keep and that is the part you will be wearing most.

Givenchy has been a Paris house since 1952, founded by Hubert de Givenchy, and is part of LVMH today, its perfumes produced by a maison of their own. Couture came first here and perfumery was built on top of it, and the two have been run apart ever since.