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L'Homme Ideal Gift Set
Almond in a men's fragrance was an odd idea when it appeared, and the Guerlain L'Homme Ideal Gift Set is the easiest way to give somebody the result.
The box holds the 100ml Eau de Toilette and a 75ml shower gel. The almond is the whole signature. It is handled cool and faintly bitter rather than sugared, closer to the nut than to the confection, and it sits in the heart with tonka bean beside it supplying a soft, powdery sweetness that rounds the edges off. Above that the opening is bright and clean: orange blossom white and floral, bitter orange sharp and peelish, rosemary dry, herbal and slightly camphorous. Then the fragrance turns serious. Leather gives the base a smooth, dark warmth, cedarwood keeps it dry and sharp, and vetiver adds a rooty earthiness that stops the almond from ever reading as sweet.
Eight materials, and the trick of it is that a nut and a flower are made to sit comfortably in a scent that still ends up masculine. It works in any season, it suits a desk as well as an evening out, and it is one of the easier Guerlain masculines to wear if you are not used to the house and its heavier work.
As a present it has two advantages. The name is recognised immediately, and the fragrance is distinctive enough that the recipient is unlikely to already own something similar. The set arrives presented, so nothing needs wrapping before it is handed across a table. Thierry Wasser is the perfumer.
Guerlain has made perfume in Paris since 1828 and belongs to LVMH. Eau de Cologne Imperiale, made by the founder in 1853 for the wedding of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie, earned the house the title of official perfumer, and later generations produced Jicky, L'Heure Bleue and Mitsouko.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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