For Her Eau de Toilette Gift Set

Osmanthus is the reason to look twice at Narciso Rodriguez For Her Eau de Toilette Gift Set, because very few houses are willing to put that flower at the front of a fragrance sold this widely.

It is an odd and very good material. There is a dried, slightly dried, almost fabric like texture to it and a tannic bitterness underneath, so it reads as fruit and fabric rather than as a bloom. Orange blossom is layered over the top, clean and white and a little green at the stalk, which lifts the first twenty minutes and keeps the opening from feeling dusty. Underneath both of them sits musk, soft and powdery, with the warmth of cotton taken straight off a radiator. Amber gives that musk a resinous sweetness and patchouli darkens it from below, earthy and faintly damp, so the drydown has grip rather than simply fading.

The eau de toilette is the gentler of the concentrations this scent is sold in, and that is a feature rather than a compromise. It is easier to over apply a strong fragrance than a light one, and this version forgives a heavy hand. Expect it to stay close, to last a working day and to behave itself in enclosed spaces, with only a faint trace left behind on a scarf.

Christine Nagel and Francis Kurkdjian composed it. The set is the sensible way to buy it when it is going to someone else, since it arrives already presented and requires nothing further from you. It is marketed to women and suits almost any daytime setting, from a desk to a long lunch.

Narciso Rodriguez opened his New York atelier in 2001, four years after founding the American label that carries his name. He grew up in Newark with Cuban immigrant parents, trained at Parsons, and learned the trade under Donna Karan at Anne Klein before moving to Calvin Klein. Before setting up on his own he spent four years running womenswear at Loewe. Perfume production is licensed to Beaute Prestige International.