Million Gold for Her Body Lotion 200ml

A body lotion is not a perfume and should not be bought as one, but Rabanne Million Gold for Her Body Lotion 200ml does a useful job if you already wear the scent.

What it smells of on application is the softer end of the fragrance. Rose comes through first, full and slightly jammy, with lavender beside it adding a clean herbal coolness and pear supplying a juicy, green sweetness that keeps the pair from reading as old fashioned. Jasmine and ylang ylang fill out the middle, both rich white flowers, the ylang ylang in particular with a creamy, faintly fruity warmth to it. Underneath sit musk, oakmoss and vanilla: soft skin warmth, a dry earthy green, and a sweetness that rounds off the edges.

On skin it stays close. A lotion deposits a fraction of what a spray does and it is gone within a couple of hours, so treat it as a base layer rather than a substitute. Applied after a shower and followed by the fragrance itself, it gives the scent something to hold on to, which is the whole point of buying one.

The 200ml tube is a generous size for daily use, and texture is as much the reason people buy a lotion as scent is. Used on dry skin in winter it earns its place on its own terms, with the fragrance as a bonus rather than the argument. It suits anybody who already owns the perfume and wants the whole thing to last a little longer on the skin, and it makes a sensible small addition to a present.

Rabanne is French and began in fashion, the designer Paco Rabanne having shown his first collection in 1966. Perfumery arrived through the Spanish group Puig, which started a perfume division in 1968 before taking over the whole house in 1987, and the brand now goes by the surname only.