Man
Rochas Man Eau de Toilette Gift Set is a sweet fragrance for men that got away with it, and buying it boxed is the easiest way to put it in somebody else's hands.
Six materials make the whole thing, so there is no great mystery to unpick. Lavender and bergamot open it, the lavender clean and herbal, the bergamot bright and slightly bitter, and for about a minute it behaves like a conventional men's scent. Then raspberry arrives and that changes. Raspberry here is jammy and a little tart, fruit rather than sweet shop, and jasmine beside it adds a soft white flower roundness that keeps the fruit from reading as a joke.
Vanilla and sandalwood finish it, and this is the part that made it last. The vanilla is thick and creamy, the sandalwood dry and milky underneath, and between them the drydown is warm, smooth and faintly edible without turning into pudding. Maurice Roucel composed it, and the balance between the herbal top and the sweet base is the reason it is still bought twenty five years on.
In wear the toilette strength keeps it comfortable. It is not quiet, exactly, but it sits closer than the concentration suggests and it lasts a good part of a day. Autumn and winter suit it, evenings more than mornings, and it works on younger men without looking like a first fragrance.
As a present it is a good one for somebody who claims not to like anything sweet, because this is the scent that usually changes their mind. Rochas opened in Paris in 1925 under Marcel Rochas, who was known as the couturier of youth, and moved into perfume in 1936. His wife Helene took the business on after his death in 1955 and built up the fragrance side. Interparfums bought the brand and its trademarks from Procter and Gamble in 2015.
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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