Spectrum Woman Eau de Parfum 200ml

Jasmine, mango and vanilla is the entire composition of Saphir Spectrum Woman Eau de Parfum 200ml, and an unusual trio it is.

Mango is the one you will not have met often. It is not a common perfumery material and it does not smell the way a sliced mango tastes; in fragrance it reads as a thick, slightly resinous tropical sweetness with a faintly green edge, more suggestion of fruit than a literal one. It gives this a warmth from the first spray that fruit openings usually take a few minutes to reach.

Jasmine supplies the flower, and it is the richest and most familiar thing here, heady and full and a little indolic in the way good jasmine always is. Against the mango it reads as plush rather than delicate. Vanilla then runs underneath both of them, sweet and soft and warm, pulling the whole thing towards comfort. Three materials, and the fragrance behaves exactly as a three material fragrance should. It is an accord rather than a journey, and there is no point waiting for it to turn into something else, because it will not. Whether that is a limitation or a relief depends entirely on how you like to wear perfume.

What it does offer is presence and a very large bottle. It is sweet, warm and tropical leaning, it suits evenings and cooler weather better than a hot afternoon, and it is aimed at women who are not looking for subtlety.

Look behind the label and you find a Spanish company trading in perfume since 1940, grown out of a Zaragoza warehouse business called Almacenes Corinto. Saphir has stayed in Spanish hands, keeps its manufacturing and research centre in Zaragoza, and exists to make fragrance affordable.