212 NYC for Her Gift Set
As presents go, Carolina Herrera 212 NYC for Her Gift Set is one of the safer bets, because the fragrance inside it offends almost nobody.
Inside are the 100ml Eau de Toilette, a 100ml body lotion and a 10ml spray. That is not faint praise. A great many perfumes are a gamble on someone else's taste, and this one is built from five materials that nearly everyone has smelled and liked before. Bergamot gives a brief bitter brightness at the start. Gardenia then takes over, creamy, white and slightly soapy, the sort of flower that reads as clean rather than as a statement. Jasmine deepens it from underneath with a richer, more animal warmth, and sandalwood and musk finish it softly, close to the skin and without sweetness. It is an eau de toilette, so it is light on the arm and easy to overspray in the best sense of that phrase. Four or five hours is typical, longer on a scarf or a coat collar, and it never fills a room or lingers in one after the wearer has left it.
All of which makes it a good gift for a colleague, a mother in law, a teenager wearing her first proper perfume, or anyone whose preferences you do not know well enough to risk something heavier. It suits warm weather and daytime particularly, and it reads as feminine in an entirely unthreatening way. The one person it will not satisfy is a collector looking for something unfamiliar, because familiarity is exactly what it offers. The designer behind it, Venezuelan by birth, presented her first New York collection in 1981 and added fragrance seven years later. Puig of Spain has held that licence from the beginning and acquired the clothing house in 1995. The 212 line, which this belongs to, has been running since 1997.
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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