Nomade Gift Set

Of all the house's florals, Chloé Nomade Gift Set is the one that does not smell like a department store counter, and the box makes it giftable without further effort. The top is fruit before it is citrus. Mirabelle, a tart little yellow fruit, sets the tone, and bergamot, lemon and orange run alongside it to keep the first ten minutes bright. Then peach arrives with a soft, downy sweetness and the flowers open up: jasmine rich and full, rose rounded, freesia thin and cool. It is a generous heart, and for a while the fragrance smells conventional enough to disarm anyone suspicious of it.

You get the Eau de Parfum at 50ml and a 100ml body lotion. Oakmoss is what changes that. It is earthy and dry with a damp, mossy edge, and in a composition this floral it acts almost as a corrective. Patchouli works with it, amberwood adds resinous warmth, sandalwood a creamy smoothness, and white musk ties the ends together. Thirteen materials, composed by Quentin Bisch, and the dry base is the part people end up buying it for. It carries well in cool weather and survives warm weather rather better than most florals do, because the base does not turn sweet in heat. Given as a set it suits somebody who has had the bottle before and will finish it, or somebody looking for a floral with more backbone than usual. The eau de parfum strength needs no assistance, and two sprays last a whole evening.

The label's own history starts in Paris in 1952 with Gaby Aghion's debut, with a first boutique in 1972 and a first fragrance in April 1975. Clothing, bags and perfume have all been part of it since then. Chloé scents are made under licence, and Coty holds the brand in its luxury division.