Diane Castel Poudre D’ivoire Bouquet

Powder and caramel, with fruit at the front to keep it from being cloying. Poudre d'Ivoire opens on cassis and pear - the cassis tart and slightly green, the pear soft and juicy - and within a few minutes those two hand over to the heart, where orange blossom and white flowers bloom around a cool, dusty iris. That iris is what earns the name: it puts a powdery veil over everything and gives the fragrance its ivory, faintly cosmetic quality. Underneath, ambery woods, caramel, patchouli and vanilla warm it from below, so the finish is soft and edible without ever tipping into dessert. The house calls it an allegory of happiness, which is grand, but the scent itself is genuinely gentle.

Top: Cassis, pear · Heart: White flowers, orange blossom, iris · Base: Ambery woods, caramel, patchouli, vanilla

Seven to nine hours, with a moderate, close-sitting trail after the first hour. Iris is the note to think about in this climate. In dry air it stays cool and powdery; in Miami humidity it turns creamier and warmer, and it hands over to the caramel much earlier in the day than the pyramid suggests. So a morning application here is largely a soft caramel-vanilla skin scent by mid-afternoon, which many people prefer. Orange blossom is the risk: it swells in heat, and a heavy hand at nine in the morning will still be filling the elevator at two. Two sprays in summer, three when it finally cools.

Feminine-leaning and grown-up rather than youthful. It works at the office, at lunch, at a wedding, and it is soft enough for a small room. Cooler months flatter the powder; summer pushes it sweet.

This one comes as the full bottle only, with no smaller split, so skin is the only real test. Stop into the Miami Gardens shop and give it half an hour - iris shifts more from person to person than almost any other material.