If you’re still in a quandary as to what to get him or her for Christmas, then we at The Amazing Blog all agree that fragrance is the way to go. Personal and useful, plus if you know, the genre of fragrance notes that they love – this is a sure way to please. When you get it right, perfume is one of the most memorable presents you can give. As regular readers will know we like to patronise unique artisan brands and Acqua di Stresa is one that we’ve recently uncovered that will help you out on your Christmas mission.

Acqua di Stresa was created in 2002 by Giovanni Castelli (former Fashion designer), and Andrea Patrucco. They wanted to share the scents of the thousands of blossoms from their Castello di Ripa’s garden, that stands on the Lake Maggiore shores, facing the Borromeo’s Islands. After almost 20 years of capturing the lake’s green and floral essences, the brand now has six core Eau de Parfums in their collection. These have also given rise to sets of reed diffusers with an additional three new fragrances, and now a hand sanitiser. With boxes, flacons and caps decorated with their refined wave motif, what we love about Acqua di Stresa is that it exudes both luxury and poise.

We were sent Roburis Eau de Parfum to try. This is the perfect Christmas fragrance, even with the first spritz it took us on a winter promenade and journey into forests laden with berries and sweet-smelling bark. In fact, ‘Robur’ translates from the Latin as hard timber or oak and ‘Roburis’ is used metaphorically in Latin for ‘strength’. It is a rich and warming fragrance where you can almost imagine the warmth of the sunlight filtering through the leaves onto your skin. This is a robust scent with strong base notes evident with the tonka bean, leather, ambrette, and vanilla that linger giving a slightly musky aroma. That said, it is relatively fresh at the beginning with the top notes of juniper berries, cinnamon and blackcurrant. The fragrance becomes warmer with the middle notes cedar, cloves, myrrh, and then in time when the spices and smokiness mingle, the middle and base notes take the lead. We love its androgynous qualities, which in our view, make it truly gender-neutral and a ‘his and hers’ fragrance to share. You can purchase this 100ml mood-lifting winter fragrance for €78 here, it also comes in 50ml for €58. For further items such as Shower Gel, Body Lotion or Reed Diffuser from the Roburis collection see here.