Reviews of Eau de Badian (1999)
by L'Occitane

L'Occitane have produced a number of excellent products over the years, but this is not one of them.Its an anise dominated fragrance with little enhancement from the supporting cast. The result is a reasonably long lived, dry and hollow accord that lacks the charm and beauty to be of sufficient interest. Eau de Badian is not exactly unpleasant, but when that is the best one can say, it is hardly going to be a thumbs up.

Meh. It's an anise opening for sure but I don't get much of anything afterwards. L'O's stuff is hit or miss and this is a miss for it. Especially since is disappears from detection in minutes.

I enjoy anise fragrances and this one is very good and it smells completely natural. My mother and grandmother would often make Italian anise cookies called "pizzelles", and I loved those growing up. This reminds me very much of those cookies. When I was in the L'Occitane store trying their fragrances, there was an attractive married woman who was watching me-- she was curious as to what fragrance to get her husband. I would try each fragrance on my skin, and then this woman would give her opinion. When I got to the Eau du Badian, she grabbed a hold of my arm firmly and didn't want to let go. It definitely met her approval! I have noticed that this does seem to be a bit weaker and shorter lived than I'd hoped. It doesn't have a lot of musk/fixatives in the base, and as such it feels more like an Eau de Cologne than an Eau de Toilette-- not a problem though, because for many situations I prefer a cologne to have modest sillage. It does smell great. Aside from the wonderfully prominent anise note, Eau du Badian is also a good grapefruit scent. I also heartily recommend the Eau du Badian shower gel. I've often wondered what all was in this scent, and I've just seen the list of notes for the first time-- I can definitely smell the maté and green tea. But the anise is tops.

Now I need a Harvey Wallbanger!

Top – lemon, grapefruit, clary sage, basil
Mid – green tea, star anise, fig, lentiscus
Base – maté, blackcurrant, tarragon, liatrix
(from L’Occitane product information)
Badian is a crisp, very fresh scent. Pleasantly sharp and energetic, it reminds me of T&H Freshman or Burberry’s Weekend. I like Freshman better, but this is a reasonable alternative.

From the L'Occitane web site:

Top Note: Grapefruit Basil
Middle Note: Star Aniseed, Coriander
Base Note: Absolute mate, Calry Sage.

In my opinion Badian is a light, sweet aromatic citrus fragrance. To my nose it is in the same family of fragrances as YSL Live Jazz. I believe it is wearable on warm, but not hot days.

The most important thing for me about Badian is that it is fresh natural scent without containing what I find to be the harsh and annoyingly artificial "fresh" notes in fragrances like Cool Water, Eternity and Burberry for Men. Longevity be damned!

However, perhaps, since Badian is more natural, on me at least, it has low sillage, as well as less than average longevity.

Also, although it is sweet it is not like some fragrances that smell like cheap candy. A mature adult male can wear this without hesitation.

At $42US for 3.4 oz (100ml) it is priced a a bit too high for what is it. Apparently, it only available in L'Occitane store and through the L'Occitane web site. So an occasional eBay type sale is the only way to get it any cheaper.

Bottom line: A well made, light aromatic / citrus fragrance suitable for warm weather, casual day or evening situations.

This is my favourite summer fragrence.I dissagree with the longevity issue it lasts a good 5/6 hours on my person.The women seem to adore it which is nice.

this cologne needs to be longer lasting.. great scent though.. all the girls at school love it

It's very similar fo Ferrari Yellow (fresh and citrus notes). it's not long lasting.