Reviews of Eau de Rochas Homme (1993)
by Rochas

EAU DE ROCHAS HOMME has one of the best citrus opening bar none, with a deft use of basil to keep the lime and lemon freshness going right into the lightly spiced floral heart. It stays light and clean throughout before fading. The base combination of amber, oakmoss and vetiver plays more of a supporting role and are thus not distinctly in evidence in the drydown. A truly exceptional chypre done in the classic 'eau' style of the 1970s but having none of that '70s vibe that seems to afflict the likes of Dior's Eau Sauvage. And judging from what I paid for a 50ml recently, it is priced like it's the '70s too!

Eau de Rochas Pour Homme starts off a little sharp but in less than a minute, it opens up to become a lovely warm elegant men's fragrance. It is an elegant mix of citrus with dashes of cedar and vetiver.

For those of you who know and love Eau de Rochas, Pour Homme is a richer scent that I could easily imagine my boyfriend wearing in the fall whereas Eas de Rochas is chiefly a summery citrus perfume. Cap d'Antibes and all that.

Having said all this, it is important to keep in mind that Pour Homme is a very light fragrance and doesn't last all that long (maybe 30 minutes) so perhaps it would be a good choice for a man that is a little hesitant about smelling strongly of cologne. It would be awesome if Rochas were to offer an "extreme" version of this!

Here are the notes: vetiver, mandarin, grapefruit, verbena, mountain narcissus, cedar, patchouli, wild rose, ambre, myrrh and sandalwood.

I wish this scent was of a stronger concentration for the sake of longevity. Excellent blend of citrus,floral,green and wood. Everyone already has described this terrific Eau de and they are right.

Great juice....especially for the availability and money. Thumbs up all day.

Wonderful mix of the usual citrus in "Eau de whatevers" and herbal/green notes. With a bit of woody freshness and a touch of myrrh, this makes for an interesting one.

I think this is a successful citrus scent--clean and refreshing. I'll have this next to CD Eau Sauvage for spring and summer. It's one of very few citrus/lemon scents that don't smell like lemon Pledge. I too find the opening slightly bitter (as mentioned by others). This scent to me is reminiscent of a dry gin drink or dining alfresco on a summer evening. The drydown has such a soft comfortable feel. Longevity may be a slight problem as with most citrus scents.
Edit: After wearing this for a while, I'm editting my review to include that the drydown (moss? cedar?), albeit soft, is not very pleasant to me. It lingers on and on and becomes cloying to me. Otherwise a great scent and still a thums up.

A fresh green citrus scent that is invigorating and renewing in its freshness. It includes some other notes that all blend well with the citrus and greenness. It has great longevity and as it wears down it becomes more piney and woody. Soft and light citrus that stays and stays. A very smoothe fragrance. Pleasing and very easy to enjoy. Great everyday fragrance - especially in spring/summer.

Eau de Rochas Homme is a masterly blend of citrus and green notes and one of the most truly excellent designer citrus scents. In the top notes, the blend of citrus, artemesia, basil, and petit grain presents a clarity of accord that is superb, and the florals and greens in the middle continue the refined excellence: mixed floral — mostly white — with coriander and pine needles as the uplifting greens. The drydown is clean, fresh, and subtle, emphasizing the pristine cedar note with discreet support from the vetiver; I don’t get much musk or amber. There is nothing muddled in Eau de Rochas—all accords are crystalline and pure, and they stay that way through the entire run of the fragrance. There are more dramatic and opulent citrus scents — Boucheron Pour Homme and Armani Eau Pour Homme to name two: These two scents are great purveyors of citrus lushness. But lushness and opulence is not what Eau de Rochas is about — it’s about clarity, purity, and preciseness of citrus accords, it’s about precision balance of citrus and green, and Eau de Rochas Homme is one of, if not THE best designer citruses of this type.

Eau de Rochas pour Homme is splendid! Pluran and scenteur have excellent reviews, and I agree with their statements. What I find striking about this scent is the absolutely linear yet exciting way it reveals each element in turn: citrus-lime, lightly grassy herbs (basil, artemisia), woody spice (coriander), pine needles, lightly musty oakmoss and vetiver, good cedar. I can sit and check off each one and say “yes, this is natural and true.” Despite the linearity there is interplay between the elements as well. I’d compare this to truly great jazz music, which is ‘transparent’ – you can detect each instrument/player and yet the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. The citrus/herbal combo gives this a superb Mediterranean flair. I’d say this starts off similar to Eau Sauvage but ends up in its own delightful pine/cedar grove. Refreshing and classy, things don’t get any better than this!

Just bought this, and i don't want sound like an echo here but what can i say; its a heck of a job sifting through the tons of fragrances out there and once you've gone through four or five they all seem to smell the same thereafter,i.e. unimaginative and underdeveloped. Only few seem to break the established boundaries and really dare to delight. Eau de Rochas Homme is one of them. Fearless, unapologetic and in your face. A citrusy burst that leaves you spinning and you just know its not going to end there. Soon after the citrus tunic is shed, the creative blend begins to unfold and as time passes you keep telling your self Thank God I didn't miss this. Yeah cos you don't easily see it on display these days. The Comparisons by Pluran are spot on. Its simply a great scent.

I purchased this recently on a trip to London. It epitomizes London on a beautiful spring day. It is clean, fresh, classic without being stuffy and modern without being synthetic and sweet. A great fragrance.

The only citrusy fragrance you're ever likely to need apart from the sublime Signoricci.
Elegant, tasteful and refreshing, this is a joy to wear.
Don't pass this one by.

Well, I can't top pluran's reviewe of this!
Yes it might feel 'old school' to some or 'oficewear' to others.

Yet this is what the far better known Eau Savage tries to be and fails. Fails? It's positively cheap by comparison.
One of the few well done citrus scents. Signorricci is another. Why are they so hard to create?

I agree that this one isn't terribly unique or an interesting take on the light, citrus fragrance... but I'm a sucker for citrus and so I can't say it doesn't work. In addition to Eau Sauvage, it also reminds me initially a bit like Hermes Eau d'orange verte. Wearing it won't have anyone saying, "OH, that's Eau de Rochas!" but it also won't have them saying, "You smell terrible." Balanced (the euphemistic word for "generic") and light, it would get a thumbs up if only it had ONE or TWO elements that separated it a little more from the pack.

Generic commonplace citrus fragrance. Not bad, but the fairly similar Eau Sauvage is more masculine, complex and long lasting. A good choice for the fans of neutral daytime wear, inoffensive and very business-class, very professional, therefore also a little unsurprising, official and cold scent. But the variety of existing, classical and conservative citrus male scent, i think that Armani, Gucci, Faconnable, Paco Rabanne, Dior and others brought a much more creative and complex contribution to this fairly simple formula.

Eau de Rochas Homme isn’t very interesting or even unique, really. It’s another citrus fragrance that is a little less herbal and a little bit crisper than, say, Eau Sauvage. When it opens it has a slightly bitter citrus rind like accord, and then it dries down to a citrus wood blend. Nothing amazing here, but nothing bad, either.

Eau de Rochas was created in 1993 (as a men's counterpart to the earlier Eau de Rochas), a time when Eau scents were popping up left and right, riding on the wave of popularity started by Eternity and Cool Water. However, where other scents went nuts with tea and ozonic notes, Rochas looked back to herbs and citrus to create a surprisingly addictive and intoxicating scent.

The fragrance opens with a blast of tangy citrus similar to EdR, but the grassy greens of basil & artemisia, and darker greens of corander & pine add an exciting depth to the middle notes. On my skin, the top notes give way to the middle almost immediately, and the greens combine with the citrus into something similar to Earl Grey tea - imagine Duel Light! All the freshness without the musty basenotes.

The base is perfection - a touch of vetiver adding a welcome sharpness, but not so much as to take over the scent. The cedar and oakmoss are perfectly blended with the amber to create just enough of an anchor to keep the scent from disappearing too quickly.

Overall the scent is not as sweet as the earlier reviewed St Barth or L'Eau par Kenzo, but is actually more interesting to me than say, Eau de Guerlain.

A wonderful very clean and lemony citrus fragrance.
Great for warm weather and the office.
Well done and very well ballanced.
A favorite.

The fine balance of citrus with other classical notes makes it very pleasant: Dry Martini with lemon peel and a faint memory of Moustache. There may be more inspiring fragrances around. This one I love for the absence of sweetness.It makes me feel confident as well as relaxed like in a white shirt in summertime.

I understand from his valet Andre that my friend Marcel has been praising more 'boring old man's scents' again. This time, apparently, it's Eau de Rochas which Marcel has singled out as a refined and distinguished assemblage of citrus and herbs worthy of any true gentleman. Of course Andre had to inform him that said fragrance was hardly like to make the frails faint or the ladies linger but was almost guaranteed to make the babes barf, the honeys heave and the chicks chunder. A shame for all concerned,really.

Very gentleman hesperide (citrus) fragrance with nice woody drydown. Sounds classic and a bit "old school". Sedate and worthy it would perfectly suit any daytime occasion during spring-summer season.