Lalique pour Homme (1997)
by Lalique

Lalique pour Homme is an elegant fragrance featuring the best lavender I have experienced. The melange is warm and potent and offers surprisingly impressive projection and longevity. It seems confident and unyielding but never boorishly so. I can imagine this to be a reworking of Caron pour un Homme in which Lalique offers the definitive composition but perhaps that goes to the nature of lavender which recalls its use in other fragrances. The lavender, here, qualifies the other components without itself being qualified thus the rise and fall of notes are like echoes that cascade from the roiling haze of lavender. It's as if these other notes have been chosen to manage the lavender and stop it from becoming cloying and stale. It never does. It shines through the pulsating presence of the basenotes. I cannot smell jasmine - which please me - and the iris and red cedar present themselves together and go on to manage the sweeter notes - the amber and the vanilla. They seem to dominate them and blur the woody notes leaving the impression of a summer garden bordering a woodland. The image is patrician and so is the fragrance.

5th January, 2012. (Last Edited: 6th January, 2012.)

This first time I tried Lalique Pour Homme (EDP), my initial thought was "This reminds me of the iris in Dior Homme." While I don't detect the lipstick accord that some folks identify in Dior, iris is a major player in Lalique's mid notes. After the citrus and lavender notes fade (fairly quickly), we are left with a powdery iris that lasts on my skin for about 1 1/2 hours. This is where Lalique almost loses me. Too much powder, but then the iris begins to fade a bit as the patchouli and vanilla emerge, providing a nice balance to the overall character of the fragrance. My nose completely misses the jasmine and lily-of-the valley. The amber accord in the dry down is restrained (more so than in New York, for example.) Lalique PH dries down into a smooth and dignified fragrance with a discernible sandalwood note filling out its development. Lalique PH is a fine office fragrance (after the first hour of application) and also works well for formal occassions. I recommend it as an alternative to PdN New York and Dior Homme.

26th July, 2011.

Lalique pour Homme opens with a big herbal-green accord of rosemary and lavender, with citrus (grapefruit primarily) in the background. I must be sensitive to this note, because the rosemary is really dominant here to my nose, and leaves the rest of the opening notes playing a distant second fiddle. I don't specifically detect the listed floral notes but I do get the cedar in the middle loud and clear. There is a whiff of a powdery wood and vanilla drydown which seems promising but unfortunately Lalique pour Homme stays very close to the skin after about an hour, after which time it becomes so weak that it's difficult to really detect what's going on with it anymore.

Lalique pour Homme is clearly aiming for a smooth, formal and conservative quality, and judging by the mostly positive reviews, I believe it is capable of filling that niche for others. Unfortunately, it just feels stuffy and awkward on my skin.

4th June, 2011.

Lalique Pour Homme (Lion) is neither one of the most original fragrances available on the market nor the best Roucel's composition but it's definitely a remarkable scent. It opens with a fresh grapefruit (or maybe pomelo) and lavender accord that quickly evolves into a smooth cedar mid-phase that brings to my mind of a couple of Arturetto Landi's latest releases (Biehl's AL3 and Profumi Del Forte's Versilia Platinum). In this phase LPH stays close to the skin gently claiming your attention with its understated presence. In the drydown I get hints of vanilla and some floral note but as I tried to go deeper to detect some other ingredients, LPH suddendly desappeared.

Overall this is a good and very versatile fragrance and it's recommended to anyone who don't expect a super sillage and a tenacious lasting power from their perfumes. If you like Lalique Pour Homme but you find it too subtle check out Biehl's AL3 and PDF's Versilia Platinum.

25th April, 2011.

I made a mistake when I purchased Lalique pour Homme. The bottle looks very, very similar to Lalique Equuus pour Homme and that's what I thought I was buying. The stylistic lionhead engraving doesn't look much different from the stylistic horsehead engraving on Equus. My bad, but it worked out just fine! I like this one -- a lot. It opens with a citrusy, smoky burst and over the next few hours, settles into a creamy, rich sandalwood base. About 5 hours into the drydown, I was having flashbacks of another fragrance: the delicious Santal Noble! I wouldn't call the two identical twins, but could easily pass for cousins. Both are wonderful. LpH doesn't offer monstrous sillage, but rather stays fairly close to the skin and that seems to add to its refined nature. Longevity is very good.

Footnote: I later purchased the original object of my desire (Lalique Equus pour Homme) and it is also a wonderful concoction - but very short-lived on my skin. I gave that one a Neutral rating because of its brief life. I suppose mistakes sometimes do happen for a reason!

18th January, 2011.

It has very good sillage and lasting. Topnote is Woody/Citrus with lavander, and strongest, darkest part of this fragrance. And drying down is woody/floral and a bit citrus. It's classy, smooth velvet woody fragrance.

19th October, 2010.