Lalique pour Homme (1997)
by Lalique

Lalique pour Homme is a subtle yet classy style of scent. Reminds me of the following frags in different ways: Caron's The Third Man, Habit Rouge, Chanel Allure, and even Mitsouko (current edt version). There are chypre elements and the mossy drydown is quite prevalent on my shirt but not on the skin. On the skin it's more vanilla and lavender like Third Man. Sometimes a little bitter and peppery like Allure but not so much amber. Also, there's a powdery or dusty citrus quality like that of Habit Rouge but not so strong. Again, Lalique is subtle and good for a perfect gentleman's office cologne. I enjoy it as such.

I can’t remember when I last encountered a scent so manifestly different on fabric or paper than on my skin. Worn on my skin, the top notes are a conventional, though very well-rendered combination of citrus rind, soft lavender, and sweet spices that dissipate almost at once as Lalique pour Homme plunges precipitously into a bone dry middle section that’s dominated by etiolated gray iris and a dusty cedar note. There’s very little else, and the resulting accord evokes the musty atmosphere of a once-fashionable but now somewhat seedy men’s club, complete with stale cigar smoke, worn, overstuffed chairs, and dilapidated card tables. This phase lasts for two hours at most before Lalique pour Homme plummets once more, this time into a wan, bare cedar drydown that’s as dull as it is difficult to detect.

On fabric, it’s an entirely different scent. True, the top notes smell the same, but on fabric the lavender and spices persist to add some fullness and depth to the cedar and iris accord. Sweet floral notes that weren’t apparent on my skin emerge as well, so that Lalique pour Homme’s heart smells far less dry and hollow than when worn on skin. The scent of course endures much longer on fabric as well, and when Lalique pour Homme’s drydown does arrive it is substantially richer, deeper, and more complex than I experience when wearing it. Vanilla, soft amber, and a trace of patchouli round out cedar in a soft textured yet reasonably weighty woody oriental structure.

I can’t tell you why at least half of the notes evident on fabric go AWOL when I wear Lalique pour Homme. Perhaps it was evaluated only on fabric! Giving full benefit of the doubt that what I smell on fabric approximates the scent’s effect when worn by others, I’d class Lalique pour Homme as a variation on the gentlemanly woody oriental style exemplified by Creed’s Bois du Portugal and Nicolai’s New York. The Lalique is quieter than either the Creed or the Nicolai, so if you enjoy this sort of dignified, if rather stuffy fragrance, but want something more subdued, Lalique pour Homme would be a scent worth trying.

Smells great on paper! On my skin, it dried down to the "vanilla/sandalwood tart" mentioned by mrclmind. I'll pass, but still give it thumbs up for the test strip.

My review is based on the EdP concentration, not a groundbreaking fragrance, what's great about it is the blend of the notes, all of them seem to compliment and play with each other like a perfect composition ...very refined but any young man can pull this one of...

Bought this half blind based on Lalique's Basenotes rep and the very Alluresque smell on the test strip, both of which made me conclude that 55 bucks for 3 oz of EDP had very limited downside. Two full wears later, I still think it was a pretty good buy with a couple reservations. As others have noted Allure's citrus, at once fresher and richer, is superior to Lalique PH's but I think everything else about the Lalique--silage, longevity, dark florals, a good cedar, and restrained sweetness make it a superior fragrance. I do get an almost-but-not-quite staleness--dustiness may be a better word--that appears when the citrus dissipates (well into the development, BTW) and unless I press my wrist to my nose, the drydown dominated by vanilla, which is usually unkind to my skin. One man's dust is another man's powder, I guess, so I give it a thumbs up.

I have to agree with coolnose about the barely evident vanilla...certainly no feeling of vanilla tarts on my chest....
I get a huge dose of lavender in the top notes, and then it seems to settle to sandalwood and amber. It has great sillage and longevity. In fact, it has the best longevity of any of the lalique line. I prefer Equus to this (more cedar) , but Lalique lasts longer..