Patou pour Homme Privé (1994)
by Jean Patou

Wow, this is an amazing perfume. Its opening is a wonderful blast of, as stated in a previous review, one the nicest lavender accords I've had the pleasure of sampling. The lavender is fairly quickly joined by an amazing green accord, with prominent galbanum and oakmoss, exquisite. The fougere heart is of course there with plenty of coumarin, giving the "newly mown hay" effect. It also helps some vanilla to slightly sweeten the base, which is smooth and delicious sandalwood and friends.

Folks, if you get the chance to try this, jump on it. It is wonderful. I'd bathe in the stuff if I could, its that good.

5th September, 2011.

I am glad that I was finally able to try Prive today. It is most of what I imagined it might be. Prive has an exquisite and complex lavender opening that is both fruity and slightly sweet--a welcomed change from the usual harsh and medicinal lavenders to which I am accustomed. The heart is a tad musty (could be from age). The base is a light fougere accord of coumarin and oakmoss. Very light, very conservative, and nearly perfect.

19th March, 2011.

While I think that Prive is a lovely fragrance, it is possibly a little sweet and fruity for a fragrance intended for men. I have tried it several times, and am convinced it is Ma Liberte, in a different bottle.

Sweet, with fruity and subtle vanilla notes, Prive is very different to the original versian of Patou pour Homme.

28th May, 2010.

Patou pour Homme Privé has one of the best lavender accords I've smelled balanced with a base which creates a dance somewhere between a fougère and an oriental. The lavendar seems to last far into the life of the fragrance. This scent is fresher and more pleasing to my nose in its upper accords than Patou pour Homme, but equally as satisfying in the extended dry down of woods and resins. As is so common, something this good is not commercially available and is getting increasingly more difficult to find.

19th August, 2008.

One of the loveliest, gentlest, and most extraordinary of fougères. Lavender and new-mown hay (for the coumarin note) are the backbone, with patchouli for strength and balance and a sandalwood-vanilla combination for the creamy, oriental finish. Wearing Privé is pure joy to the spirit. Uplifting far beyond the average inspiration of scent, this is a work of art characterized by balance, taste, and economy of line rarely paralleled in the recent history of masculine fragrance.

26th June, 2008.

In the house of Grandmaman, the louvred doors opened onto a cool, clean chamber. Inside, a pile of clothes smelling of cool, clean lavender. Serene, elegant, fine. In the house of Grandmaman. Although Grandpapa wore it also. Translucent dandy. Smooth, balanced, quiet, subtle, soft, crystalline. In the garden, a blue-green pool, fringed by delicate woods and grasses. A pure and magical scent.

17th April, 2008.