L'OCCITAN
by L'Occitane

A very well done lavender scent. The opening is all about lavender, but sort of in a muted way. It doesn’t come off too sharp. There is enough black pepper in there to add to the lavender, but certainly never distracts from it. The lavender persists for a couple hours and quietly fades where the heart and base of somewhat spicy cedar comes into play. I don’t get much vanilla in the base though listed in the notes. Overall, a very well done scent obviously done with high quality ingredients at a bargain basement price.

1st December, 2011.

One of my all time favourites. No trendy cool packaging - looks like an old-fashioned bottle of medicine, and comes in a cheap feeling course cardboard box. But who cares - pretty bottles are for her dressing table. Tired of 101 designer fragrances that are minor variations on a theme and met at every turn, office, bar, club? Eau des Baux is strongly distinctive, unusual, with oriental spiciness in spades. It will doubtless be a bit too sweet for some - Mrs Panther quite likes it on me, but opines that it takes a few hours before the wood masculinity subsumes the feminine vanilla enough for her nostrils. And its power and longevity is immense: apply with caution.

13rd September, 2011.

Smells very high quality and natural. Longevity is superb. In the dry down I get salty-sweet herbal scents, almost like detergent. Not unpleasant but not extraordinary.

27th April, 2011.

Simple and good quality with great marriage of notes for my taste.
Just an updated fougere with barely any sweetness, with the addition of spices.

The opening is somewhat odd, with a wet feel that projects wide. Lavender is very nice and natural smelling with a bit of green and sweetness in it. The whole scent dries out quickly and in two hours lavender barely lingers and it becomes a spicy mellow skin scent. It doesn't become arid, and somehow the spices come off refreshing. It goes sweeter as it dries down, but it's just a faint balsamic wood and tonka, thank god.

It's masculine all right, but definitely usable by the ladies.
I approve.

20th April, 2011.

L'Occitane seems to have the knack at developing high-quality fragrances at reasonable prices. L'Occitan EDT Pour Homme is no exception. I really like this fragrance. It's a totally pleasant, non-offensive and masculine fragrance that stays close to the skin, but with above-average longevity. Quiet, understated and, well, just nice. I like unique colognes (the ones that you will seldom smell on anyone else) and this also fits neatly into that category. Good opening, nice transition through the middle, then settling into a soft, cedar-ish drydown with a hint of tonka. Cedar isn't listed among the notes on the L'Occitane website, but I'd swear it's in there - or maybe some close relative. A few earlier reviewers were kind enough to post the notes, but here they are once more:

Top Note: Lavender, Black pepper
Middle Note: Nutmeg, Cinnamon
Base Note: Tonka Bean, Musk

The review by manicboy is great and captures my perceptions to a "T". Read that particular review about 3 times and you will capture the essence of L'Occitan. (Really good job, manicboy!)

Just one footnote, as a few others have mentioned: the photo here on basenotes is incorrect and is a different L'Occitane product. L'Occitan EDT PH is in a purple box and the bottle has a purple label. Wouldn't want anyone to pick up the wrong parfum if they were to visit one of the L'Occitane en Provence shops.

13rd January, 2011.

Not much to say here except that this is a nice clean, peppery lavender fragrance that dries down to a pleasant powdery lavender accord. It doesn't smell like there are a lot of notes in this, but I really like the pepper accent and the lavender itself seems to be of very good quality. This is a good simple fragrance.

MY RATING: 7/10

7th August, 2010.