L'Homme De Coeur by Divine, 2002

The name may suggest romance and passion but I think 'tenderness' is nearer the mark. It's for a man in touch with his softer side. Well, that's my interpretation of the gentle iris note which is at the heart of this scent. It's not dry and austere (as in, for example, Iris Bleu Gris by MPG or Prada's Infusion d'Homme) but rather rounded and approachable. A fresh, slightly salty, mineral quality helps to make this fragrance quite apt for warmer weather. Longevity and sillage are average (6 hours from 6 sprays). My favourite scent from the Divine house.

Tested from a sample vial.... For the first 2 or 3 hours this is a nearly perfect office fragrance, calm and confident, smooth silver grey like the bottle, quiet and comfortable. Very easy to wear. But after about 3 hours, grrr......something cheap and sweet comes out and tips the whole thing over, I'm actually blaming the musk more than the vanilla but who knows, could be both. It ends up smelling kind of cheap, disappointing. The scent never quite recovers from this even though I can detect the earlier good parts trying to come back out. Sad. For the first couple hours I was thinking this was like Dior Homme's quieter brother, but then it turns into cotton candy. Neutral rating, nearly a thumbs up, probably worth trying again because maybe today was a fluke? I don't remember that happening the other times I tried it.

What a joyous opening the juniper gives an impression of crushed needles of conifers, one could be lost in a forest. This is obviously not an effect that is easy to achieve otherwise it would be much more widely prevalent, and it must certainly not be confused with what usually passes for pine and the like in scents. This is surging, vital, rich. (There is also a faint trace of cat piss, but it doesnt bother me in this instance.) The iris here is surprising too, rising gently from within, lending depth, dryness and a certain softness without any suggestion of powder. The picture shifts subtly all the while until the woods and vetiver that are the backbone of this perfume come into view. A refreshing, life-enhancing creation. It isnt strong, so perhaps best for days when one hankers for a lighter perfume. Longevity around 4 hours for me, after which the barest trace lingers.

L'Homme de Coeur appeared a couple of years prior to Dior Homme, the more worn men's iris of late to which L'Homme is sometimes compared. While the two smell similar, L'Homme clings to the skin and doesn't possess the expansive, eiderdown-soft radiance of Dior Homme, while also being more herbaceous and fresh than the Dior, using a lavender note of Azzaro-like stridency which tilts the composition away from the sweetly floral in a way that Dior Homme's little sage plea simply cannot. Throw in some angelica and civet, as Yann Vasnier slickly does with L'Homme, and you have a gift of a first hour. But the drydown disappoints. As so often, the latent vanilla swells to unacceptable proportions and blots out the cocktail and tux refinement. Worse yet, the sweet/bitter tussle that ensues smells like a cheap mess. The extreme drydown by which I mean what's left after a day's wear and a shower sees the lavender return to favour and this somewhat redeems the scent.

L'Homme de Coeur by Divine - Upon application, one is treated to an appealing freshness supplied by cypress, with its slightly lemony, furniture polish element commingling with juniper berries, with their pine-like and marginally terpenic aspects as well as angelica, with its sour, vetiver-like facets. A shy, budding iris with its green, ever so slightly powdery presence remains in the background, and leads this refreshing opening to its heart. Here, in the cooling middle, the regal iris takes center stage, revealing its earthy, rooty and somewhat carroty freshness. Reveling in its splendor, the iris reluctantly transitions into its captivating base. Deer's tongue, with its vanillic and mowed hay aura interplays with a smoky and marginally bracing vetiver. A soft and mellifluous ambergris swirls about. An alluring drydown ensues. This refined, masculine composition is a skin scent with average longevity, 6-8 hours, and is wonderful in spring and summer especially.

If you're looking for something stunning or obstentately opulent you should better avoid L'Homme De Coeur. Instead, if discreet elegance and refinement is what you're after I guess you could really be positively surprised by this composition. A serious contendant, or at least an alternative, to the most popular Dior Homme (to me there is no match between the two as I largely prefer this one over the Dior but that's another point). Iris, woody notes and juniper are the main ingredients of this concotion and are actually enough to create a perfectly balanced blend that easily stands at the top of this kind of fragrances together with the most popular names. The overall effect is the same of listening to a singer with one of those faint voices but with an unmistakeable vpoiceprint. A sort of mascuilne version of Peggy Lee. L'Homme De Coeur is a good example of a contemporary masterpiece aimed at everyday's wearing and still maintaining an incredible dose of uniqueness. Subtile perfection.

A bergamot and cypress opening that drifts into a big fresh iris and has a lovely musk/vetiver finish. Tres bon.

Its so simple. If you like iris note in masculine scents you will love Lhomme de Coeur. Otherwise dont even bother to try it. Clean, sweet, ethereal, powdery iris along with juniper and musk create a noble, non offensive scent that stays really close to the skin. You will never get the feeling that your scent is wearing you with this one. I only wish it had a little more longevity, but I am willing to compromise as this is a general Iris defect. Really nice bottle and clever refill system.

I quite like this, it starts out smelling of 'wet' sweet flowers (maybe rose). Over time it becomes powdery and fresh with a peppery note that appears in regular bursts.

In the opening I thought it was very similar to Ungaro III, so I tested the two alongside one and other. They are a little similar early on but diverge soon enough, though both have the wet floral note with a touch of pepper. For the most part I see a closer resemblance to Erolfa. Testing the two together I feel that the pair is indeed pretty close. The Divine has a little saltiness but far from as much as the Creed. The Creed is certainly fresher and has none of the Divines powderiness.

L'Homme de Coeur holds up quite well during the day and doesnt eventually become musty (which I half expected) remaining pretty fresh until the end.

It may just be the weird effect of the comingling of juniper, angelica and iris, but the end result to me is old-fashioned powderiness in a cheaply synthetic-smelling "modern" context. The typical "violet leaf" note doesn't help either. A sinus-irritating bother of a fragrance. I find dior homme or TDC's Bois d'Iris far preferable.