Oscar De La Renta Pour Lui by Oscar de la Renta, 1981

*This is a review of the vintage Oscar pour Lui.

Oscar pour Lui (vintage) opens with a combination of bergamot citrus and subdued aldehydes, mixing with patchouli and cinnamon from its heart. At this point the fragrance leans on the sweet side of the spectrum with an almost honey-like underlying accord permeating its early development. As the fragrance enters its early heart the aldehydes and citrus die while the cinnamon and patchouli join carnation and cyclamen florals supported by oakmoss and soft leather from the base as the fragrance gradually turns less sweet. During the late dry-down the oakmoss remains though is just detectable, while slightly sweet sandalwood and clean musk send off the scent. Projection is very good and longevity is below average to average at about 5-6 hours on skin.

Oscar pour Lui (vintage) is a great example of all the best things fragrance-wise of the 80s. It projects quite well though never coming off as harsh or repellant, sharing more than glancing similarities at times (especially early) with the exceptional vintage Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme. I can see Oscar pour Lui (vintage) working all-year round in just about any situation imaginable with its smooth and at times sweet cinnamon spiced leather and patchouli driven overall heart accord over a mossy woody backbone. It smells great and offers superb value even at its current after-market prices for vintage bottles, earning an "excellent" and highly recommended rating of 4 stars out of 5.

First, a confession. Despite being a rather fey youth, I spent my not so misspent late teens and early twenties drenched in this. Nowhere close to the testosterone-charged knuckledragging kind of person this fragrance is supposed to appeal to. Looking back, I like to flatter myself by thinking that it was love of complexity that drew me to it, rather than the weightier consideration of the students limited spending budget. Today, a quarter century on, I still keep a bottle handy. Pour Lui opens with a full on atonal blat, the entire orchestra testing to see if their instruments are in tune, all at the same time. But it rapidly falls into place, with a shimmering herbal woodsy spiciness that keeps shifting, over a marvellously responsive oakmoss heavy sweet base. Usually sweet bases tend to be without much contour and can get boring; this one breathes and evolves with the permutations of the fragrance. This is tremendously strong stuff (in fact the current version seems to have lost some of the brighter notes Im sure were there when I first owned it) and best not sniffed up close. But apply a spray or two in cool weather and be surprised at its dark, rich and yet absolutely amiable luxuriance. This is one of the few perfumes with an anise note that doesnt give me a heavy head right away. For a bargain buy, it smells surprisingly natural unlike the chemical cocktails predominant in the mens market.