L'Occitane 4 Winds-- 1st Impressions

Well that's good news - the part about this being the same as the old one, not the part about the price increase.

Watch out...when scentemental reads this thread he's gonna be pissed!

You certain it is exactly the same? I was told by L'Occitane main office that the new neroli is a different formulation.

Had this typed up before I logged on- usual caveats- my nose, my impressions and a rushed trip to boot.

If it is a tradition of L’Occitane to confuse us with their naming conventions (How many L’orangers, nerolis , ambres, roses and teas can you track?), they remain in fine form. The new line, called in prerelease publicity “Notre Flore”, is now being marketed as “4 Vents” (Yup, 4 is in French), but the bottles are still marked “Notre Flore”. It might behoove a company that bases most of their marketing on their “true stories” to get their stories straight. Not that any of this would have been noted by anyone less than obsessed (ahem) with perfume releases. The bottles are indeed attractive and the store displays with the various pastel juices underlit are rather striking (I know it’s not good for perfume, the sales stock is in opaque boxes.) The website helpfully lists a complete pyramid for each and is much to be applauded in crediting the individual perfumers as well. ( I know the noses were listed there yesterday and can’t find them today.)

For me a rushed blitz through a busy mall is probably the worst way to test scents and had all four been available in the mini size, I would have just got them all to take home to test. (Only Myrtle and Iris are in store and on the website; rumour has it that Cedar and Neroli will follow.)

The Iris is cool and airy, like many iris scents, it seems to me to be more a texture than a scent, more apparent in how it affects the air around it than of itself. My brief impression was far more like Hiris than Iris Nobile and not at all like Iris Ganache.

They seem to be aiming the whole line to women, but the Cedar is easily unisex. The cedar note seems to be considerably brightened by the grapefruit, reading more like Douglas fir, almost a minty effect.

I expect that I expected too much from the Myrtle. I used to buy bunches of myrtle greens to use as floral filler and the scent was striking and surprising. It’s a beautiful aromatic green note, not very often used in perfumery. Whatever it is I remember was not much in evidence here. And with myrtles traditional association with Aphrodite and the Mediterranean a sea note didn’t sound like a bad idea. I’ve somehow managed to miss most of the marine scents that most of this board is so heartily tired of. Now I think I know why. A touch of salt and iodine was what I was looking for, but I’m pretty sure that what I got was a lot of Calone.

I found the Neroli to be the best of the lot, but it is not at all the same as the Neroli discontinued earlier this year. It has been significantly lightened and sweetened. It is still centered on a similar and beautiful orange flower and Neroli, but the sum effect is pretty, pink and girly. I didn’t find it too sweet or hopelessly young and it projects and lasts well, but it doesn’t have the darkness and depth of the original.

Thanks, I didn't want the old one and wasn't sure what was going on there. I can't smell them in person and they are terrible with samples online. I need an orange blossom fragrance and have sampled many, just haven't found the one that's "me" yet.

The Iris sounds good, too. I've been wearing my Cote Bastide Iris sample out these past few weeks and have been very attracted to those flowers in this weather. I like Cote Bastide's because it's not powdery, but I don't mind a little when it's cooler out.

I was thinking about getting the Cherry Blossom EDT, I have the bath powder with puff and room spray coming now and was going to decide whether to get a bottle after I lived with the scent for a bit. The body and hand creams are nice. I have a problem with that line, I always want more than I should be buying and I'm just hoping they don't sell out of the new Lavender room spray before I get around to it. I miss the original AOC Lavender fragrance, I never see it, anymore.

The Myrtle was really sparking my interest, I couldn't imagine what it smelled like and appreciate the review.

I don't mean to be an enabler, but if you're bonkers for the original Neroli, they still have it on the L'Occitaine UK website. I have no idea if they ship overseas from the UK is the only snag.

I hate the idea of them messing with my heavenly Neroli, I have to say. I'm seriously considering shelling out £38 +p&p for a backup bottle. But I think I have to be sensible and resist the temptation.

If anything, they are underpriced for the quality of products they have. Makes me wonder why Miller Harris, L'Artisan and other niches charge an arm and a leg for their "more" natural fragrances.

I smelled the Cedar last night - I didn't really like it. It reminded me too much of Un Jardin de Mediteranee by Hermes, without the fruity/fig kick that I like and a boring tobacco drydown.

I really wanted to try the Neroli, but I was already covered in their new (and horrible) honey and lemon body products, I had nose fatigue.

One more thing entirely off topic: They are discontinuing the Honey Water fragrance and soaps (the ones that are in the shape of honeybees). This is really ridiculous because their honey fragrances were one of their best products, so nice and subtle. Sad.

That's too bad about the Honey Water, I know a lot of people liked it and it was also a nice one for young people. I got the Cherry Blossom Room Spray and powder.... it doesn't smell anything like cherry blossoms, which I was going after, and my husband asked me if I was killing ants in the kitchen, he had no clue what I had just sprayed. I sent it back and got Green Tea with Mint, which is a little better, so I think I'll just keep it and give it to an employee. Appreciate the reviews.

I like green notes. Hmmm....