Caron Pour Un Homme (1934)
by Caron

I know a lot of people like this, but I do not. It smells like some kind of breakfast pastry and does not last long. Thank goodness I bought a mini.

Ah! I love this stuff. Starts off with bracing lavender and a bit of some sort of charred wood that I'm too green to identify. Maybe cedar. The lavender slowly loses it's edge, and some herbs push the charred wood to the back. It stays as lavender with herbs for perhaps 30 minutes (but sometimes it seems to get stuck here on me for hours, much to my annoyance).

I get varied results at this point depending on the day. On the days that it gets stuck in lavender mode like I mentioned a second ago, I don't get much vanilla out of it, and it stays as a warm, round lavender for ages. On the days that the lavender lets up a bit, vanilla with a bit of cinnamon come forward and make themselves known.

On it's good days, it is my favorite fragrance. When the lavender refuses to give way, it becomes a little tiresome and boring. Time to toss the dice!

What HDS1963 said. CPH is a depressingly two-dimensional frag -- it's all about lavender and vanilla. Unlike every other lavender frag I've tried, though, this isn't a blended lavender -- it's a "jus de lavande" concentrate that comes out of the bottle with a roar, completely and unapologetically unadulterated. The lavender smells startlingly natural - if you've ever broken lavender buds fresh off the bush, this is exactly what it smells like. Sadly, this natural purity is also its downfall -- it doesn't feel like a polished EDT, like Jicky, but some kind of simplistic brew that your great-great-grandma would store in a little clear unlabelled bottle with a stopper in her Victorian boudoir. The nauseatingly heavy vanilla soon takes over, leaving you with a crude, somewhat confused juice that can't decide if it wants to be a bracing, heavy floral or a baking additive. Wear this if you're a little old lady living in a time capsule in the Provence, or spray on your clothes (again, only if you're female) -- but hard to see any man in the 21st century really wearing this. Bizarre that this is still in production, but can't argue with the facts.

The lavender is lovely, but the vanilla on the base made me sick. I prefer L'Occitan by L'Occitane. It is a much better lavender fragrance. This combination of lavender and vanilla doesn't work for me.

That's some gorgeous lavender! I Caron Pour Un Homme for just the top note alone! But lest anyone ever get the impression that (as is stated in the H&R Directory) that this is a simple lavender fragrance, there is a short journey through a rose and wood heart which leads right down into a mossy vanilla base that lasts on my skin for hours. It's not listed in the pyramid but I distinctly smell a civet note as well which gives the clean lavender note just the right dose of grit to make this one a real winner! Damn convention. I wear this anywhere and at anytime. It is just that gorgeous,

Jicky without the civet.

Well, not really, but the two classics approach their dominant lavender accords from similar directions. In my experience lavender fragrances fall into two broad groups. Mix lavender with aromatic herbs, sharp citrus, and green notes, and you’ll get a brisk, astringent accord. Serge Lutens’s Gris Clair is a good example. Blend lavender with sweet citrus, vanilla, amber, and/or animalic musks, and the resulting accord will be warm and comforting. Both Jicky and Caron Pour un Homme take the latter approach, and both do it exceptionally well. But whereas Jicky underpins its citrus, lavender, and vanilla with a provocative civet base, Caron Pour un Homme’s lavender rests on a base of sweet, powdery amber and creamy woods.

While it’s reasonably potent, Caron Pour un Homme wears fairly close to the body. As lavender is a volatile note, the scent changes gears after two hours or so, when it begins to dry down to its luxuriously cushioned vanilla and wood base. The overall effect is comfortable, yet sophisticated, and very, very easy to live with. If you’re looking for a soft, fuzzy take on lavender but don’t relish Jicky’s animal overtones, Caron Pour un Homme is a must-try fragrance.