lalique: 8 posts

The combination of violet and oud is like a romance between Doris Day and Cary Grant—one is wholesome and innocent, the other is dark and smoldering. Yet, just as Day and Grant set the screen on fire in the comedy, “That Touch of Mink,” violet and oud can be an irresistible pairing as I discovered through Lalique Hommage à l’homme.

Hommage à l’homme is the newest Lalique perfume created by perfumers Christine Nagel and Mathilde Bijaoui. It’s a masculine fragrance, and while it’s much too virile for me personally, I would gladly smell it on men around me. You will not find typical masculine cologne elements wrapped into the elegant shape of Hommage à l’homme. It’s the fragrance equivalent of a leading man in a classic Hollywood film—dashing, suave, and sophisticated. Hommage à l’homme smells like something worn by Cary Grant, whether he dashes around the French Riviera with Grace Kelly or tries to woo Doris Day with mink coats and champagne.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Perles de Lalique is packaged in a stunning bottle. When François Coty made his famous statement, “Give a woman the best product you can make, present it in a perfect flacon with beautiful simplicity and impeccable taste, ask her to pay a reasonable price, and that will be the birth of a business such as the world has never seen,” Lalique flacon is what he meant. Although the fragrance division is not the main focus of the Lalique business, both beautiful bottles and interesting fragrances have appeared in the line, from Lalique pour Homme (Lion) by Maurice Roucel to Lalique Le Parfum by Dominique Ropion.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

Between Guerlain Shalimar (1925) and Lalique Le Parfum (2005) there lies a period of eight decades, yet their oriental roots link the two fragrances. Indeed, it is fascinating to ponder how certain accords manage to endow the composition with a unique feel and an aura that is difficult to forget. Vanillin, coumarin and patchouli comprise the core of Shalimar, which spills into a cascade of warm and animalic notes after the initial diamond-like sparkle of hesperidic notes. The magnificent tour de force of the composition inspired its own family, including oriental fragrances as diverse as L’Artisan Parfumeur Safran Troublant (as well as Piment Brûlant and Poivre Piquant), Guerlain Habit Rouge, Serge Lutens Un Bois Vanille, Cartier Must de Cartier and Christian Dior Addict, among innumerable others.

Lalique Le Parfum is the first oriental fragrance in the Lalique range, and while it relies on the classical vanilla, patchouli and coumarin accord, it is unmistakably a modern oriental fragrance….

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