Lacoste Essential

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After a month of unsuccessfully trying to find a magazine with fragrance inserts I was handed a booklet filled with gold. Lacoste fragrance samplers make me deliriously happy. Those free sample vials stores used to give out like candy? They are practically an extinct species now. These days we get cards with pads of perfume soaked cotton mushed between two layers of sealing. But I’ll take what I can get. Essential

In Bottle: Fresh. We’re talking men’s shower gel scented fresh. Not surprising as Essential is marketed toward men and this smells predominantly like the very inoffensive (and very successful) shower gels, soaps and shampoos that are billed as sporty and sold to men who don’t want to smell like a bucket of pink candy. I can dig it.

Applied: Essential starts off with a quick blast of aqua soaked herbal citrus. Clean and brisk, like splashing a huge handful of cold water in your face in the morning. After it wakes you up, it reminds you of what has to be done that day. Smooth bergamot blends in with the spicy, faintly floral sweetness of the heart while maintaining that wonderful initial fresh blast. The dry down is a green, faintly sandalwood, wet affair with freshness splashed all over it. Essential is not new or interesting or exciting. It’s a good standby, a great office fragrance, and as such it has high versatility.

Extra: Some of the funniest things I’ll read are perfume advertisements. The people who make the marketing campaigns for fragrances surely have to know how the product works? The little sample card that Essential came on claims that the fragrance has, “patented Time-Release Technology”. I didn’t know you could patent evaporation.

Design: Essential’s bottling reminds me a lot of Guerlain’s Vetiver. Probably because they’re both rectangular, simply designed, and the juice for both of them are green. No complains from me here, though I do find that gripping the bottle is difficult for someone with small hands like me.

Fragrance Family: Fresh

Notes: Tangerine, bergamot, tomato leaf, cassis, black pepper, rose, patchouli, sandalwood.

I prefer Vetiver as a men’s fragrance over Essential. Essential just smells normal, kind of generic. It’s good for office wear and if you’re looking for something easy to wear, this is it. But I could get the same effect from Platinum Egoiste too with a touch more class. Or I could just bank my money on Guerlain’s Vetiver.

Reviewed in This Post: Lacoste Essential, 2010, Eau de Toilette.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler vial reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.

Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue Pour Homme

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Light Blue Pour Homme falls into that weird category of “sports” fragrances that are described as fresh, clean and perfect for the active man. It’s no surprise then that Light Blue Pour Homme is as inoffensive as they can get. It also sort of smells like deodorant and at the same time smells like about ten other sports fragrances for men out there. Light Blue Pour Homme

In Bottle: Spicy, woodsy, citrus. Pretty standard as far as inoffensive aquas go. With an opener that contains lime, bergamot, rosemary and a hit of woods, I don’t see this turning any heads to someone or away from someone. Most people would probably just think you’re wearing a standard men’s deodorant.

Applied: Same deal here, hit of bergamot, lime, rosemary and some woodsy notes. It stays like that for a few minutes with the citrus ebbing out a bit as the rosemary gets stronger. The dry down is a bit woodsier but still with that sharp, fresh and clean bite to it. Light Blue Pour Homme is an all-purpose sporty fragrance with a lack of distinction. It doesn’t smell bad at all. It just smells–eh–ordinary. That isn’t necessarily a bad thing either. If you’re just looking for something that’s going to smell good, that you can wear during the summer months, that won’t offend anyone, Light Blue Pour Homme is the safest bet.

Extra: Dolce & Gabbana started in 1985 as an Italian luxury fashion house. One of their most popular fragrances, that this one was based off of, is Light Blue.  Another that you may be familiar with from Dolce & Gabbana is The One.

Design: The bottle for Light Blue Pour Homme is a step above the bottle for original Light Blue. Pour Homme has a more interesting shape, though the look of it reminds me more of a bottle for a face cleanser than a luxury fragrance. But still, the design is decent. The sprayer works fine, distributing a fine and even mist. The cap is easy to take off and put on. It has that really nice slide to it.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Fresh

Notes: Apple, bluebell, cedar, jasmine, rose, bamboo, amber, musk.

With the fact that I said this smells more like a deodorant than an interesting men’s fragrance, I will point out that Light Blue Pour Homme comes in deodorant stick form. Hey, talk about convenient.

Reviewed in This Post: Light Blue Pour Homme, 2009, Eau de Toilette.

Disclaimer: The fragrance sampler spray reviewed in this post was provided to me for free. I am not in any way receiving pay or compensation for this review. This review was written based upon my personal experience and opinions of the product.