Lacoste Pour Femme

I think I've finally experienced being anosmic to a scent. I've read tons of reviews where people say they can't smell a thing, and I've never understood it until now. I can smell it right in the beginning. It opens up with a lot of alcohol and for the first minute that's all I can smell. Then I smell soapy suede. Maybe with a hint of pepper. The scent is very pleasant to my nose, clean and soft but not generic. This one would be pretty easy to identify I think. It does give me a nostalgia flashback, but I can't put my finger on why. But then, poof, gone. Or so I thought. I sprayed quite heavily on myself and about 10 minutes later I didn't smell a thing. I thought to myself oh well it wasn't expensive at least and then forgot about it. Hours later my mom was saying goodnight and gave me a hug, and while she was doing that she said "oh wow you smell so nice!". I was very surprised because a) my mom has smoked for 30 years and her sense of smell is limited and she usually hates perfumes, if she can smell them at all and b) I couldn't smell a thing on myself and it had literally been 6 hours since I sprayed it on. She then went on to sniff me some more and said it was beautiful. That's not what my mom does at all, ever. So this one is tricky for me. I can't smell a thing but my perfume hating, usually anosmic mom both loved it and smelled it! I'm going to keep it for a while before I give it away, just to see if something changes because I really like the scent for those 3 minutes I can detect it. I would recommend it for the scent alone but still I'd say try it out before because you might have a nose like me 😅 Edit May 2020 To my pleasant surprise I was able to "train my nose" better. After a couple of wearings I started to actually smell it on me for longer than a couple of minutes. And it's not like a "oh I smell a perfume" thing, I more smell this incredible fresh aura around me when I wear it. Every now and again I catch a whiff of something so airy and pleasant. It's like I'm putting on a dose of fresh air. Which I think is amazing. I love it. Will be keeping it to myself!

It's beautiful. Clean but not in a soapy way. Spicy but not in a clove type of way. SLIGHTLY powdery but not in a baby powder type of way. An absolute crowd pleaser but not in a "generic" way. A compliment magnet without being "loud." And beautifully gentle without being undetectable. This is truly a unique perfume, I have never smelled anything that smells like it. It's gorgeous and it does not scream for attention like other perfumes. It's the woman at the party that doesn't have to walk down the stairs in a lavish, huge, poofy dress with dark red lip stick to be noticed. This perfume is like the woman at a party that can be standing in the corner with little to no make up on and be so undeniably beautiful that she will inevitably be noticed anyway with no effort in doing so. I recommend this one for fall and winter but can most definitely be worn in the beginning of spring too. Only months of the year I wouldn't reach for this one is the months of the summer with scorching heat. The suede, pepper, and sandalwood in this come together to be SO damn beautiful, warm, cozy, and clean. It really is just so well done. Longevity - About 6 hours on skin. About 24 hours on clothing. Projection - Starts off with about 3 feet projection. But remains projecting 1-2 feet for it's whole life. It's got such a nice radiating quality to it. It's never too strong and never too weak. Overall Score - I think I'd give this one a 9/10 easily. It's gorgeous. Very age versatile as well. I'm in my 20s and I wear this. And I can picture anyone in their 50s wearing this. Big thumbs up to Lacoste for this one. I hope it NEVER gets discontinued.

You know that friend of yours—the woman whose house is always clean, and yet always totally welcoming? Organized and peaceful, with sunshine streaming in over a pot of jasmine tea and a pile of folded laundry freshly pulled from the line outside. The one whose children are clean and well mannered, but not in a scrubbed-and-restrained kind of way. The woman who will always stop what she’s doing to listen to a problem; who has a pile of greeting cards ready for every occasion, and always has the right words to personalize them. The friend who looks good with no makeup and blue jeans, yet always makes you feel secure and appreciated. The woman who exudes calm and maturity, with subdued but infectious joy. This is her perfume. It started out with a strange peppery-sour fruit blast, then quickly mellowed into something almost indescribable. I love the mention of “smelling like a baby’s head” in other reviews—it does, in a way. It’s a clean but still “real”, still earthy kind of smell. The floral notes are not hot-house loud-mouths, but combine to smell like a soft breeze coming in from someone’s wonderful garden—the roses along the back gate, the jasmine growing up the wall, the violets sprinkling the lawn. I am having a hard time truly picking out the individual notes (aside from using my imagination), but love the composition as a whole. I can barely smell it on my skin, but keep getting wafts of it as I move. It seems to have become a part of me. I just wish I were more like the woman I imagine wears this perfume  And I wish I had more than just a tiny sample bottle!

This scent is playing peek-a-boo with me. The fragrance itself is beautiful, exactly as I'd imagined it and as I'd hoped for. This was a blind buy, based on reviews here, intended to fill the vacancy in my collection that has been present since my bottle of pre-reformulaton Noa turned. Lacoste pour Femme is very reminiscent of Noa indeed, in vibe and in the scent itself. It also has some of that magic sparkle that Noa had before it was recently dumbed down. Olivier Cresp's touch is very much present here as in Noa. Problem is that the reviews were also right in terms of this scent's elusiveness. I can't say I wasn't warned but I'm still frustrated. If only it had a quarter of Noa's nuclear (on me at least) presence and longevity. Ok, I don't really need the longevity, I can always reapply, I just want to be able to smell this gem consistently and distinctly until it fades. Maybe I will use this scent to layer with others. I could see it going well with other low-key scents like Omnia Amethyst or Prada Iris or maybe I could use it to restore some sparkle to the new Noa . Edit - over a year later now and I have come to really love this scent. It's still very low-key but I am able to smell it consistently now. I really find that sometimes my nose has a learning curve when it comes to new scents.

This review is of the original formula circa 2003. I purchased this when it first came out. I was 34 yrs old. I gave birth to my youngest and treated myself with a new bottle. At that time I thought this was the best fragrance EVER. And it still is. It is so funny how 20+ years have passed and somehow the bottle still smells amazing. Proof that some perfumes were just so well made. It also intrigues me how it has a slightly dated smell VS today's perfumes. But not in a bad way. I see many mention "mature" smelling. I think that label is generally placed on a perfume that is no longer in the sweet trend of today's fragrances. In a nutshell, Pour Femme is freaking amazing. It pretty much lives up to all the notes that Fragrantica describes. But it leaves such a wonderful and mysterious trail that seems to stick around most of the day. It is feminine, soft, light in nature but persistent. All in a good way. Don't let the dated comments fool or scare you off. But if you decide to give it a go, grab the vintage stuff in the pale yellow dotted box. I have been sitting on this for years but I am not getting any younger so I will start using it again since the reformulated stuff is garbage.