Lancaster Le Parfum Solaire

I was almost laughing out loud when I sprayed this on yesterday - this is THE smell of their sun products, finally! The smell of the Lancaster sun range is just gorgeous and I somewhat grew up with it thus loving it and have great memories/holidays attached to it. There's no coconut to be found in this - it is creamy, balsamic and at the same time airy. Quite hard to explain really but very luxurious to me. One of the rare warm fragrances you can indulge in during summer.

Literally the scent of sun lotion my gran would bring along on vacation in my childhood is exactly this scent. NOT defining this scent or making an OLD LADY or GRANDMA link to the scent. She didn't use sun lotion made specifically for old women (and no offence intended if that exists, not an insult) and she would have been only in her forties or thereabouts at that time. Not that her age or her being a gran is RELEVANT. Those who use terms like old lady and grandma in their perfume reviews should go find another interest/hobby. Anyway, I digress. Urgh... This is dreamy and takes me back to my childhood with fond memories of the sun lotion my gran would apply. Smells amazing. My grandmother's sig scent back then was Ysatis, so this started my love for ylang ylang early on in my youth, love - forever.

It is a bold move from Lancaster to launch an aldehydic herbal fragrance like this in 2016! The top notes of 'Le parfum solaire' remind me of those exquisit perfumes that were created at the end of the 60's, like 'Azuree' or 'Dioressence', completely different to all the fruity-florals or sugary sweet perfumes of nowadays. The drydown of 'Le parfum solaire' reveals it as a more contemporary creation with creamy vanilla and hints of musk. I wish that perfume houses would bring out more perfumes with reminiscent character of the 50's, 60's, 70's or 80's instead of doing the same fruity-floral or sugary sweet theme over and over again.

The opening is dry and herbal, after a few hours what stays is just musky vanilla that smells more like hand lotion than a sunset at the beach, which was what I was hoping for.

This doesn’t work on my skin. It’s horrible, but it does smell like it was made in the 70’s. Very retro.

Clever, grownup, not a crowd pleaser. An acquired taste. GORGEOUS.