Terre de Lumière Intense

I've been using French cosmetics for more than a decade and I love them. These companies do fit to my skin and I can buy a product for myself without previous testing. New brand or well known brand - they all work perfect on me! Now l'Occitane is an exclusion - I am simply not much impressed. Other than price tag, I cannot find anything unique in there. The same applies on their fragrances. None of them have ever impressed me. I know - reviews below indicates not to blind buy this. But that's precisely what I did! When I saw this online, I had a gut sense "Buy! Buy! It's yours!" while being quite sure that the brand is not mine at all! I noticed it has oud in there and - I was sold! That' s it! And I am truly happy that I did this choice, as I love it! It resembles me a bit herbal tea mixed with oud, with a generous spoon of honey and vanilla sugar. A freaky weird fragrance, I know, and for this reason - precisely for me! I agree also on comparison with Cacharel's LouLou at some point as it is as intoxicating as LouLou, but LouLou is more coquette, youthful and cheeky. Terre de Lumiére intense feels more mature. Last but not least, it is so français... It's interesting, that the sillage is not killing, however longevity does impress me well! As mentioned in previous reviews, it does not come off easily - after showering I could sense it quite well. Still - it is safe to wear in warm summer days. Moreover, during summer, the scent becomes softer, more powdery, round, vanilla like. During the cool weather it resembles sweet herbal tea.

The sweet honeyed lavender DNA from the original Terre de Lumière can be found in this Intense version, but this is not one of these flankers that can barely be distinguished from their pillars. I‘m usually not a huge oud fan, but I really enjoy it here among the gourmand notes and lavender. It‘s very noticeable, but the composition is so different from typical harsher oud scents that it‘s worth a try even if you usually dislike oud. The lavender a little less dominant than in the original TdL. This is darker, sweeter and more honeyed, more oriental and more of a winter fragrance. I also think it has more of an edge to it. In the drydown, it smells like freshly baked honey cookies, so delicious. Some honey fragrances smell gross on my skin, but not this. Some reviewers said this is unisex, and a man who likes sweets could certainly wear this, I think the vanilla in this is very sweet and has something „pink“ about it, so it leans feminine despite some traditionally masculine/unisex notes. I wonder if this is already discontinued because it became quite hard to find in my city. It would be a shame because this is a lovely, unusual gourmand. I do find it overpriced though. L‘Occitane used to be more of a cheapie house regarding fragrances, and now they sell this only in a 90 ml bottle for almost 100 €. I guess many customers would rather get a designer perfume for that kind of money.

This is now available in the US on the official website (not in stores). I blindly ordered, and received it today. I can smell traces of the original, but it's amped up with something that smells like chocolate. The oud they use in this is so smooth and delicious, and it turns the original fragrance into a chocolate covered gourmand. Absolutely delicious, and my favorite of all the Terre de Lumiere's. Like the other reviewer said, you can recognize the original but it's definitely different enough to own this one as well. Great buy, and I hope they don't discontinue it!!

This one is better than the original Terre de Lumière! It smells like something Tom Ford would release. The vanilla here is amazing and the oud complements it in a delicate but remarkable way. It is a very gourmand and sensual fragrance but at the same time very elegant and refined. It smells like pure luxus! And just wait until the lavender appears! It is gorgeous! Soft, Mon Guerlain style. One can not deny that this scent was carefully crafted. This was not made to simply sell fast! This gets a 10/10 from me! P.S: A gentleman can use it without embarrassment.

Oud for most of the time, some spices which don't mask the oud, then to vanilla in the drydown. I wish it lasted longer. I've had it for a few years now and it's become sharper and oud is more pronounced. It's oriental vanilla, as it's described, but the powdery vanilla, not sweet. Quite sexy and completely unisex.