Jean Nate

My review is for the After Bath Splash. I first read about it years ago—If I recall correctly, someone in a review somewhere had compared it to Clarins' Eau Dynamisante. (That used to be my go-to, until they sadly discontinued the 500ml bottle and it suddenly seemed far too expensive for what it was.) While I understand Jean Naté has a long history, I have no nostalgia associated with it whatsoever—I came to it blindly. I picked up a bottle a few years back, found sitting on a dusty bottom shelf in CVS while I was in the States, and lugged it all the way back to the UK with me. After years of collecting fragrance, I’ve developed a good sense of what I like—I love the act of liberally spraying, the cooling, therapeutic sensation on skin. Because of that, I enjoy cheapies, body mists, and splash-style fragrances. My favorite scents are light, airy, and spa-like, and Jean Naté absolutely hits the mark. It’s so fresh and pleasant on the skin (bonus points for the mysterious “moisture replenishing complex,” lol). The sillage is subtle and the longevity is moderate, which for this kind of fragrance, is ideal. Its performance is actually better and more balanced than many far more expensive body mists. When I first cracked open the bottle, I must admit it felt very dated, old-fashioned, and synthetic. It seemed way too powdery for my tastes. After a few days, I moved on and forgot about the bottle in the back of my cupboard. But a few months ago, I pulled it out and decided to give it another shot. I transferred it from the giant splash bottle into a smaller spray bottle—it's much nicer and more manageable this way. I can carry it around for top-ups and spritz it on clothing too. After a few weeks, my perception of the fragrance shifted (or maybe I went anosmic to the notes I disliked initially). I no longer found it powdery. Instead, the delightful, sparkling citrus came forward. It smells like a tart, not-too-sweet lemonade, with hints of spicy floral complexity. Surprisingly, I’ve even gotten a few compliments on it (from both men and women!) Even my notoriously discerning friends agreed it was lovely. As a designer, presentation and bottle design matter a lot to me. An ugly bottle can really kill the experience and the association I have with a fragrance. Luckily, I adore the entire Jean Naté presentation. The bottle—so fun! So retro! The hilariously oversized black ball cap makes me smile every time I unscrew it! The “Jean Naté” script, the pale yellow color, the frosted clear bottle—I love it all. And finally, I can say with certainty that this is the absolute cheapest fragrance product I own. I got the 887ml bottle for $16! (Prices seem to vary a bit these days, but it still looks to be consistently available for under $20.) I only wish the full line (the lotion and body wash) were still around!

been a few months since this thread had any action....but just had to add my experience to it. I am almost 50, and starting to get not only hot flashes, but all my old beloved scents are turning on me! I have picked up a favorite on my shelf to spray myself before getting dressed only to run gagging into the shower with a parade of clothing on the floor behind me more often than not the last 6 months! Today I had another unfortunate experience with my most beloved Jean Claude Gauthier Classique. I could just cry! I gave myself one spray and put on a fresh chenille robe since it was supposed to storm all day and I was going to curl up on the couch with my new Vogue Spring edition 600+ pages. Even the cat would not sit in my lap. It got so bad the robe and anything underneath got thrown in the hamper and I ran in the bathroom and soaped up with Dove Go Fresh Burst. It STILL did not help! So I grabbed some Vick's Vapor Rub and slathered my chest, breathing in the menthol fumes and trying to stop gagging. I washed it off with said Dove again. It was better but there was still a lingering sweetness. By this time I am in a full-blown hot flash. So in desperation for comfort, coolness and some kind of crisp fragrance retreat I sprayed on my chilled Jean Nate Body Splash I keep refrigerated in a spray bottle. Pulled on my leopard print mu-mu. And finally got to sit down on the couch and look at my new Vogue. Jean Nate saved the day!

I am with Sassy1 !! I am so far from being a snob, that I can say I love this, and have for decades. I have heard it being referred to as 'ghetto' to my disgust - not out of the fragrances` respect, but out of respect for people in general- but that`s another topic for another place. My mother had the spray, splash and dusting powder when I was a child, and around 13 years of age I discovered how refreshing and cooling it could be. I love the verbena and lemony scent. I buy a huge splash bottle about every other year or so from either from Walgreens, Ebay or Amazon. 30 ounces. I wear in every season. I have splashed and smoothed on, I have poured some into a spray bottle and used it that way. I have combined remnants of 4711 and CK1 into the bottle. I have layered Jean Nate with musks. I started doing that the summer I was 15 years old, and brings back awesome memories and feelings :) Also good to layer with shea and cocoa butter creams, monoi oils and sesame oils. The combos are great, the fresh with some warmth. The best is just wearing alone, on a very warm to hot day, in a light breezy sundress. Even on this cold winter day, I might splash some on. My mother still has an unopened tin of Jean nate Dusting powder I gifted her with in the 80`s... I may have to steal it away from her ;)

As much as I enjoy wearing the Jean Nate after-bath splash in hot weather I found I reached for it several times this past winter after a shower just to bring about a bit of summer's sunny warmth. It's so darn cozy and I swear I imagine my skin looking a bit tanned when I wear it, as if the summer sun is beaming down on me. Sweet, citrusy and buttery (and with no hint of "old lady"), the formula has not changed over the years. The spray cologne is longer lasting but hard to find - I found mine at Big Lots. The bath splash is readily available in drug stores and is well worth having. I think I went through nearly a quart of the splash last year alone. Good old dependable JN will always have a place in my fragrance wardrobe. Oh, and if you love(d) this "essence of summer" in a bottle, you might enjoy Tuscan Soul, a similarly low priced refreshing beauty with a tad more citrus but without Jean Nate's "buttery" note. I have and love both but understand how Jean Nate could be a bit too sweet for some.

WHY IS THIS SO GOOD ??!! My mémé passed away leaving me 2 massive tankers of Jean Naté over 4 years ago... this stuff is insane... I'm a child of the aughties and this is nothing like the body spray I grew up with... SO complex for the price point and addictively unsweet... Filled up a huge spray bottle for my boyfriend and barely made a dent in the tank, now he's hooked too... Warm lemon, powdery, zesty, floral, herbaceous, woody heaven! I spray it after the shower, in the car, keep a mini in my purse... the scent is very ephemeral and short lived but I can afford to stay armed to the teeth with it. Layers beautifully with pretty much every other scent I have, like a slice of fresh lemon in a cold beverage... Love it with Liz Arden Green Tea, Chanel no5, Arpège, Nemat Amber... Perfect body spray, soft, fresh, light, layerable, and expensive smelling. There are Many EDPs at 10x the price with less range...... love her..... <3

I think I need a perfume intervention.... I've been going crazy about perfume and scents lately and I think this tops it off! I had smelled lemon in the air and wanted a perfume/cologne to wear when the weather heats up. I had forgotten about Jean Nate until I did a search on here for lemon scents. It totally brought back the 70's and early 80's for me. I went to Walgreens and bought the huge bottle of the body splash and smelled it in the car before going home and poof! I was back in time! The tops notes are as I remember, but I don't remember it being so spicy and smelling like carnations toward the drydown on my skin. But, I don't mind that at all. I have some perfumes that will go well with it. I know many are disappointed with the change in the formulation. Scents and memories are very powerful. And there is the nostalgia factor too. I'm not a big fan of change either but change is inevitable. Embrace it :)

I’m the very tail-end of gen-x, so I was just a little girl during the 80’s, and a pre-teen/teen of the 90’s. Jean Nate brings me right back to my childhood, and back to my mother in her gorgeous prime of womanhood and motherhood. My mother would decant some of her huge bottle into a smaller spray bottle, and keep it in the refrigerator in the summer. This is my scent memory of dog-days of summer, running inside from playing after supper, and my mother fresh from her shower and doused in Jean Nate, relaxing in the couch in her nightgown, doing a crossword puzzle. To this day, I keep a small spray bottle of Jean Nate in my refrigerator, and in the summer, a small sprayer in my purse. This is summertime, in the 80’s, before the mess of smartphones, and social media, and constant distractions. A more simple time - a scent of feminine women being mothers. I hope I am passing down the scent memory to my children too.

Jean Nate is a great refresher when you need one. I can't imagine how anyone could be offended by it's fragrance. It starts of as a kind of floral citrus and ends smelling like a clean powdery skin scent. I keep a little spray bottle in the fridge filled with Jean Nate for warmer weather. It's my after walking/before breakfast and showering fresher. My husband always likes the scent too. Great for bedtime powdery feel. Very soothing and soft. Edit: I've been finishing up a big 30 ounce bottle that I've had a long time, probably years. I just recently bought a new replacement and when I used some it was very reminiscent of Obsession. It smells wonderful, just slightly different than the last older formula I have. Definitely worthy of wearing as a SOTD. I also bought a gift set with the lotion, and I've never experienced the lotion before. It is very moisturizing and smells really pretty.

I can't live without this. It's fresh and happy for any time of the year, day or night. My first experience with it was as a teenager in the seventies. I loved to spray it all over myself especially on a hot summer's day. I rediscovered it when I crossed the border into NY state a few years back. Couldn't believe it was still in production, notwithstanding it was now under the Revlon name. It starts off with a gentle citrus that just seems to dissolve into geranium, rose and sandalwood eventually. And that's when it moves from fresh and uplifting, to warm and cozy. It's one of the few I wear, that causes my husband to utter "mmm," as he cuddles up. Someone earlier hit the nail on the head by comparing it to 4711. It really should be a staple for every household and all ages!

I had this one quiet a bit in my teens -late 70s early 80s and I loved it. I mostly had the splash and loved to use it after a bath or shower. I remember it to be mostly lemon , some lavendar and a spicy background. A great summer scent. I sometimes layered this with loves lemmon for extra a lemony feel. The loves was hard to get for me so this was mostly a replacement, but I did love them together. I didn't like the cologne concentrate as much, it was stronger with notes other than lemon. After a family member had made some cutting remarks about it I just stopped using it. She liked love's baby soft - so I don't know why I put so much weight into what she had to say since I wore this mostly as a replacement for loves lemon which I wore because it was nothing like Baby soft.

I went to CVS Pharmacy the other day and happened to see two big 30 oz bottles of the Jean Nate lotion and splash for $10 each. After reading reviews on this site, and reading another lady's website where she said she really beat the heat from this, I thought I'd give it a try and I must say that it's purely pleasurable to smooth this lotion on my skin after a shower and add the splash...you've got heaven. I really like the lotion, it keeps your skin very smooth and soft. The scent is wonderful, very citrus/lemony. I think sometimes I smell like a lemon sandwich cookie LOL My boyfriend also likes it, he snuggles really close and just nuzzles my neck for wiffs of this...not just for old ladies, I dare say :)

Jean Nate's top citrus notes take me back in time to hot humid summer days as a camp counselor. This was a fresh splash of clean coolness on the lower back, collar bone, and inner arms. It is inexpensive and not overpowering, yet has a variety of top, mid and base natural smelling notes, settling down to a calm powdery citrus with just a touch of warm spice, barely noticeable to others. I recently ordered 30 ounces of Jean Nate splash for spring, summer and fall days and evenings. Its acidic ph is quite helpful to prevent natural skin odor producing bacteria after thorough regular cleansing and exfoliation. I wish they developed a gentle AHA body wash and bath salts in this fragrance as well.

This is a happy memory for me, so next time I need to go to the drugstore for something I'm looking for the Jean Nate splash bottle. I think I was about twelve when I first encountered the ads, in Seventeen magazine, and also my best friend's older and sophisticated sister (a high school senior!) had some. Wow, and she was also very adept with eye liner. So when I got my own bottle a few years later, I felt pretty darned terrific! I knew it wasn't expensive or fancy stuff, but it smelled great and was refreshing and it just made you feel good. I can imagine the smell right now. It has been a few decades since I've had a bottle in the house. Need to remedy that soon.

I picked up a small bottle of this, from the "Charles of the Ritz" era, off eBay the other day, and I had forgotten what a great scent this is. It's a lemon fragrance with a lot of depth; I don't get a whole lot of lavender out of it, which is fine with me. And it's not "lemon Pledge" either. It lasts a good long time. It is one of the few fragrances I own that I would spray "heavily" - and although I love many strong scents (not to say "brassy," although some of them are), I am generally a timid spritzer. A happy reunion with an old friend; later versions are not quite the same, because to me the lavender seems more pronounced, but they are enjoyable too.

From the Revlon website: Top Notes: Lemon, Bergamot, Lavender Mid Notes: Rose, Jasmine, Muguet, Geranium, Spices Dry Down: Amber, Musk, Patchouly I have loved this my whole life. The concentrated cologne that looks like it smells like lemon drops but instead smells of lemon leaves and lemon blossoms, as well as the after bath splash that smells of lemon verbena and lavender. I'm an RN and get nothing but compliments when I wear this all summer long at work and at play. Only wished it wasn't so impossible to find where I live that I have to buy it on evilBay and pay shipping. I have Jean Nate' "perfume" from gosh knows when brand new in box too!

An experience I had, as I think it's vital. During this past summer, wore this going shopping... with more of a heavy hand than usual. The sales lady came up to me and said " I was wondering where that scent was coming from. It's you!! It smells wonderful. What is that?" I replied "Jean Nate.", and all she did was stare and said "You're kidding." I swore it was JN. Kinda forgot what she said after that, but it was very complimentary. I will never second think this little treasure again. It's a perfect summer/spring fragrance.....but just for fun, I'll see how it reacts in the cooler weather.

I have used this since the 60s, always the body splash. Stays with me better than any other formulation. My after bath routine is Jergen’s original body lotion which is cherry/almond and then immediately splash this on and the two just work together to make their own wonderful scent. I wish Revlon would realize how popular the dusting powder was, and bring it back. I emptied my last container about 4 years ago and cannot bring myself to throw it out. A true favorite. I do wear other scents - Nantucket Briar, Jovan Musk, Ombre Rose, but Jean Nate is an every day staple when at home.

Many years ago I picked up a small vintage bottle of the EdT and was charmed by its lovely, innocent citrus-floral tune. Recently I got to thinking about Jean Nate and wondering about a higher concentration, and was lucky enough to pick up a little bottle of the "Pure Fragrance Spray Extraordinaire" which looks like it's from the late 70s perhaps! It smells truly divine, a lot heavier on the base accord which imo contains amber and a bit of oakmoss and civet to my nose. This deserved classic is just as likable in this contralto-intoned version!

I love this shit, it's cheap enough to bathe in and I find it to have unbelievable longevity. I can smell it (softly) even after commuting & working 10+ hours. Seems to help other fragrances to stick better; fleeting ones like Tocade can now last all day, and Naté layers well with much of my collection. Soothing for bedtime and comforting in mornings when I'm having trouble greeting the day. I'll never be without it! P.S. the lotion is divine, if you can find it. Smells more like how I remember older Jean Naté before Revlon.

My mom used to use the aerosol deodorant in the 80's so this one always reminds me of her as a young woman and myself as a child. It's so pleasant. I think the reformulation smells different enough that I'm not engulfed in nostalgia when I wear this, but there's a hint of the past, and it still smells great. Thanks to the members of the vintage forum for encouraging me to pick this up. Woody powdery, musky and animalic with sharp dry citrus. Yes, it does smell like it's from another era but it's very wearable and soothing.