Pour Un Homme de Caron

L'Impact de Pour Un Homme

Caron 2005 Parfum

This is the Pour un Homme we know and love with the edge taken off - a suitable "night time" version.

The signature lavender in the opening has traded a tiny bit of its brightness for a smoother, sexier profile. A touch of bergamot mellows and tempers the lavender, which lasts quite a bit longer in the parfum than it does in the eau de toilette. In the drydown, the woodiness is more subdued than the original while a smooth, sexy amber sneaks up on you. The base is a warm ambered vanilla musk bomb with touches of wood and spice. The base is the biggest difference. The quality is superb here, both in craftsmanship and in materials, and the whole thing comes off a bit more like Jicky than the original - and that's a good thing.

Impact manages to present the fragrance from terrific new angles while still remaining ridiculously faithful to the original.

Pour un Homme is one of my very most cherished fragrances, and I'm absolutely in love with this version. I can say with confidence that this is an improvement on the original - something I've never said about any flanker of any kind before.

Perfect.

Even though I didn't think it was possible to beautify, tighten & perfect the classic from Caron, the brand did just that in 2005 - and came two years earlier than By Kilian and its high-quality copy At A Taste of Heaven.

Impact Pour un Homme is just as simple, straightforward & genius as its 70-year older ancestor - both are cut from the same cloth. But since I know the original inside and out, I did notice a few differences, almost always to the advantage of the new version. A very similar case to the two vetivers from Guerlain.

Impact is deeper, thicker, less vanilla, more lavender, grippier, sharper, has more fervor & power. Masculine lavender, tailored, tightly bound, trimmed, perfectly styled. Everything unnecessary has been removed, the scent has been trimmed. Just like its sillage, which is still strong but much more targeted - more sillage, less projection one could say. For male lavender fans, a meaningful extension & the more beautiful scent. Although it naturally lacks the innovation points of the classic. It's a shame that it's so rarely seen & smelled.

Bottle: perfectly updated with more metal & an even deeper green.
Sillage: lavender bomb, but pleasant.
Longevity: doesn't want to go away - and that's a good thing. 11-13 hours.

Conclusion: I would gladly exchange my 200 ml Pour Un Homme for the Impact extension. Drier, greener, more masculine, cooler, modern - a revelation for all lavender lovers.

Which fragrance connoisseur does not know "Pour un Homme." The original recipe dates back to 1934 and is still very popular today. However, I would like to introduce you to a variation, so to speak a Nouvelle Cuisine version of the original recipe called Impact.

Please ensure that only high-quality ingredients from organic farming are used for the preparation of Impact.

Ingredients
- Lavender: it should not be too fresh and should not smell sharp. Herbaceous lavender in full bloom is best suited.
- Vanilla: sufficiently ripe vanilla pods are essential; synthetic or Bourbon vanilla is not recommended.
- Amber
- Musk

Preparation
For the base, prepare a mixture of amber and musk, fill it into a bottle, and let it steep for a while. In the meantime, split the vanilla pods lengthwise and scrape out the vanilla seeds. Generously add the vanilla to the prepared amber-musk mixture and stir slowly for several minutes. Finally, add the lavender and smell the mixture. The scent is ready when the amber-musk mixture is largely covered by the herbaceous aroma of the lavender and the sweetness of the vanilla.

If Impact were a dish, the instructions might read something like this. I believe the parallels to Nouvelle Cuisine are undeniable.
It is thanks to it that many traditional French dishes have been adapted to the changing eating habits since the 1980s. The great French chefs wanted to meet the gourmet's desire to eat lighter by trimming down the excessive ingredient lists of the original recipes. However, a high quality of the ingredients used and the preservation of the original flavor were of utmost importance.

The same applies to Impact. While the original version "Pour Un Homme" still represents a milestone in perfume history and still has many, many followers (of which I am one), it cannot be denied that it carries something "old-fashioned." It is a superbly composed fragrance, but it does seem a bit dusty nowadays. Richard Fraysse has taken on this somewhat aged scent and tried to modernize it without revolutionizing it. To cut to the chase, he has succeeded brilliantly.

Although the list of fragrance notes in the original version is rather extensive, Pour un Homme is mostly perceived as a lavender-vanilla scent. All other fragrance notes serve only to prevent the scent from drifting into the sugary and give it a "dusty aura." In Impact, Richard Fraysse has reduced the number of fragrance notes and focused on those that define the character of Pour Un Homme, namely lavender and vanilla. Impact unmistakably greets you with herbaceous lavender, which is not sharp like, for example, in Oxford & Cambridge by Czech & Speake. Amber and vanilla soon join in. There is no real scent development; Impact remains unmistakably a lavender-vanilla scent. However, I have noticed on my skin that the scent constantly wavers between these two fragrance notes. Sometimes I perceive the lavender more strongly, sometimes the vanilla. And this wonderful interplay lasts for hours.

Admittedly, Impact is also not a modern scent; it is a reinterpretation of a traditional fragrance, from which the dust of the last 80 years has been removed. As a perfume, it has a longevity that is on Amouage level, meaning it lasts effortlessly for 12 hours.

Behind ‘L’Impact’ lies nothing less than the perfume version of Caron’s old classic ‘Pour un Homme de Caron’. This (a lavender scent ‘par excellence’!) was first released in 1934 as the first fragrance with the addition ‘pour Homme’. 70 years later, the House of Caron launched the perfume version of the scent, and once again made a small, yet significant revolution: ‘L’Impact’ is the first fragrance dedicated to men in perfume concentration. Not an ‘Eau de Parfum p.H.’, whose initial introduction was reserved for Guerlain with ‘Héritage’, no, it is truly a perfume (Caron calls it an 'Extrait de Parfum').

When I read that Caron was taking such a step, I doubted whether it was a good idea. The old scent is indeed a masterpiece of perfect balance with an exciting scent progression - especially in light of the new releases that are often praised today as great achievements, which generally dissipate in a very linear manner.
‘Pour un Homme de Caron’ told, and still tells, a story. The story of a well-groomed man who visits the barber in the morning, has his hair cut, and is carefully shaved with the foam of a Provençal lavender soap, who indulges in his tobacco during lunchtime, and who, in the evening after a day’s work, brings a wonderfully soft, herb-woody and sweet-vanilla-like aroma to a rendezvous. ‘Pour un Homme de Caron’ is a scent like few others, comparable to Chanel’s ‘Pour Monsieur’ or Guerlain’s ‘Habit Rouge’, that accompanies a man (and of course also a woman!) throughout the day, revealing new facets time and again, evolving.
So why a perfume variant?
A perfume tends to shorten this development, so to speak, executing it in fast motion. A higher concentration condenses the scent, while a lower one allows the individual components more room to bloom.
Sure, a perfume has the advantage of a more moderate and simultaneously more consistent projection. Eau de Toilettes (especially Eau de Colognes) fill the space like a thunderclap right after spraying, only to fade away quietly after a few hours. A perfume, however, is less offensive, remains for a long time in nearly the same tonal range, and is generally perceived as warmer and more sensual, as the base notes reveal themselves more quickly.
Taking all this into consideration, I thought to myself: Well, why not. The old classic is so good that the new version can’t be that bad.

One day, I then saw it at Brückner in Munich, and nearly fell off my chair when I realized what they were asking for it: a whole 80 euros for 50ml of perfume! I couldn’t believe my eyes, and was sure they had forgotten at least a 1 before the 80. But no, they didn’t want more. So the scent was quickly mine - untested, as there was no tester available anyway.
Standing at Marienplatz, I impatiently unwrapped it - it comes in a gray velvet pouch resting in a chic flip box - sprayed a bit on my wrist (yes, it’s a spray - no dabbing, as usual!), and was instantly in the seventh ‘Pour un Homme de Caron’ heaven.

That this concentrated and condensed version works so well, I did not expect. Although it is clearly the same scent, everything comes across warmer, creamier, and more sensual, and even the sharp-edged, herbal lavender notes are wonderfully woven into this soft yet strong texture - just like the velvet pouch in which the bottle is nestled.
Wow, very, very beautiful!
Enthralled, I strolled home, the wonderful aroma in my nose and the hustle and bustle around me completely forgotten.

If you are a fan of lavender scents, I highly recommend this thoroughly successful variant of the old Caron classic. It’s hard to find a large perfume at a better price (except for Lauder’s Azurée).
Unfortunately, it is now difficult to find, although Caron still officially lists it.
So, if you find it - grab it immediately!
It’s worth it.

My husband and I live in the countryside. In a small house with old beams, creaky floorboards, and drafty windows. Around our garden is a picket fence, and behind the house, the lavender grows tall and wide in the summer - as far as the eye can see.

Just before the start of autumn, when the apple pie is bubbling in the oven and the children are running through the house screaming, I sometimes stand and gaze dreamily out the kitchen window at my husband as he cuts the lavender. He wanders through our little field behind the drafty house, letting his fingers glide through the lavender blossoms, stopping occasionally, bending down, reverently inhaling their ethereal scent, and only then gently begins to cut the flowers. Most of the time, he snips off a small bouquet, which he hands to me in the evening with a quiet smile on his lips. Then he himself still smells purely of lavender. Freshly of the dry blossoms, the essential oil that has stuck to his fingers, of herby lavender branches and earth, work, and sun. He smells warm, fresh, and spicy.

I insist that he sits down at the dining table without showering and serve my little family the still warm cake along with hot bubbling vanilla sauce. The children laugh, my husband next to me smells wonderful, in the middle of the dining table right in front of me is the small lavender bouquet, and I am happy.

**

Impact is a pleasantly warm lavender pure, which immediately drops me right into a lavender field. I sit at my desk and suddenly everything here smells fresh, dry-herb spicy, and delicately ethereal, completely pure and authentic lavender. On the white wall that I look at when I sit at my desk, the kitchen window of my little drafty house in the countryside appears. I look through the walls into my lavender garden and let my fingers glide through the lavender blossoms that are standing in the vase next to me on my desk, which just a minute ago was not there. I smell vanilla from the kitchen, where no one is cooking at all, and see a tranquility and comforting calmness that we city dwellers often lose amidst all the car noise, tram screeches, and chaos of lights. If I want to escape that for a moment, I will simply go out onto the balcony from now on, look at the lavender in the flower box, and smell Impact on my arm for a while - my very own private lavender happiness in the middle of the city.

For Mr. Sisyphus