Pour Un Homme de Caron

L'Impact de Pour Un Homme

Caron 2005 Parfum

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.