Pour Un Homme de Caron Caron 2022 Eau de Toilette

Before I get started, I want to mention a few things:
1. I have almost a year of experience with the fragrance world by the time I'm writing this review.
2. I don't have the best nose for picking individual notes and the ones that I'm not familiar with, especially in winter season.

The Context

I found out about this one from Kevin Samuels (RIP) from his video about great cheap fragrances, alongside another one from the list that will do a review in the future. I found out about Kevin Samules from a few years ago from Aba and Preach, I watched the videos about him, I moved on, I rewatched those videos in the last part of january, I started to watch more of his content then I watched his videos about fragrances, this is how I got into the hobby of fragrance. I bought this in the last part of the exam session, I also got a sample that I will reveal which fragrance was for in a future review, and I fell in love with it. I wore it for the rest of the semester, summer came, I got more time to document myself with fragrances and I found out that this is the new version. I thought that this was the old version with lavender, vanilla and musk but it was the one with resins instead of vanilla and more types of lavender for a strong opening. Having learnt that I will try in the future to buy the old version and compare them. This context section has been shortened to fit better in the review, my previous version was way too long and I was writing too much around the subject. But one thing for sure was that this was my first fragrance bought and also was my first blind buy that also was a success.

The Scent

At the opening I got an explosion of lavender that it’s spicy, sweet, fresh and a bit woody. This smells like a bourgeois citizen from the late 1800s in england. Just a strong spicy and beautiful barbershop type of smell. In the drydown I get the resins, the opoponax and the styrax with the musk but for a few minutes and sometimes in the full drydown, an hour or so, I’m getting the damask rose. Also in drydown it gets a new accord, which is powdery, and the resins help in forming that side of the scent. This fragrance in high doses it’s too much for the nose. I tried it for two weeks in the travel spray and it was just too much. In the past I was easily wearing this with my suits but now two strays in one place overwhelm me. The truth is I got more familiar with the niche houses and their compositions and now I want my scents to be soft and beautiful.

The Projection

From my whole experience with this fragrance I get a medium to a high projection and scent trail. On a few occasions my colleagues and professors commented on my scent and that’s when I knew in what range this one projects.

The Longevity

This one has about 5 to 6 hours maximum, because of the concentration. But compared to other fragrances that have a higher concentration but with light molecules, this one has a really good run and time span.

The Bottle

This is a really nice shaped glass with a classic look from the 30s when it was first created. The cap it’s metallic and the atomizer is pretty tick and powerful. It doesn’t have control over spray but I’m satisfied overall.

The Perfumer

The nose behind this reformulation it’s Jean Jacques. He is the main nose behind most of Caron’s newest releases and he also made some flankers for Davidoff and Givenchi. He is a pretty experienced parfumer and I would say that he had success in recreating the original formula of Daltroff, even though I have not compared them side by side. But from the interviews I saw about the reformulations, Jacques tried to make the vanilla note with other notes in order to make the whole scent profile more dynamic and complex.

Conclusions

This is a beautiful fragrance that has a great price for it to offer, since the notes listed are not that expensive. In the future I will compare the original formulation with the new one and see if the original was better or not. Next, I will write about Today Tomorrow always for him, which is the first fragrance from a batch that I got in the spring break of this year.

A self-taught perfumer, Ernest Daltroff founded Parfums Caron in 1904.
Always convinced that a man should wear a targeted masculine perfume, he launched Pour Un Homme, at a time where the availability was colognes.
Although some of those colognes might be deemed masculine, perfumers didn`t create for a specific gender in mind.

The time was 1934 and Pour Un Homme is considered the very first fragrance ever composed specifically for men.
Two main ingredients were chosen: lavender and vanilla and again Pour Un Homme is known for the first pairing of the two notes as a primary accord.
For his historical weight this fragrance was a blind buy.

I believe I have the 2022 version by Jean Jacques (Batch code: 701344 / Production date: 2024-08-19), where he was tasked with modernizing the historic house's heritage.
Jean Jacques was in-house perfumer for Caron from 2019 until 2024, when he left for Chanel.

To “modernize” a historic fragrance kind of makes me uncomfortable and skeptical, is like rewriting and adulterating history, and I can`t compare it with pré-2022 formulations.
According to the information I collected, the purpose was to add some depth, while maintaining the core scent of the original.

We have now more types of lavender and I do perceive, or sensed to perceived, the sweet myrrh (opoponax), resins, musk and rose, blended with the main lavender / vanilla duet.

From his initial herbal sweet freshness, and as mentioned in the excellent review by Chiffre, vanilla gets more prominent in the drydown and the scent overall slightly warmer, but don´t expect the common structural evolution, the traditional olfactory pyramid.
Is a minimalist scent and at the same time an elegant construction where the duality lavender / vanilla create something exquisite new and, my God, what elegance there is in Pour Un Homme de Caron!
Natural lavender and lavender absolute balanced by the sweet, powdery warmth of vanilla, extremely refined and slightly spicy, with an oriental touch and in every way discreet.
Is also a soothing scent, calm and reassuring in result of lavender sedative proprieties.

In terms of projection or silage, it's a skin scent that slowly, slowly fades away.
Might be too feminine for some or at least leaning towards unisex, but I let myself be seduced and embrace it.
I embrace a scent from a bygone era, although at the same time it seems timeless.
I embrace a concept of perfumery where there is meaning, significance, in contrast to the superficiality currently existing in the field, where each "creation" or launch only has a commercial intent, generic copies of copies of limited time use to be thrown away to make way for next copy of copy novelty.
I embrace the past and history of Pour Un Homme de Caron.

Fresh, sweet, herbal lavender with creamy vanilla-almond-heliotrope drydown. It's short lived but pleasant. I understand why people wear this at bedtime, though I prefer my Royall Lyme and Royall Musk for aprés shower. If there were a more persistent lavender note here, I'd consider a bottle for that alone because the lavender here is so smooth, pure, and perfectly balanced between sweet and herbal facets. It's a note I adore, and this is the best lavender I've smelled.

Yet, alas, the lovely lavender note doesn't persist long enough for me. I'm really looking for my perfect masculine or unisex leaning lavender, and the vanillic dry down of Pour Un Homme is too wan to pique my interest. As an EDT, I didn't expect a very long persistence, but fragrances do vary so much. Though I have only sampled it, this apparently comes at a good price point. I would sample Beau de Jour, but I couldn't afford it even if I liked it, so I don't want to take the chance!

For those folks who are using it as a bedtime scent, I think this is a wonderful choice. It's the kind of fragrance you would slap on after a shower, or for a quiet, cuddly evening at home.

I have to make a confession: I am a lavender nerd. Not the "lavender is nice" kind of person. No. I mean this reverent, slightly obsessed relationship with lavender, where I suddenly stop in my tracks when I see a lavender field somewhere. The memory of my grandmother, who always had a lavender sachet hanging in her closets. But lavender is not just an "old lady sachet in the linen cupboard." I find lavender very aristocratic. Lavender is clean, elegant, calming, yet fresh and dignified. Its history even goes back to ancient Egypt. Okay, back then lavender was used in the mummification process, but please do not project that onto the wearer when it comes to its use in perfumes. The Romans used lavender oil for their baths, in cosmetics, and even as a wound healer. So lavender has a very long tradition in literature, cuisine, medicine, and fragrance production. And this is where the house of Caron comes into play, one of the great historical perfume houses of France. Its history dates back to 1904 when brothers Ernest Daltroff and Raoul Daltroff took over the perfumery of Anne Marie Caron in Paris and named it after its previous owner, who would later become a staple in the perfume world.

In 1934, Ernest Daltroff created Pour Un Homme de Caron (1934) Eau de Toilette.
Decades later, we now have the reinterpretation before us: Pour Un Homme de Caron (2022) Eau de Toilette. A reissue that respects the classic but modernizes it without betraying its soul.
I have tested the Pour un Homme range. I still focused on Pour Un Homme de Caron (2022) Parfum and Pour Un Homme de Caron Le Soir, but I will come back to that later. So I was looking for a fragrance that has lavender as its main theme and still does not seem one-dimensional, and although the structure of Pour Un Homme de Caron (2022) Eau de Toilette seems almost minimalist at first glance, it possesses depth and an associated elegance.

The scent progression is actually briefly explained. After spraying, everything begins with a fresh, clear lavender accord. Not sharp, not medicinal lavender, but a wonderfully natural scent that immediately evokes images in my mind: a sunny lavender field and a gentle warm breeze flowing through the violet flowers.
The lavender here appears incredibly fine and very aromatic, slightly green, a bit herbal, and at the same time very, very soft. Not a synthetic quick shot, but lavender with character and the aforementioned depth.
After just a few minutes, the scent begins to change. The various lavender notes alternate, and a very subtle sweetness creeps in. And this comes from the second major pillar of the fragrance, namely vanilla. Not sticky vanilla sugar, but styrax makes it slightly creamy, gentle, and elegant. All of this wraps around the lavender like a warm scarf and slowly transforms the fresh aromatic quality into something incredibly comfortable. In the background, musk and a slightly balsamic rose add the final depth to the fragrance. This base ensures that the scent remains not only fresh but also retains its calm, warm aura.
The result is one of the most beautiful scent combinations I know: lavender and vanilla. A combination that is simultaneously fresh, clean, calming, and elegant.

And how does the scent affect ME? The start is fresh, aromatic, and incredibly well-groomed. It is a classic men's fragrance, but without being stiff.
The lavender notes feel almost meditative. It is this scent that gives me the feeling that everything becomes a little bit calmer. Stress? Disappears. Hectic? Evaporates. Suddenly, you feel as if you have just showered, put on a white shirt, and have a perfect day ahead of you.
Then, slowly, very slowly, the scent becomes warmer. The vanilla comes forward and transforms the fragrance into something incredibly pleasant. Not sweet in the modern sense, but soft and harmonious. This is the moment when the fragrance reveals its true magic, because suddenly it is no longer just elegant; it also feels calming and becomes the perfect scent for the night. This ultimately makes it a versatile talent.
Of course, it is not a room-filler, nor should it be, and for an Eau de Toilette, it performs surprisingly well. Its longevity for me is about 8 hours, which is really respectable for such a fresh lavender scent. The fragrance is very pleasantly balanced. In the first hour, you can clearly perceive the scent without it being loud or intrusive. After that, it remains present as an elegant scent cloud at a personal distance for quite a while. What makes this scent truly special is its fresh aura. Many modern perfumes try to force attention. They are loud, sweet, extreme, or provocative. Yes, okay, I also love the sweet sides of the perfume world. But it is precisely these contrasts in daily use that make the experience of perfume so incredibly exciting for me.

Oh, I almost forgot. What is the difference to the other two Carons I tested?

With Pour Un Homme de Caron (2022) Parfum, it is relatively simple. The difference lies solely in the concentration of the fragrance oil. It has the same fragrance notes but is much stronger to perceive. Because with other brands, the Absolu-Elixir-Extrait variants almost always smell different, and often only the basic DNA is somewhat recognizable, Caron manages to simply make the same scent stronger.
This affects me especially regarding the season in which you wear these fragrances. While the Eau de Toilette, with its freshness, is a scent for spring and summer, I would see the parfum more in autumn, as a reminder of the warm days.

The Pour Un Homme de Caron Le Soir goes a bit further. It is clearly a scent for cooler days and can easily be worn from autumn through winter to the time of spring awakening. Its iris note and the powdery-woody note are enhanced with ambroxan, which makes it somewhat more synthetic (not in a negative way), but the natural green notes somewhat offset this impression.

In the end, I decided this time on Pour Un Homme de Caron (2022) Eau de Toilette, which probably also has to do with the onset of the warm season. It feels cultivated, self-assured, and yet relaxed. Lavender is one of those raw materials that are often underestimated in perfumery. Many people only know it from scent pillows, soaps, or essential oils. But in perfumery, lavender can be incredibly multifaceted. It can be fresh, green, spicy, elegant, soft, calming, and even slightly sweet. Caron proves with this fragrance how beautiful lavender can really be and shows that sometimes less is indeed more.
Trends come and go, but lavender remains.
For all lavender lovers like me, this fragrance is actually a must-have. Because sometimes you just don’t need a complicated scent concept with twenty ingredients, but just one, and maybe with a touch of vanilla.

I had been searching for a long time for the perfect lavender scent from the French brand Caron, and I have found it.
Caron and Houbigant are old classic perfume brands that are now making a comeback after decades of slumber.
Pour Un Homme de Caron is an old-school fragrance that most people don't even think about anymore; I believe the original is from 1934, reformulated in 2022, so it's almost as old as Chanel No. 5.
But if you think it smells old, think again; it is absolutely contemporary.
If you love lavender like I do, that shouldn't be the case-stay away.
Lavender in the top note starts off very fresh, then it becomes warmer and warmer, combined with a lovely vanilla that is not overly sweet or overpowering, but rather supports and envelops the lavender like a warm blanket, showcasing a wonderful naturalness.

If you're into lavender, this is a must.