Voyageur Jean Patou 1994 Eau de Toilette

Voyageur (Eau de Toilette) by Jean Patou

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5.8 / 10 32 Ratings

A perfume by Jean Patou for men, released in 1994. The scent is fresh-aquatic. The production was apparently discontinued.

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Main accords

Fresh

Aquatic

Woody

Synthetic

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Grapefruit

Orange

Heart Notes

Lavender

Sage

Base Notes

Cedarwood

Oakmoss

Sandalwood

Perfumer

Jean Kerléo

Ratings

Scent

5.832 Ratings

Longevity

5.920 Ratings

Sillage

6.018 Ratings

Bottle

7.627 Ratings

Submitted by DonVanVliet, last update on 09.01.2023.

Reviews

3 in-depth fragrance descriptions

07/28/2015

BrianBuchanan
355 Reviews

BrianBuchanan

Food and water

The little boat that the miniature bottle comes in gives a misleading idea of the juice inside.
The aquatic calone-lavender-citrus theme is there of course, but cantaloupe melon and thin washed out pimento - supported by a woody accord - steer this journey towards a beach front taverna, and not the high seas.

Sandal Mysore offsets the harsh side of the aquatic and it adds a tobacco-balsamic sweetness. Honey and mint nuances give further weight to the gourmand theme.

By three hours it feels like everything has been drenched by a huge wave that crashed on the sea front - leaving salted bitter plums in its wake.

Later you can smell a bit of amber floating about.

As a Cool Water clone Voyageur is nothing new, but does it improve on the original? In my opinion yes. Cool Water is where this voyage begins.

05/18/2015

jtd
484 Reviews

jtd

Helpful Review 3

Voyageur

Perfumer Jean Kerléo, co-founder of l’Osmothèque, creator of the exquisite Patou 1000, must have dreaded having to make an aquatic men’s fragrance in 1995. What he created is at least an interesting comment on life post-Cool Water.

Even in 1995 the release of an aquatic fragrance would have been met with tedium and low expectation. It was 7 years after the release of Cool Water, and while there had been hundreds of imitators, Cool Water was still king. In fact Cool Water created another slot to be filled in the roster of every perfume house. A new genre had been created! Each one needed an aquatic/calone/fougère fragrance in their line-up, and the challenge was to create one that met the expectations of the market and at the same time reflected your brand. Tough for Patou. Aqua-Joy anyone? Sublime Water?

The crux of this dilemma is creating something to reflect your brand while at the same time appealing to the broad masculine market. This genre, the fruity masculine aquatics, had a cultish aspect to it and straying from the known was tacitly discouraged. Once a certain safe island of perfume is reached by men, change is considered a threat to self image.

Kerléo’s solution? So far as I can tell, what Jean Kerléo did was to create a pleasant, recognizable citric aquatic top note, then fold it into a mossy, woody base. The result is a perfume that had recognizability in the form of a pan-masculine aquatic note, but had a warmer dry down than Cool Water's chilly metallic vibe. It seems like a slapdash approach, a little of this, a little of that, stir and spritz. But I must say that this is the most appealing of the aquatics I've smelled. The top note is an aquatic collage, but it doesn't appear to have been made by rote, and has a tangy citric astringency in lieu of a clanging metal note.

The overall effect is that Kerléo has managed to make a demi-chypre out of Cool Water DNA. While Voyageur doesn't have quite the classic ambery dry down of a chypre, the top note of grapefruit stands in for bergamot and a large helping of oakmoss does the rest.

How tragic that the solution to this ongoing problem was a material that was being curtailed out by regulation. Voyageur was doomed from the start.

from scenthurdle.com

12/13/2012

7.5
Bottle 5
Sillage 5
Longevity 7
Scent

Drseid
819 Reviews

Drseid

Very helpful Review 5

Something You Don't See Everyday... An Aquatic With An Oakmoss Base...

Voyageur opens with an almost aldehyde-like grapefruit top note before quickly transitioning into its herbal aromatic lavender heart, giving the scent a very light fresh almost soapy marine vibe. A very strong oakmoss base note appears quite early in the scent's development, really co-starring with the aromatic lavender throughout. Joining the oakmoss in the base is a cedarwood supporting note that acts as the scent's backbone without calling attention to itself, content to let the oakmoss and lavender drive the scent's general nature through the dry-down. Projection and longevity are both average.

Voyageur has undeniable pedigree from its legendary nose Jean Kerleo of Patou pour Homme and Patou pour Homme Prive fame (among many other uber-masterpieces) so it is only natural to come in with super-stratospheric expectations. Those expecting similar greatness to Kerleo's best work are bound to be disappointed and based on the other reviews indeed were, as Voyageur does not deserve being mentioned alongside those Kerleo masterpieces. Setting that aside, Voyageur when approached for what it is (an aromatic lavender composition that was created to compete with the Cool Water aquatics that were so popular in the 90's), I think Voyageur should be viewed in much higher regard than it gets credit for. One primary thing I immediately noticed was the great oakmoss base that dominates the scent and just cannot be found in today's compositions due to restrictions on the ingredient. Those seeking a calone-free aromatic marine-like scent that is "restriction-free" would be wise to seek out this one as it is quite competent and relevant, and the oakmoss makes it easily wearable year-round. At its approximate street price of about $0.50 a ml it really is quite the steal and one of the best options in its genre. The bottom line is while I am not a big fan of the fresh aromatic marine genre, I am very happy to have Voyageur in my collection and award it a "very good" rating of 3.5 stars out of 5. Kerleo at his worst is better than 95% of other noses at their best.

Voyageur Jean Patou 1994 Eau de Toilette

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