Pour Lui (Eau de Toilette) by Oscar de la Renta

Bottle Design:
Serge Mansau

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Pour Lui Oscar de la Renta 1980 Eau de Toilette

7.9 / 10 351 Ratings

A popular perfume by Oscar de la Renta for men, released in 1980. The scent is spicy-woody. It was last marketed by Interparfums.
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Main accords

Spicy

Woody

Leathery

Floral

Green

Fragrance Pyramid

Top Notes

Aldehydes

Sage

Juniper berry

Lavender

Aniseed

Basil

Bergamot

Caraway

Galbanum

Heart Notes

Carnation

Patchouli

Geranium

Cyclamen

Cedar

Cinnamon

Vetiver

Base Notes

Oakmoss

Leather

Musk

Sandalwood

Labdanum

Ratings

Scent

7.9351 Ratings

Longevity

7.9289 Ratings

Sillage

7.4285 Ratings

Bottle

7.1289 Ratings

Value for money

8.5114 Ratings

Submitted by Easyfish, last update on 10/26/2025.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Pour Lui Lotion Vitale After Shave

Antaeus Eau de Toilette

Arrogance pour Homme Eau de Toilette

Bijan Men Eau de Toilette

Dusk

One Man Show Eau de Toilette

Reviews

22 in-depth fragrance descriptions

09/21/2013

9Scent 10Longevity

Silverfire
134 Reviews

Silverfire

Top Review 11

A Gothic Masterpiece

Prior to my blind buy, all I knew about Oscar de la Renta pour Lui (ODLRPL) I learned from reviews. First, this was an 80's powerhouse scent. Then, it must be somewhat gothic, for another reviewer claimed it was something that a vampiric lord would wear. I was certain, however, that it wasn't pronounced like it read -- "Poor Louie." I thought of an unfortunate Hungarian worker, fingers mangled by a meat grinder.

I applied two sprays to my skin. The first word that came to my lips was "seductive" -- and I almost never use that word in connection with fragrances. The initial scent is a sweet wine mingled with spices. Then the carnation shows up to complete the picture. The prominent note for me was carnation, but a carnation dirtied in time by spices, by soap, by wine, by sweat. It is only the second floral note I've experienced that doesn't come across as pretty and feminine; this is the scent of ancient power, and the class of violence.

As a powerhouse scent, two sprays is too much, and as you might expect from the notes, it's a real scent-shifter. At any time, I can pick out at least five different notes ranging from the animalic, to the sweaty, the soapy, the fresh, and always, the carnation. I can see how this is beguiling and hypnotizing to women if worn by a man.

ODLRPL became an animalic floral by hour six, and there it remained as a skin scent for over twenty-four hours. Initially it filled my car, but no-one at work complained, so silage doesn't cross into the red zone.

This fragrance strikes me as a formal scent, probably best with business clothes up to tuxedos with tails. You can go business casual with it -- I did -- but formal clothes would prove a more fitting visual accompaniment to this serious, powerful, classy, manly fragrance.

Highly recommended.

10/21/2021

8Scent 9Longevity 8Sillage

PedroCabral
147 Reviews

PedroCabral

Very helpful Review 11

Dark Horse

After reading so many wonderful reviews about this perfume, even though some of them are in a negative tone, I see an enormous wealth of details and sensations that this fragrance awakens in people and, consequently, the detailed descriptions of the reviews are extended.

Sometimes even a negative description can instigate a desire to taste and have a certain scent. And that's what occurred to me!

I decided to incorporate a character with a "dark", melancholic, gothic and mysterious facet to dive into this perfume and draw my conclusions.

After reading several reviews that related this perfume to something dark, I decided that this olfactory experience could only lead me to paths I had never walked before.

When spraying this perfume, the aldehydes together with basil and galbanum give it a green, bitter, pungent air, which I notice a slightly "chemical" tone, which perhaps makes many people abhor this long perfume when they feel this exit. But I also feel a light sweet and spicy touch that breaks a little of the harshness of the starting notes. The lavender here is wild, aromatic, but with a vibe of industrialized lavender in the form of some disinfectant product, not that the perfume itself feels like a cleaning product, but this opening is like opening a heavy, dark door, that squeaks as you pull it. This is Oscar pour Lui's welcome.

After a couple of minutes this unfriendly opening reveals another denser phase, and this is where the magic of this perfume happens. Walk around a forest in mid-autumn, leaves fallen to the ground, a cold night, thick fog and a mysterious aroma of woods and leaves being swept by a mysterious breeze.

After a few minutes, the middle notes take over the aroma, pulling a little of the base notes with them, at this stage I feel a musky, dense and somewhat "dusty" floral touch, as if they picked up some flowers still without blooming and slowly their petals lost the liveliness and smell of the fullness of your existence. This gloomy floral carries with it a woody feel that resembles rustic furniture made with some hardwood. Cinnamon is notable, giving it a spicy, dry and slightly sweet air, very slightly. And along with this profusion of notes, the leather and moss notes stand out, giving all the strength and personality of this perfume. The leather in this perfume escapes the feeling of polished and polished leather so common in contemporary fragrances, this is a leather that reminds me of an old shoe shop, where the leather still had an animalic and acrid smell, as well as the moss that mixes with the leather leaving it with a dense, greenish and woody aroma, something almost "botanical".

Wonderful descriptions have already been drawn about the dark character of this fragrance, but to contribute from another perspective to this imagery, I cite some other fictional or real characters who would delight in using such essence, such as the villain Hannibal Lecter, Colonel Hans Landa of movie Inglourious Bastards, the psychoanalyst physician Sigmund Freud or Michael Corleone of the Godfather.

I also see a scene where men are in a club, playing and drinking, dressed in pinstripe suits, smoking cigars, sitting on leather armchairs listening to Blues or Jazz.

Having and using the Oscar Pour Lui is an act of resistance, a breath that embodies the antithesis of everything that is launched and desired today.

05/19/2013

8Scent 2.5Longevity 7.5Sillage

Drseid
828 Reviews

Drseid

Helpful Review 9

One of The Best Mens Fragrances From The Great 80s Era...

*This is a review of the vintage Oscar pour Lui.

Oscar pour Lui (vintage) opens with a combination of bergamot citrus and subdued aldehydes, mixing with patchouli and cinnamon from its heart. At this point the fragrance leans on the sweet side of the spectrum with an almost honey-like underlying accord permeating its early development. As the fragrance enters its early heart the aldehydes and citrus die while the cinnamon and patchouli join carnation and cyclamen florals supported by oakmoss and soft leather from the base as the fragrance gradually turns less sweet. During the late dry-down the oakmoss remains though is just detectable, while slightly sweet sandalwood and clean musk send off the scent. Projection is very good and longevity is below average to average at about 5-6 hours on skin.

Oscar pour Lui (vintage) is a great example of all the best things fragrance-wise of the 80s. It projects quite well though never coming off as harsh or repellant, sharing more than glancing similarities at times (especially early) with the exceptional vintage Van Cleef & Arpels pour Homme. I can see Oscar pour Lui (vintage) working all-year round in just about any situation imaginable with its smooth and at times sweet cinnamon spiced leather and patchouli driven overall heart accord over a mossy woody backbone. It smells great and offers superb value even at its current after-market prices for vintage bottles, earning an "excellent" and highly recommended rating of 4 stars out of 5.

11/16/2012

7Scent 7.5Longevity 5Sillage

Apicius
1328 Reviews

Apicius

Very helpful Review 6

Days Past - Still Available!

Back to the eighties, the decade of strong and complex perfumes, of Aromatic Fougère and other, leathery powerhouses: Oscar de la Renta's Pour Lui is a child of that times, and it is still available. So, let's get back, and don't care about today's customs!

Pour Lui is complex, dark, noble and spicy. It dwells in the realms of the more popular Trussardi Uomo, whose vintage version sadly has been discontinued. So, it is all about leather – black leather! In both cases this does not mean that a clear leather aroma is being provided – it is all too complex for that. It is rather that leather clothes will fit perfectly to such a fragrance. Leather jeans and jackets will loose some of their natural scent and take over the odour of the wearer. Although jasmine is not listed in the enumeration of scent notes, I nevertheless get a hint of an indolic note.

The complexness of Pour Lui makes it a bit difficult to comment on single notes. From today's view, it is quite a hubbub. Beautifullly old-fashioned are the florals, and with the noticeable carnation Pour Lui draws an ark to the famous Kouros that was released a short time after.

Anyway, Pour Lui is nearer to the beautiful Trussardi fragrance and its special leather appeal. Pour Lui goes even further: the floral side is more perceptible and additionally, there are warm spices – cinnamon! This transfers Pour Lui a little bit into the direction of the Halston gents' perfumes.

This is all quite much, and for me, Pour Lui cannot replace the Trussardi role model. Especially the Christmas-like cinnamon spiciness is something I wouldn't like having around me that often. Best of Pour Lui is its base notes, when the spiciness disappears it comes nearest to Trussardi.

Be that as it may, with Pour Lui, Oscar de la Renta gives us an opportunity for time-travel. And who knows – maybe this style will come back? In the end, there is a similar notion for ponderosity and expression behind some contemporary “dark” releases like Eau Sauvage Eau de Parfum, or the many fragrances with oud-note. Whoever goes for that today might have loved Oscar de la Renta's Pour Lui thirty years ago!

This noble, spicy fragrance should only be worn in the evening and in the colder seasons. At a night out at the theatre or opera house, you can place a scent mark against the Zeitgeist with Oscar de la Renta's Pour Lui!

12/28/2012

Krmarich
226 Reviews

Krmarich

Very helpful Review 7

Winter in a bottle.

I have revisited my 20 year old splash bottle and decanted some in a travel sprayer. The splash always kept it under control. Spraying it activates all of the aldehydes and stirs up the oakmoss. The galbanum jumps up too. Atomized, it is a totally different fragrance.

It hovers over the skin and really projects its refined elegance. With so many notes, it becomes a perfect composition that will never be matched. There has always been a contradictory frosty evening warmth associated with it, lending to its beauty.

ODLPL and its female counterpart are the most glamorous couple at the party, dripping in diamonds and fur(before it became wrong). Its formal evening wear bottled to perfection. I will always have a special place in my memory for Oscar De La Renta, and visting his disco in Paris circa 1987 at the Palais Royal. It was frosty the night of my visit, yet steamy inside, just like ODLPL.

It is a starlit, snowy night riding in a troika in Moscow circa 1900. It the end of the silent ride You arrive at a snowbound dacha that has a roaring fire blazing at the hearth.

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