2012 Winter Spotlight Fragrances - L'Occtaine "Eau de Baux" Discussion Thread

[maxman]

2012 Winter Spotlight Fragrances -- L'Occtaine "Eau de Baux"

From the L'Occtaine website:

In Provence, the knights from the village of Les Baux chose the cypress tree as a symbol of their strength and honor, and a bright star in the sky as their guiding force. In honor of their courage, L'OCCITANE has created a sensual and mysterious blend of cypress and incense named Eau de Baux.

Notes include:
Cypress, Incense, Vanilla, Tonka Bean, Cardamom

 

[mdevine]

Eau des Baux has been one of my favorites since I first tried it a few years ago. It starts with cypress and incense, and this is my favorite phase. After four or five hours, it enters a dry down period which lasts for quite a long time on me. Here, it has morphed into a primarily vanilla scent, and it my favorite of any vanilla I've tried. The first time I wore it, I woke half way through the night and was surprised at how good my wife smelled. It took a while before I realized that what I smelled was the Eau des Baux I had applied early the prior evening. While I have some niche fragrances that are more complex and challenging, when all I care about is smelling good, this is the one I reach for. For me, it is a Fall and Winter scent. I picked mine up on sale for around $40, and it a great fragrance at the price. Highly recommended.

Mike

(Reposted to the correct thread)

 

[musicman1951]

I'm five hours into my first wearing and I've enjoyed every hour. I find it to be fairly dry and the cypress and incense is wonderful. I like vanilla and have no problem with the dry down. I find it to be maybe a little smokey rather than cloying. I'm delighted this was our first selection.

 

[jakespoppy]

The first time I tried Eau des Baux several years ago, I made a serious judgement error, and it's one that I made more than once during that first year of seriously exploring fragrances. The first L'Occitane scent I tried was Eau de Vetyver, which I loved. I then started exploring as many vetiver scents as I could find, comparing them to L'Occitane's, and enjoyed the different versions. But when I tried Eau des Baux, I dismissed it as something I wasn't interested in, primarily I think because it wasn't a vetiver scent. I've done that when I've been on musk kicks, or searching for the best fougere scent. I would get tunnel vision, focusing on that one type scent, and over look others in the process.

But I really enjoy cedar (or cypress) notes, and also vanilla, tonka and cardamom, so when I came back to Eau des Baux, I was very happy to discover that I really enjoy it for what it is, a scent with a very nice cedary opening and a slightly spicy sweet vanilla dry down that lasts a very long time.

 

[wagstaff]

... lasts a long time is right! It goes on forever. I'm not sure what to say bout it, after one listening. (errr.... after one wearing, that is!) I found myself changing my mind a few times over the course of the day. I'll have to think about it more. My first try happened to be for a "casual Friday" at work. And I did think that whatever else it was, it was a more formal scent. Maybe this is what people refer to as a "Night time" fragrane? But then, why would it last SO long? Hmmm.

 

[erickson]

When it comes to fragrances, I have found that first impressions are generally the most real. I applied both by Kilian Back to Black and L'Occtaine Eaux de Beaux when I first received them and was tempted to scrub them both. Today I did a full wearing of L'Occtaine Eaux de Beaux and my final impression is that I am not impressed. Opening was sweet vanilla over woods, but then after several minutes a nice cypress and smokey incense tried to come forward. During this phase I almost changed my mind about the frag, but that vanilla just got in the way. The incense keeps trying to come forward for an hour or so and eventually gives up the fight and we are back to where we started. If you like smelling of vanilla then you should like Eaux de Beaux.

 

[wagstaff]

would you say a "powdery" vanilla? While I think it was less powdery than the Back to Black, I still think it was powdery. I'm afraid of being a philistine, here. This is all new to me, so go easy ;-)
Going with the "first impressions are generally the most real" idea, I would have to give a thumbs down. I was tempted to scrub them both, too. The Eau des Beaux a less tempted. It was definitely easier, and I kept "checking in". I was also definitely tired of it before I got home from work, and wished it had faded a lot more. I get the sense this is refined stuff, and I'm just too coarse, or something. I prefer virtually all the less expensive things I've sampled!

 

[erickson]

I didn't find the vanilla in Eaux de Beaux to be "powdery", but I thought of it more as "creamy". I also thought the vanilla was done well, but I just don't want to smell like vanilla.

p.s. It's been 12 hours now and I still smell like vanilla!

 

[imyourhuckleberryxx]

I absolutely love EDB. I blind bought a bottle last month based on all the raving reviews for it and I was not at all disappointed. I honestly cant say anything bad about it. The cypress, incense and vanilla are all beautifully done. Its got amazing longevity and sillage. And the price tag on it should not turn anyone's nose. Got mine for $42 and it easily smells like something that is worth triple that.

 

[tehtimmeh]

Excellent for the money. I really like the opening, but I wish the cypress lasted longer. After ~30 minutes all I get is vanilla with a hint of incense. It's not terribly complex, but a good one to wrap yourself up in a blanket with and sit by the fireplace. Comfortable and probably the only scent from L'Occitane that I can tolerate, but still not something that is FBW for me.

 

[wagstaff]

I definitely get the "creamy" (thanks erickson) -- especially as the day wears on. My first day with it this particular creamy-vanilla scent struck me as overly feminine for my tastes. But then... I reserve the right to change my mind. I'll wear it at least once more. I'm not sure about the "first impressions" thing. I got a decant of something else that I didn't like the first day, then came to think was pretty awesome. (Guerlain Vetiver -- an altogether different thing). Just starting to feel my around this stuff.

 

[musicman1951]

I agree with the warm/creamy vanilla. I think it's as much a feeling as a scent. I like vanilla a lot, so I obviously don't mind smelling like vanilla. if you don't like vanilla you won't like this one.

 

[wagstaff]

Second day wearing yesterday, definitely went better. So again I'm not sure about the first impressions as most accurate idea. But... I'm not in love with it, still. I like the beginning, a half hour or so in, where you get the cypress (I guess!) and more notes up front. I wore more the second time, so I could still detect a bit of complexity later, but the vanilla really is dominant. And again, I couldn't believe how long lasting. How strong it still was when I left work. And that was too much. So there's an advantage and disadvantage to "more". I'm taking today off, going with some DR Harris Windsor as a change-up. Back to Baux again, later.

 

[jakespoppy]

First impressions with frags are hit and miss for me. Sometimes I love it from the beginning and never change, or hate it and never change. Sometimes I think I'll love it based on the first wearing, then grow bored with it after a couple more wearings. Occasionally, I'll dislike a frag at first, then it grows on me. There's nothing wrong with writing a frag off if you don't like it initially, but for me, I've probably missed out on some I might like more that I only tried once and dismissed because that's all the sample I had.

 

[Valerius]

I use it occasionally and can't decide whether I like it or not. On the other hand I'm very fond of their Eau de L'Occitane and Vetiver.

 

[wagstaff]

Today I loved it. I think a couple things... one is I got the quantity more "right". And it was one spray on the chest, that's it. Nice not to have it so close to my face (I had it on my neck before). I think wearing it this way makes it change a bit more over time. Another thing was probably just CHSeifert's post. Because I didn't notice before, I thought he was crazy. But on this morning's application, a minute later I smelled fresh pipe tobacco. Took me a second to figure out what it was. (And yes, of course, it was... wait for it.... vanilla pipe tobacco). But it STILL smells that way to me, so not quite so unipolar a scent. Is this just suggestibility? Maybe. Or maybe getting a more literate nose because of input here. Or maybe it's just the way it mixes with my chemistry with a chest spraying.

Anyway, I like it alot, now. Or at least, I have liked it a lot, today. End of work day and I'm not feeling like I've had enough, must shower and pick something else. (Maybe I'm just super fickle... while this still isn't my favorite, I do like it, clearly. And that's a log way from my impressions on day 1).

 

[BillC]

I think Eau de Baux is a great value. Surprised that no one mentions the pink peppercorn that's very strong in the opening to me. I really like that burst of spice and the fact that it is distinguishable as pink peppercorn separate from black pepper (when I cook with pink peppercorns I always think of EdB.) Cypress and incense follow the pepper. Gradually vanilla begins to appear behind the incense/wood and eventually vanilla is all that's left. Longevity and sillage are both great - I'm about eight hours in today and there's a nice balance of incense/cypress/vanilla with maybe just a faint memory of the spice. As far as I can tell, EdB lasts forever because I've never gone long enough without a shower for it to fade away - the vanilla easily hangs on for 24+ hours. My only complaint, as you go very long into the drydown I start to not like the vanilla - as it loses the cypress and incense notes the vanilla begins to smell synthetic to me, I think the other notes help mask that. But that's picking nits with a fragrance that smells this good for this long at a price that doesn't break the bank.

I'll also throw in a pitch for the Eau de Baux aftershave balm. It's a rich, shea butter balm that feels great and the smell matches the EdT very well. My only gripe with it is that it is strongly scented and doesn't work well with other EdTs. Which is a shame because it's such a nice balm.

 

[djh]

This thread reminds me to grab my bottle of EdB for this coming week. I tend not to wear it in the warmer weather, but now that summer is long gone it belongs back in my rotation. This and Eau de Vetyver are the only scents from L'Occitane which I own but I do enjoy both of them. Looking forward to reading more thoughts on this!

 

[wagstaff]

I have no idea what pink peppercorn smells like (vs. black)... need to educate my nose more, still. Which is what I like about this "scent of the month" project. I'm already doing something close to a 180 on this one. I'm also figuring out that a scent might take a bit of time to learn how to wear. I had no idea.

 

[maxman]

I'm a little late to the party. This is my first wearing (ever) of EdBeax.
I'm quite impressed. It does convey a certain warmth. The vanilla is very prominant and there is a nice spiciness to it as well.
Sort of like a warm house baking cookies and sweet confections.

A good one for the cold weather.
I'm going with this for the week.

Oh and as a bonus, my wife likes it.