Lacoste Pour Femme

RRP: £25.99 for 50ml at www.fragrancemad.com (also available in 30ml and 100ml)

--What does the promo say?--
"From the age of 10, the parfumier Olivier Cresp, creator of Lacoste Pour Femme, fell in love with the captivating scent of jasmin flowers in the garden of his grandmother in Grasse, France. Cresp chose to focus on the perfume's perfect equilibrium between rich and natural scents, making Lacoste Pour Femme a marvellously feminine, energetic and dynamic perfume. The top notes are allspice, apple, and purple freesia. The heart introduces heliotrope and jasmine in an alliance with hibiscus blossom and Bulgarian rose. The base brings Himalayan cedar, sandalwood, and incense."

--Packaging--
The pale yellow is unusual, but not too unusual, in a market where pink still tends to dominate. The bottle is tall and slender, though the sculpture of it is similar to bottles produced by many other brands, such as Givenchy, Thierry Mugler and Kenzo.

--Application--
Nothing difficult about this; it's just a simple spray-top.

--Scent--
The first note you catch is a largely sweet and fresh smell from the apple. As it matures it becomes creamier, though I don't know from where this result comes. The flowers also become more discernible, though the 'deeper' scents like incense and sandalwood do not especially. It's certainly a very pleasant scent and it got rave reviews from him indoors (until he found out it was by Lacoste, anyway).

--Longevity--
Reports online seem to agree with me that sadly this otherwise charming fragrance does not linger too well on the skin - a couple of hours at most.

--Value for money--
This is priced pretty reasonably, especially if you go bargain hunting online. Despite the fact that this fragrance's staying power is not good, I am still (perhaps stupidly?) tempted to get some, or at least try some of the other products in the range. This being my first encounter with Lacoste, the winning combination of flowers, fruits and spices has enticed me to try more of their stuff. Not bad.

perfect partners
Lacoste Pour Femme Body Cream, 150ml (£4.70 from www.fragrancenet.com + P&P)
Lacoste Pour Femme Shower Gel, 200ml (£7.50 from www.fragrancedirect.com + P&P)
Lacoste Pour Femme Roll-on Deodorant (£9.90 from www.cheapsmells.com, inc. P&P)