Varanis Ridari's Review of Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 by Caron

Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 by Caron (2014) is another anniversary celebration fragrance of the original Pour Un Homme by Caron (1934), this time at the 80th year mark. In a similar manner to Creed but obviously more genuine about it, Caron via then house perfumer Richard Fraysse, sought to create an exceptionally high-quality version of Pour Un Homme that used the finest crops of naturals for that year, compounded into a single-run bottling of the scent that placed the focus on those materials versus the usual smell of Pour Un Homme. Unlike the previous limited Impact Pour Un Homme (2005), Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 would appear not in a 75ml bottle, but in the standard 125ml bottle, and only in the 125ml bottle, presented in a special coffret to boot. All this pomp and circumstance assured that the limited edition would sell out among super-fans, collectors, scalpers, and high-end physical retailers of Caron alike, making it extinct literally within the same year of release. For most this is an instant pass, since nobody is going to shell out Creed-like money to a reseller for a rare limited bottle of something you can have for literally one zero less on the price tag in standard configuration, but at least I can tell you how it smells.

The opening is pretty frickin' glorious for lavender lovers, and you can tell Fraysse sacked the original's communelles of lavandin for the high-quality crop of real French lavender from that year. This mixes with the usual clary sage in the heart, and no real lemon present like in the original, only to move into a natural vanilla extract. This natural vanilla replaces the ethyl vanillin that was a staple of the classic Pour Un Homme, lending a lighter and less-sweet feel to the vanilla/lavender overall. This move makes Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 feel more like it lives in the top and heart notes than in the base, although the slight reduction of sweetness does give the tonka more of a tobacco-like feel than in the standard variety too. All told though, once the musk kicks in, this is still Pour Un Homme as you know and love it; or rather if you don't love the dandy effect of the proper Pour Un Homme dry down, you still won't like Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 even after the transcendental lavender vanilla comes to an end. Performance is much the same as this is an eau de toilette and not a pure parfum like with the Impact Pour Un Homme 70th anniversary edition scent, and this 2014 edition feels just about as much top hats and white gloves as the original too, context-wise.

The big bugaboo about Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 isn't actually the expected exorbitant price from scalpers and collectors looking to make a mint of backups or hoarded inventory from "buying the dip" as cryptobros say.; but rather the situation surrounding Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 is finding a bottle at all. This one was apparently so limited, and so precious, that even people who clamored to get a bunch extra just don't put the stuff up for sale. I guess like a precious batch of Creed Aventus (2010) to all the Bruventus types out there, true hard-boiled fans of Pour Un Homme bought their excess bottles to keep and slowly use up, not resell. When you do find a bottle of this, it of course has a ridiculous price tag, and typically comes from the usual suspects on eBay or websites like CouCouShop, all which exist to exploit "scarcity" in limited or discontinued collectable items. Even from those dens of scum and villainy however, Pour Un Homme Millésime 2014 simply does not turn up., forcing me to conclude that this one really true is rare, and not just "rare" by F.O.M.O. hype seller standards. A more natural lavender and vanilla on top bog-standard Pour Un Homme base materials is this, leaving a more floral, dry, and uplifted take on the dandy classic. Thumbs up

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