Eau de Cade by L’Occitane

Fragrance, particularly aftershave is such a personal thing, and while I like the opportunity to test out my nose when trying new fragrances (I try and detect the notes before looking them up to see how I’ve done - hours of fun for the family) I have to say that light and citrus head notes (that initial blast of fragrance) in an aftershave usually mean that I’ll be a happy camper with it. Eau de Cade by L’Occitane has turned this on its head.

My 100ml of Eau de Cade was kindly sent to me by L’Occitane along with a number of other products in the male grooming range. Apparently, when asked if I wanted to sample some products my response of “yes, but can I try something that isn’t overly girly” caused much amusement in the PR office.

Rather than lump them all together I have to say my levels of happiness with the products means that it would be remiss of me not to outline each individually. If you read on, I’ll tell you why - yes, I am a tease… 

A 100ml bottle of Eau de Cade is available here from the L’Occitane website here for £42, which makes it a mid-range fragrance in my collection in terms of price, but as with all things smelly, the acid test is fragrance, longevity and how it reacts with skin. 

This is what they say about Eau de Cade in the marketing blurb (the finest piece of copying and pasting on my part that you are likely to see this side of Christmas):

'The Cade - Eau de Toilette is a spicy, woody fragrance that evokes the dry woods, red soil and hot stones found in the sunny Garrigue landscape of southern France. Top notes of bergamot lead to a generous heart of cedar wood and pink pepper. A base of cade wood and citrus linger on the skin throughout the day. Enriched with essential oils of cade wood and pink pepper, this eau de toilette complements all of the products in the Cade collection, emblematic of L’OCCITANE.

For generations, Provencal shepherds have handed down from father to son the secrets of Cade wood, a symbol of a tenacious character and strong values of tradition and generosity.’

Well there you have it, from the marketing blurb this fragrance shouldn’t really appeal to my nasal palette (I really couldn’t think of a better phrase) due to the warm and woody tones but actually, after getting over the incredibly strong first blast from the atomiser it has an almost addictive property that made me sit and sniff away at my wrists as I tracked how it changed over time.

At first whiff this transported me back to the mid 1980s - I can’t put my finger on it but it reminds me of an aftershave my father used to wear when he was still working for the 5-0 (go me with my street slang, I do of course mean the police). I have been wracking my brain for weeks trying to nail this down to no avail. That said, that initial first blast was so strong it actually had me thinking that I’d literally sprayed myself in liquid wood and moss - heavy is an understatement. If I spray this in the bathroom it seeps across my entire flat - potent! 

Fearing that this fragrance would trail after, and gag those around me I waited a good ten minutes before realising that it had faded dramatically and taken on a warmth that would make this amazing as a winter EDT. The bergamot is really over-riding at first but dries down more of a spicy  

I’m sure I can pick up hints of juniper, if anything it made me crave a gin and tonic (and I haven’t had one of those in years).  

After around thirty minutes you can pick up a hint of spice from the pink pepper, and as the heart blends with the dry down notes it takes on a more rugged scent, it becomes lighter and more subtle yet retains the ability to turn heads for all of the right reasons. 

Three squirts from the atomiser and you are good to go - and this will stay on your skin and remain evident to those around you for a good eight hours at least. It had body to it and longevity that makes it a little cracker in my book and actually really good value for money. 

Eau de Cade oozes those deep, warm woody and earthy notes from every fibre of its being (obviously it doesn’t have fibres being a liquid but stop splitting hairs). This screams “I am man” (from a fragrance perspective), remains fresh for hours until turning into a warm and spicy blend where you can certainly pull out the juniper note. 

I like this, I like it much more than I expected to when I first cast my beady eyes over the notes. Not being one for the heavy and warm fragrances I was surprised by how quickly I converted to this, particularly when using it with the Eau de Cade moisturiser and Eau de Cade hair body wash from the same range.

Personally I wouldn’t wear this on a night out, but for daywear this sits up there with Fahrenheit, Gruhme and Invictus as perfect for days in the office. Your colleagues will thank you for wearing it. 

Go on, pick up a bottle, ewe (feel free to groan, I accept that this is a poor reference to the marketing blurb about shepherds) know it makes sense.

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Swagger & Jacks Premium Beard Oil

Finally a product that appeals to my inner child (it’s actually the reverse, I have an inner grown up), it’s Swagger & Jacks Premium Beard Oil. Why does it appeal to me? Well how cool is that packaging people? It looks like the protective shell for radioactive material (picture Jack Bauer holding the canister aloft and shouting “Mr President, I’ve located the stolen Uranium” - yes, I have played this out in my head).

The two premium beard oils I was asked to sample are new to the market and I’ll hold my hands up here, using beard oil, any beard oil is new territory for me. While I have been known to go months without shaving, there always comes a time when the bristles and hair itch, feel a bit too wiry to the touch and generally irritate me. Bang, when this happens the beard has to go. 

This is what Swagger & Jacks have to say about their new oils (lifted directly from their website):

'Swagger & Jacks Premium Beard Oil is perfect for day wear or for gentlemen who prefer a lighter cologne. It contains elements of a classic masculine Fougere fragrance, characterised by top notes of lavender and a heart of oak moss, coumarin and geranium. But is also features citrus top notes of bergamot and verbena to create a fresh light feel. The head and heart are supported by a base of sandalwood, tonga bean and evernyl.

Plus for those who prefer a more intense, spicier fragrance, Swagger & Jacks Ultimate Beard Oil  features ginger, clove and pink pepper top notes. These lead to a heart which includes jasmine, ylang ylang and rose combined with marine notes. The rich base contains notes of cedarwood, musk and vetivert with warmth and sweetness from vanilla and cinnamon.'

The chance to try something new that could possibly soften the beard up, help me style it a little easier and also leave a signature fragrance was not going to be passed up. Not when I can repeatedly pretend that I’m an extra in 24 every morning!

So, Swagger & Jacks have these two new oils available. At £26.95 (hurry, they are discounted for a while over at their website here) for both oils it seems a reasonable amount of money to pay, particularly if it helps with the pain (not literal) of growing a beard through the early stages.

The first, contains lavender with a heart note of oak moss and geranium that gives off a strong yet clean floral scent. I love it, and prefer to use this one in the morning as the floral tones blend down to a masculine and warm scent that sits brilliantly with my usual daytime aftershaves such as Invictus or Fahrenheit. 

The second is a more intense, spicier with ginger and pink pepper. These top notes really do deliver a punch of spice and once absorbed, calm down to a lovely sweet fragrance that compliments my evening aftershaves of Uomo or Eros. Perfection!

The oil, guess what, has an oily consistency, but fear not, it won’t leave your looking like you used your face to stem the leak from the Exxon Valdez (Christ, a reference of a 1989 oil leak in Alaska - how old is this man?!?).  

All Swagger & Jacks products are made in the United Kingdom and, I am happy to say are paraben free, which means once absorbed into those open pores and bristles sprouting from your face it doesn’t leave your skin dried out and feeling a bit “meh”. Personally, and I’m saying this from a position of being new to beard oil of any kind - it’s bloody good stuff. 

Consider this, both of the beard oils have their own unique yet reassuringly familiar fragrances (I just wish I could put my finger on what aftershave it reminds me of), doesn’t cost the earth and leaves the beard feeling soft, smooth and easy to style. If you throw into the mix the fact that the discomfort that comes with growing a new beard is significantly reduced makes me something of a cheerleader for these new oils.

While my beard has only three weeks of growth it helps to style the bristles into a single direction, helping me kick my OCD into touch. After using this with my beard I no longer resemble a hobo that has been dragged through a bush backwards - styled and groomed to perfection. You can’t argue with that.

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Bleu De Chanel Eau de Parfum

It was quite by chance that I my love affair with Bleu De Chanel started. A poorly planned (read I thought the missus was packing my aftershave) visit to Manchester resulted in me rooting around the wardrobe of a friend in search of smellies before heading out to dinner. 

The bottle after a little filtering....

The bottle unfiltered....

Apart from the shock of realising that most (read normal) people have two or three bottles I didn’t have much to choose from and none that I had used myself personally. Bleu de Chanel was chosen after a cursory sniff of each bottle and then boom, a new favourite was found, and then received for Christmas. 

Bleu de Chanel was not an aftershave I had seen that much of prior to using it the first time, but after that it was being advertised everywhere - billboards outside my local pub, in the magazines I read and then finally every time I looked around for something new to try.

A 50ml bottle of this baby can set you back upwards of £50. You can buy it here for the cheapest I can find it at £47.50. 

So, apart from the flashy adverts, what do Chanel say about their aftershave in the marketing blurb (I warn you now, massive flowery blurb alert)?

‘A spectacular scenario. An unexpected masculine spirit. BLEU DE CHANEL embodies a tribute to masculine freedom. Composed by Jacques Polge, the Creator of CHANEL Fragrances, BLEU DE CHANEL reveals itself in three acts.

ACT 1 - Freshness: A spirited burst of freshness ripples across the skin. A sense of liberating well-being is released. 

Citrus accord, Vetiver, Pink pepper.

ACT 2 - Energy: A rush of explosive energy galvanises the senses. The taste for action is electrifying. A positive current of vitality takes over. 

Grapefruit, Dry Cedar notes, Labdanum.

ACT 3 - The senses: The body gains an untouchable confidence, embracing a masculinity that is enigmatic, irresistible, impenetrable.

Frankincense, Ginger, Sandalwood.

Its enigmatic blue defies definition. Too blue to be black, too black to be blue. A bottle of dense, solid glass which blends authority with elegance. One of a kind, unlike anything else.’

See what they did there?!? They broke down the head, heart and dry down notes into acts…..genius (sarcasm alert).

So, in a nutshell, freshness, energy and masculinity. Did it deliver? Well yes, and it delivered in bucket loads, so much so it gave my all time favourite aftershave, Bvlgari Pour Homme a real run for its money.

Immediately after spraying on to my neck it was clear that this had a deep body to it. Rather being light like a citrus this feels almost heavy on the skin and it certainly is invigorating, its like being punched in the nose by someone holding a bunch of flowers. The Vetiver gives it a floral aroma and the pepper ensures that there is no danger of this being mistaken for a floral perfume. That deep body straight away screams that Bleu de Chanel is a man’s aftershave.

As the dry down starts the grapefruit heart takes the edge off the floral scent, it does become lighter while retaining the sharpness of pepper. It’s lovely, each stage of the process is, and personally I like smelling it evolve.

The ginger and sandalwood dry down notes blend superbly with the grapefruit making the final scent as a rich citrus and spice aftershave which will have heads turning. A few sprays of this and it motors on, and on. It lasts for hours and is prominent on the skin and to those around you.

I have been sat in bars when women stop and come in for a sniff. It’s universally loved - I can’t get enough of Bleu de Chanel. It has everything that I love in an aftershave, but considering the price, unlike me I would recommend this for special or romantic occasions. Personally I wear this most of the time and hence why after three months my bottle is about half full. 

If you want to get noticed for smelling lovely gents then I highly recommend Bleu de Chanel. 

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
  
In the words of Alan Partridge, “kiss my face”.

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Ted Baker Hanging Fragrance Gifts

Ted Baker has an innovative approach to decorating your Christmas Tree this year with their new miniature hanging fragrance gifts* which would look amazing on any tree or as a stocking filler for that man in your life. 

There is a set for men and women - I'll be focusing on the male version. 

Each set comes in a pack of four individually wrapped 5ml fragrances - something to stick in the manbag if heading out for the night or smell so much you really need to mask your musk (that's a joke people).

The male fragrances include: 

• XO Fresh, Green and Woody - Designed for the men who like the finer things in life. Fresh Green top notes lead to a heart of aromatic woods, red berries and ginger roots. Mixed with base notes of pink pepper and warm sensual spices.
• X20 Spcy and Intense - Top notes of Tangerine, Tea and Cardamom with Lavender, Rosemary Spices and Violet Leaves and a base of Black Pepper, Sandalwood and Amber.
• Skinwear: Enticingly Aromatic - Fresh zesty extracts of lime, bergamot and lemon are blended with notes of Rosemary, Cypress and Juniper with an enticing base of Sandalwood, Amber and Musk
• M: Understated Sophistication - Top notes of Tonka Bean, Musk and Vertiver which are combined with Coriander, Amber and a rich Woody Base.

Not only do the tree hangers look great, after giving each access to my nose I'm pleased to report that they all smell great. Obviously fragrance is a very personal issue but if you like warm and earthy with hints of citrus and spice you will love these. 

Just launched at Debenhams a set of four will set you back £22, or you can pick them up for £6 each.

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*Where I come from in Manchester 'hanging or 'anging' is slang for awful. I do not use the term here to mean this for the avoidance of doubt!

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