Au Lac
Eau d'Italie (2010)

Cool, pale aquatic floral of the dime-a-dozen variety. It's pleasant enough but done to death by now. For what it's worth, this is what your money will buy if you part with cash for Au Lac: a shampoo-like floral accord ringed with sympathetically dosed (ie not a bomb) calone and a juicy orangey-citrus note at the top (the best, albeit fleeting, part of Au Lac for me). That's it; move along, nothing more to see here.

Genre: Aquatic

Eau d'Italie's Magnolia Romana was lambasted in some circles for being a commonplace, insipid floral aquatic scent, but it did not smell that way to me. Au Lac does.

After a pleasant but unexceptional citrus top note Au Lac settles into a banal white flower and Calone accord that will smell familiar to anyone in possession of a nose since roughly 1995. I've enjoyed the Eau d'Italie line for its bold style and distinctive character, but Au Lac represents the house's first real misstep. It has no place in a niche perfumery range – not when you can spend close to the same money on Heeley's brilliant Sel Marin, or on a few bottles of the patently superior Bulgari Aqua.

Summer in Provence.Joyful and aquatic, floral and romantic, this is Au Lac, one summery sunny day in Provence near a lake (with floating big leaves on the water surface) all surrounded by batterflies and coloured flowers. I love the reference to the Monet's diaphanous pastel splendor i read about somewhere around. The juice is not original "di per se" but is always balanced, spacious and basically refined. Sensual. I detect by soon a lovely orange note (flanked by aquatic molecules and aqueous flowers) which becomes by soon slightly lacteous/green due to the figgy support. This type of "density" will balance throughout the stable aquatic and citric/green notes till when a touch of final balsams join the figgy pastiness. A rosey note ties in a while the soft initial orangy whiff becoming along the trip more "floral" (i mean with more variegated floral facets) as soon as the jasmine/osmanthus aqueous touch starts to get in play. I detect a stable green/earthy vibe in the background. The dry down is a soft and balanced smooth orangy osmanthus/jasmine so dreamy and ethereal. I would recommend this soft Eau d'Italie to all those sensitive nostalgic young women with the southern late spring in the heart (wherever they are).Pros: Smoothly aquatic in a lovely floral way.Cons: Lack of uniquess."

It starts with excellent citrus notes, very zesty. It then opens into a lovely rose note, with some woody/bark notes (probably from the fig leaves) as a frame. At first, the scent is not particularly sweet. It is a dry floral, and thus quite unisex in style. As the floral notes deepen and develop, the rose becomes more prominent and the scent becomes a bit richer and sweeter. The florals become complex, more than a simple rose note. The papyrus gives a stalky-green aspect with is interesting.
It is not my style, but it is a fine scent.

Au Lac is a light, fresh, dew-cool, spring-green floral, quite lovely, with just a touch of distinguished powderiness. I feel I "should" agree with previous reviewers that it's unoriginal and not niche enough, but I can't - to me it makes a genre that so often turns harshly synthetic and inhumanly cold, like nothing you should put on skin, wearable, and for that alone it deserves a place in my collection. I think part of the reason I like it so much is that it features a fig leaf note that's simply fresh and green, without the sweetly stale, nauseating milk note that ruins most fig scents for me. Unlike previous reviewers I also do get a subtle marine accord out of it - yes, indeed something like the soft saltiness of Heeley Sel Marin. I really appreciate the softness of this scent, the fact that it succeeds in creating a cool, aquatic atmosphere without harsh ozone or rotting melon and cucumber. In that sense it reminds me a bit of Diptyque Ofreesia, but while Ofreesia has the cool humidity of moist earth and spring rains, Au Lac has the cool humidity of a sea breeze on a summer morning.

I like Au Lac. Along with my liking it, I must agree with Off-Scenter that Au Lac is not niche quality. The opening is citrus / creamy green which very soon morphs into a creamy osmanthus… and calone. It is attractive and enjoyable and oh so reminiscent of so many very good women's designer scents of the past dozen years. From the creamy citrus beginning to smooth jasmine / amber / papyrus base, Au Lac is balanced, refined, subtle, and hopelessly neutral. I don't get this as a marine scent at all, and I firmly concur with Off-Scenter that for a true niche quality aquatic floral one would be wise to seek out Heeley's Sel Marin. And, yes, Bulgari Aqua Pour Homme is also better than this. But I do like Au Lac – I just don't like the price.