Last month I was spoiled with a zexy new male fragrance; Eau de Lacoste L.12.12 Rouge. (I know… I know… such a mouthful… I’ve just been referring to it as Lacoste Rouge…)

Inspired by the simplicity of a red Lacoste golf shirt, the scent’s all about ‘energy’. To me, it smells sporty and clean, despite being spiked with a ‘triple blend of spices’ and radiates a zesty freshness thanks to iced rooibos tea, mandarin and mango top notes. It’s heart is a mix of black pepper and ginger that rests on a warm, woody base.

In all, I’m very taken with it and have been wearing it myself! Still, fragrance is a subjective thing so I thought I’d drag it around town with me and get a few other opinions.

First up, we’ve got my hottest ‘guy friend’ Wouter…

Wouter really liked the scent. He thought it had an invigorating vrissness that somehow captured that feeling you get when you score a hole in one while clad in red Lacoste… Okay, okay… so I totes made that up… And he’s actually not my friend… In fact, that’s just a random shot of Tom Hardy that I ripped off the net. Still, wouldn’t it be fun if I did have a hot bad ass-looking dude to test all my guy shizz on? Sigh…

Still, I do have my darling boyfriend Mike:

Mike REALLY liked the scent, but I kinda knew he’d appreciate it as he’s mal for golf, digs Lacoste in general and has owned several of their fragrances in the past. I could see his face wrinkling up with annoyance when I spritzed it on other boys. He was all like ‘can’t you just finish this up and leave it on my bathroom shelf where it belongs?!’ (For the record, when I met Mike, the only toiletries he owned were a razor and a bar of soap. Now, having been subjected to all the beauty goodies I bring home, he’s become a veritable product whore himself and has turned our shower into a virtual wonderland of scented shower gels, fancy exfoliating sponges and face washes. He’s also got a tres impressive collection of moisturisers and can give you a thousand reasons as to why he needs at least FOUR different bottles at any given time…)

Moving on, we’ve got beautiful Bjorn, boyfriend to one times Karis Piss:

I always tell K that there’s something about Diego Luna (the dude in Katy Perry’s ‘One that got away’ video) that reminds me a bit of Bjorn. Check it out:

Bjorn said he liked the scent because it was ‘nice, light and citrusy’ and something about the scent reminded him of ‘a Hugo Boss cologne he used to wear back in 1998’. (Boss Bottled perhaps?)

Later in the week I hit up Cafe Caprice to review their brekkie special. I took the scent along and it got the thumbs up from their fabulous chef Guy. He thought it smelled a bit ‘lemongrassy’ and thought it was the kind of scent you could wear just as easily in the day as well as night.

Manager Eddie also liked it, saying that it was ‘clean’, ‘not too sweet’ and ‘easy to wear’.

So ja… if you’re a Lacoste fan or just like fresh orientals in general make a plan to give Lacoste Rouge a sniff. It should be on the shelves as we ‘speak’ and costs R750 for 100mls.

Love, love

Leigh