LouLou

I wore this in the '80's and have recently delved into it again and I wondered why this was ever on my perfume tray. I am easily influenced by the bottle design and color and definitely the name of a scent, so for those two things I would give 9/10 stars. But the fragrance itself is dusty and damp, musty like old blankets in a dank closet that was passed down from Grandma. I know that it's still available and very affordable (under $20 for 1 oz. on Walmart.com) so for all the grandma scent lovers out there, I'm glad it's such a good buy. The scent for me is 2/10 stars.

This smells exactly like an old dusty antique shop with slightly weird occult items and incense in the air. It's very much a 'grandma' scent, I can appreciate it but I do find it a bit sickly. If you hate the smell of old vintage perfumes you won't like this.

I have always been intrigued by this fragrance because I like its unique presentation very much. Obviously, it stands out with its bright blue obelisque bottle with a red line and a gorgeous black floral box! There used to be lots of ads in fashion magazines since it was obviously a very popular fragrance in the 1990s. I finally got a new sealed bargain Loulou edp! Fragrancewise, it is sweet, powdery, pastry like. It has licorice notes, maybe even almond or marzipan, cinnamon, vanilla. I can't smell distinct floral notes, but I use it in hot climate. I feel like Christmas because of this spice harmony. It does have a bit of retro feel in the opening notes but it is not plastic at all. Later on, it kind of turns into maraschino chery 🍒🍷or cherry liquor notes. It feels warm, delicious, cozy, not aggressive or offensive. I quite like it and will cherish this gorgeous classic.

I really wanted to love this one and smell that beautiful dark, gothic, intoxicating scent that many people are talking about, but to me it smells like body odors and toilets. I perceive the indolic quality in this too much to enjoy it 😭 It's the same thing with Poison and Jill Sunder Sun.

Testing a pristine full late 80s mini of Cacharel LouLou EdP. On application, it immediately felt like daytime, polite Poison. That dark plum is unmistakably in the same wheelhouse. She's younger though, beckoning you to come closer rather than demanding your attention. There's also a waxy, cosmetic note that's present throughout. It's not unpleasant, but I can definitely see why it might not be to everyone's taste. Then the Tahitian tiare flower blooms and it takes on a distinctly tropical character. The drydown is really lovely: a little incense, the waxy note becoming skin-warm, almost like a wink. As if the perfume knows it's a bit of an persona you're trying on, one you aren't quite ready to commit to yet. It evokes youth and experimentation, and the freedom to delight in the pageantry of trying on different identities. She takes it seriously, but also... it's not that serious. This really does, as @Turbokiska said, feel like Poison's quirky little sister. And that is a good thing! I think if you love the idea of the original Poison but find it a bit too loud and unruly to wear in 2026, this might be more your speed. But maybe not to the office.

Comparing the modern formulation of LouLou with its vintage antecedent, reveals yet another example of the now-common pattern in which the newer version of a classic scent shows both thinner simplification and more overt artificiality. Even though, LouLou doesn't claim a note that has been notoriously damaged by an ersatz impostor, such as oakmoss or civet, ...it appears that its rich floral bouquet has been reduced and replaced by a more synthetic blend. The vintage formula was a wildly floral, powdery amber. In comparison, the new version is a relatively dry, semi-sweet amber-powder, with any remaining flowers or fruit sitting farther back and projecting less opulently. This all reminds me of similar changes that have occurred in the current Giorgio, as compared to the vintage. Not in the exact notes, of course, but in the same general way that both scents seem to have become hollowed out. The almost over-abundant joy of the original, has become something constrained and listless. I repeat here the same advice I gave for Giorgio: try layering this with another scent, perhaps a more full-bodied mixed-white floral. ...Though, even that seems a bit pointless, as one can easily think of other more delicately deep amber powder scent, with which to experiment.

I can't be objective about this perfume - it's not my taste, but it's my grandma's signature, and I love my grandma so very much so I love this perfume <3

I love Lou Lou I wore her in Highschool then when I was 18 I fell in love with Ombré Rose which to me smells very similar just more powdery. Lou Lou is night while ombré rose is daytime. Lou Lou is not for everyone she’s a Smokey powder beast that’s not for the faint of hearts. She’s the OG Goth perfume that every teenager wore that smoked Clove Cigarettes and watched the craft while the girly girls wore Anais Anais. I love her she’s a go to of mine since the early 90’s.

I didn’t think I would love Lou Lou by Cacharel as much as I do. As someone who adores vintage fragrances, Ciara by Revlon, Eden by Cacharel and all those bold, unapologetic scents from another era, Lou Lou somehow slipped under my radar for years. I recently picked up a bottle from Chemist Warehouse and, despite the inevitable reformulations over the decades, I completely understand why this fragrance became such a classic. Part of me wishes I’d been around when Lou Lou launched in the 1980s. I can only imagine what the original version was like in its heyday. It must have been an absolute powerhouse. What’s interesting is that Lou Lou doesn’t behave on my skin the way many fragrances do. Sometimes I spray it and feel like it’s disappeared within minutes. Then, hours later, I’ll catch a beautiful little waft of it and remember it’s still there. To me, that’s often the sign of a fragrance that genuinely works with my skin chemistry rather than shouting at me all day. I’ve often heard Lou Lou described as Poison by Dior’s little sister, and honestly, I couldn’t agree more. I always wanted to love Poison. I admired it, respected it and appreciated its place in fragrance history, but I never truly connected with it. Lou Lou, on the other hand, feels softer, more approachable and somehow more wearable, while still carrying that unmistakable 1980s drama and personality. It’s rich, powdery, warm, slightly mysterious and wonderfully nostalgic. The kind of fragrance that reminds you why vintage perfumery still has such a devoted following. A surprise favourite and one I find myself reaching for far more often than I ever expected. If only I could have experienced the original 1987 version in all its glory.

super powdery but unique and layered perfume!! definitely very mature but beautiful, has a soft edge to the warmth. i disagree with all the winter 'when to wear's - it's dark but has a sweetness that makes it a really special summer perfume (if you prefer stronger scents). when i smell this now it makes me think of heatwaves and the countryside of my old friend's house :D

I've always wanted to try this fragrance but the bottle always put me off. I ended up grabbing a modern formulation and it's soooooo familiar, I have definitely smelt this before. I can't stop sniffing myself! There is a similar plummy top note like Poison, but this is more powdery and that anise accord makes it unique. To my nose this is quite subtle. It smells like raspberry cordial and liquorice allsorts. It has a very nice creamy vanilla, not super incensey to my nose but there's a depth, it isn't all sweetness. Addicted, I just now need to get my hands on a vintage bottle so I can get the full hit! I layered it this evening with Passion from Elizabeth Taylor and combined it brings out the incense note

I actually like to wear it on hot summer days and nights. Its like the warmth takes away the sharpness. Find it even better in combination with Fragonard's Santal 💚

LouLou is the quirky little sister to Poison. Very powdery in an innocent baby powder sort of way, with the warm sweet tart of plums oven-baked with cinnamon. She is complex and energetic, youthful and fun—nostalgic but vivacious, I could see Cyndi Lauper wearing this fragrance.

I blind bought this (modern version) because it was always suggested for doll's head accord lovers. However, I can't say I agree with that. I think doll's head accord varies between person to person depending on when you were born and what you grew up with. Maybe to those born in the 80s, this is 'doll'. But to me, it's way too strong and overpowering. 1 spray on paper and I felt like I could hardly breathe- not being dramatic.. Perhaps during the dry down on skin I would get more of the doll head, but I can't apply a perfume to skin that I dislike so strongly on first sniff. Like most things from the 80s, it's incredibly bold and impossible to miss. I personally did not even get a plasticky smell, I got plum + cinnamon + incense. I agree with mortober's read of the vibe of this fragrance - it's gothic (in the most 80s OG goth, Batcave sort of way) and sultry, a person who is gothic but also bohemian and witchy. Would go well with the scent of clove cigarettes. Ultimately, it just wasn't for me and that's fine :)

I feel like I should try all the perfumes from the 90s. They have so many different notes, yet they still smell amazing.

I own a vintage small mini (genie bottle) and today I tried (one spray) the modern one. They share a concept (strong, unapologetic, beautiful, unashamed woods, incense, resin) but there's some differences. Both are mainly resins, and woods, beautiful, with large sillage and not for the days when you want to be discreet. (And I love them for that). They do differ in spirit a bit. On me, the old one is more powdery and more floral, rounder, more meditative, more spiritual, almost. The new one is sharper, woodier, more bitter, more assertive. I like them both and now I wish I had bought the new one :) Edited to add: the new one is also fruitier, but not sweet fruity, more juicy and almost like fermented mead (not honey mead, fruit mead). (I did buy another perfume and I am trying to be on a budget, but still the sharp assertiveness of the new LouLou is amazing)

This smells like a memory, sitting on the floor of a laundromat in chinatown, the smell of absinthe on my breath, the lingering smell of incense dust on the ceramic tile floors, Budai statue, exotic flowers and white musk of the laundry kind. LouLou is what dior poison was trying to be. My new signature tbh, I’d wear it night time of any season UPDATE: okay no I can smell the plastic smell now and it ruins everything

The initial opening reminds me of a powdery, slightly softer version of Dior Poison. Unmistakeable. It’s a plum-cinnamon punch in the face on first application but 30 minutes in becomes MUCH softer. I do get hints of scented plastic doll toys I had in the 80’s, and the powder remind me of cosmetic face powder, not baby powder. This is for big personalities and lovers of oddball perfumes. It’s not dated; it’s timeless.

As many reviews have stated, it is very polarizing. You need to have the right skin chemistry for it so definitely not a safe blind buy unless you have a couple friends who want to try it and see. The notes and reviews drew me in and there was a $25 small bottle available at Shopper's. Love at first sniff.. Mysterious, sophisticated, spicy but not sharp. My favourite perfume to wear when I'm feeling more natural and gothic. Smells like blowing dust off an old book in a witch's library filled with various flowers with years of lit incense soaked into the pages. On my partner it smells horrible. Has that plastic note that many negative reviews mention. So, try if you dare...

I found this on sale in the US and blind bought. I am always intrigued by polarizing, avant-garde fragrances, especially those that seemed to take a risk against the mass market appeal. For the record, I am not the demo for this perfume. I'm a white 40yo man but figured I would give my opinion here in case other collectors across the full spectrum of fragrances wanted a fresh perspective. I bought this along with Eden and read many reviews/impressions before deciding to buy, mainly to keep in my collection. First three sprays right out of the box, on paper and then about 7" toward my wrist. Sooo...for me this smells like the ball pit at a kid's carnival or indoor gymnasium. There were some ball pits at fast food restaurants in the 1980s/90s as well. Lou Lou gives me the same vibe as opening up a plastic tub of old toys that have been sitting in a warm attic. I do not smell any flowers or fruits. I tried to let this develop on my skin, but got uncomfortable with the smell and had to scrub it off. All I got was a vintage warm plastic and cannot think of any occasion where I would want to wear it. I will say that it was better on paper than skin. Overall, it feels like a brand new air mattress that has been in its original packaging for 20 years, taking up space next to your Gateway computer. Finally, after all those years, you have a reason to use it. You spend an hour clearing floor space for it, unpack the box, inflate it, and then discover it has a hole in it somewhere. You spend another hour trying to find the hole until you give up out of frustration, wondering how the last 20 years of your life went by so fast. Lou Lou is that air mattress, slowly deflating itself - useless - sitting in a corner in the cluttered room while you stare at it, wondering if it always had the hole or if time just plays cruel jokes with our good intentions. This is the type of art, like the photographs of Gregory Crewdson or essays by Baudrillard about Disneyland, that is made from pure solastalgia.

your liberal, red lipstick wearing, slightly bohemian, 46 year old moms signature scent

could be the bottom of your mother's make up bag on the first sniff. however, this fragrance is flapper girl on a night out, Edith Piaf, The Lover by Duras and 100% the smell of Cheri by Colette

Cacharel's LouLou is such a tremendously maximal perfume. An overwrought extravaganza seemingly designed to address some mad desire to wear every perfume at the same time. An exceedingly rich and varied powder forms the finely sifted cake flour for this grande gâteau of a fragrance. A sublimely intoxicating powder with aspects of orris, violet, heliotrope, amber, benzoin, vanilla, mimosa, etc. All of this immense windsept dune of powder is then further powerfully infused with white florals in abundance, drizzled with thickly honeyed fruit syrups, and zestfully spiced with anise, cinnamon, nutmeg, santal, and other rare nuances.However, unlike most powerhouse scents, there is nothing darkly embittered or animalic here, everything about LouLou is incandescently glowing and luridly bright. Yes, it's all simply much too much, and of course, LouLou's horde of enraptured lovers wouldn't have it any other way. I sample here from a vintage bottle resembling a brilliantly turquoise flying saucer surmounted by a futuristic obelisk carved from a blood-red ruby. A vessel that valiantly defies good taste with something far more important, ...great art.

In my opinion, it’s a fragrance that isn’t described by individual notes but as a harmonious whole, balancing melancholy and seduction. Yet the iris, mimosa, and plum stand out, creating a powdery, velvety effect that evokes the charm of a dusty boutique from another era. Magnificent today as it was yesterday!

Love at first spray, such a lush and juicy bouquet of flowers! Then... One of the notes, maybe jasmine or ylang-ylang becomes unbearably plasticky. This loud plastic note starts dominating the perfume and I can't focus on any other accord. After scrubbing it off with soap the literal scent of wax crayons lingers on my skin for a while. You could say that LouLou is the 80's in the bottle- bold, colourful, and quite tacky. After testing it more than once I can say that there is something both very niche and very cheap about it, and I still don't know how to rate it.

adidas power zone is a great dupe for this and it doesn’t have that church going, nivea cream using old lady smell to it

I really want to love it ☀️☀️☀️This review is for the reformulated version, Not the vintage. Starts of as a bitter dark green plant crushed then it becomes smokey somewhat motor oil like and plastic smell on the dry-down. It gives me the most peculiar feelings. Hot summer day, the tarrmac is melted by the scorching sun and my heels get stuck. A hot breeze lifts up my hair and touches my face bringing the scent of bitter tiare flowers from the close-by beach. As my heels are stuck, I fall on my knees and the skin is scraped off them My knees are burning and I look up to the sky holding the wide brimmed 80's hat I am wearing. The sun is blinding me. I get back on my feet, escape my heels from the soft tarmac and make my way towards the beach. I stand in the shadow of a palm tree and listen to the waves. 💠💠💠🌊🌊🌊🌴🌴🌴🌴 bitter flowers in the breeze. When I started the review, I had the intention of parting with it. I changed my mind. ☀️💠☀️ PS This is a summer heat fragrance. Can't wait to try it in the extreme heat ☀️💠☀️💠☀️💠☀️💠

This perfume is still sexy to me but light and bright. This is something I'd be more prone to wear during the summer, myself. But I've always been someone to wear dark deep spicy scents, so this one while it would be probably darker for others. Is kind of my summer sent even a bit spring, for me. This is one of those perfumes that I wore when I was younger and still wear today. Some perfumes don't lose their value and their quality. Some perfumes age with you. But this one has become more plastic smelling, more vintage smelling. This perfume smells sweeter than it did before, and it never used to have a plastic smell to it like there is now. I pick up Jasmine in it more then any other sent.

(Review of an early 1990s Cosmair era EdP) If you love yellow florals and you’ve not smelled LouLou… what are you waiting for? Seriously. You’re missing out on an icon of the yellow floral perfume genre. Powdery aldehydes usher in one of the largest processions of fruit and yellow florals I have ever smelled. If this procession was a parade, it would bring the entire city to a halt. Sour and zesty bergamot, juicy oranges, watery and blue plums, and a waxy blackcurrant lay over mimosa and marigold florals that couldn’t be more golden yellow without the interference of genetic manipulation. The marigold is properly "musty-musky", a touch earthy and bitter, and a hair green-citrusy, while the mimosa radiates with a golden sunshine glow of the silkiest honey, sweet, and unctuously nutty like baked pecans. Oof this is decadent! Almost to the point of being a bit lewd, if I’m honest. But LouLou is not done because up next is the yellow floral of ylang-ylang. Smell this and smell languid tropicals, baked and rich bananas in the form of breads or creme pies - and cue the drooling. Helping with this is a vanillic, fatty, and creamy tuberose that is no wallflower sitting quietly in the background, but it never pushes itself forward of the ylang-ylang as far as my nose can tell. Earthy and warm balsams and resins at the base push it over the top. Creamy sandalwood, a sticky and warm and vanillic benzoin, and fatty animalic musks. My Lord. Is there anyone looking at me right now? Am I drawing ill-advised attention to myself? Never has a floral perfume made me question if I might have the psychological underpinnings for a food fetish - until I first wore LouLou, that is. Make no mistake that LouLou is floral first and foremost, but if someone wanted to state this has one foot over the line into gourmand territory I don’t know that I could make an argument against it. Also don’t think from my description that this is an ultra sweet, cloying and lumpen floral/food bomb either. It’s sweet, but naturalistically so. It’s not cloying or lumpen, but it is rich and thick whilst maintaining air and space; however, it is very likely unsuitable for the heat and humidity of summer depending on your locale - so be warned: it is big, it is strong, it is diffusive, and it lasts an age. Stunning work. Simply stunning. When I want a yellow floral for the winter that gets my juices flowing and steels me against the gray cold I reach for LouLou, and when I want something more stately and elegantly refined, I reach for my favorite Frederic Malle, Une Fleur de Cassie. These are my two yellow florals that will always hold a special place in my heart and my collection, and I cannot laud any higher praise than this.

LouLou is a powerful vintage fragrance. I don't think it is a casual fragrance. It would be perfect for a crazy date in the 90s. All I smell flowers mixed with spices and smoke. Wear it carefully, because once I got a headache when I was wearing it.