Houbigant Fougere Royale 2010

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Usually when a fragrance company says they’ve taken one of their classics and ‘modernized’ it, big red alarms go off in my head. I’ve never had the pleasure of sampling the original Fougere Royale from 1882 and the oldest vintage I’ve even seen was on an eBay auction of questionable quality. So I went into this 2010 reformulation with as little knowledge of the original perfume as possible–being ignorant of the original fragrance, I’m going to have to say Fougere Royale 2010 is pretty darn good.

Fougere Royale 2010

Fougere Royale 2010

In Bottle: The lavender note is rather strong in this, dominating for the moment over the green herbal quality of the fragrance. There’s a spiciness in the background that blends in beautifully with the rest of the fragrance making Fougere Royale smell  sophisticated.

Applied: Opens with a clear greenness to it layered over a lavender note that’s helping a spicy floral note along that might be the carnation. As the fragrance heads into its midstage the lavender sticks around but also blends in with a strong herbal note that I presume is the clary sage. There’s a lot of complexity in this fragrance but I can pick out a few key notes here and there. Most notable is the lavender, then the sage and a spicy note in the midstage where I get the cinnamon notes. The final dry down is marked with a creamier personality as the tonka and amber notes come up to blend with the herbal and spicy notes. The lavender is still faintly recognizable in the dry down as well.

Extra: Fougere Royale has had a tumultuous past, much like the fragrance house that originally released it. After its release in 1882 it has gone under numerous reformulations. Like with all modern fragrances, any oak moss note is likely to be synthetic or a substitute. The original Fougere Royale was composed by Paul Parquet and was considered one of the first modern fragrances thanks to its use of synthetic coumarin. The 2010 version of Fougere Royale was composed by Rodrigo Floures-Roux (Clinique Happy, John Varvatos Artisan and Artisan Black).

Design: Fougere Royale 2010 is designed to appeal to a more masculine audience with a square-ish bottle featuring cut patterns in the glass. The bottle reminds me a bit of classical fragrances but also remains a little bit of modern appeal. It’s a pretty good design that does the fragrance and its history justice, in my opinion.

Fragrance Family: Aromatic

Notes: Bergamot, chamomile, lavender, herbs, carnation, geranium, cinnamon, rose, patchouli, oak moss, amber, tonka bean, clary sage.

I do believe Fougere Royale 2010 did the best that it could with a notes list from the 1800s that would have been expensive and near impossible to replicate now. I don’t doubt that 2010’s version and the fragrance from 1882 would smell drastically different but the 2010 version is a great fragrance nonetheless.

Reviewed in This Post: Fougere Royale, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Shalimar Parfum Initial

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Having missed out on numerous past Shalimar flankers, I resolved to go smell this one. At the very least, I could finally add a Shalimar flanker to my list. I wasn’t really sure what Parfum Initial is supposed to do to beloved Shalimar but it wasn’t what I expected.

Shalimar Parfum Initial

Shalimar Parfum Initial

In Bottle: Fresh and sweet citrus with a deep vanilla note lingering about in the back.

Applied: Fresh and clean citrus on opening with the rose and other florals rolling in soon after. There’s a dry woodsiness that joins the fragrance shortly after that as the scent warms up with a vanillic quality that doesn’t reach gourmand–and I’m glad. This is already different enough from original Shalimar that I’m a little disturbed when the mid-stage continues as we get a deep, warm vanilla, touched with a hint of florals. The fragrance ages into this warm, tonka quality that’s dense and deep but never reaches the point of gourmand because there’s that clean, fresh note keeping it from going full-on foody. There’s a lot missing in this fragrance that I would need if I were to call it anything related to Shalimar. Shalimar to me was that leathery vanilla scent. There’s vanilla in Parfum Initial but the missing leather makes this scent feel like it’s missing something. Maybe that’s just me though. What Shalimar Parfum Initial does is take an old classic, put a very modern spin on it and make it more accessible to a wider audience. I don’t know if I like this flanker, but it is nicely done regardless.

Extra: Shalimar Parfum Initial was released in 2011 and was composed by Thierry Wasser.

Design: I haven’t yet held the bottle for Shalimar Parfum Initial but if it’s anything close to the new Shalimar bottles then I can pretty much be guaranteed that it’ll be awesome. I love the redesign of the Shalimar bottles, it brings the fragrance back to the classic design that most people know Shalimar to.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, orange, rose, jasmine, vetiver, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean, white musk.

The more I think about this fragrance, the less sold on it I am. I’ll always think Shalimar got it right almost a century ago. While is a nice, newer, more approachable interpretation I also think it lost a little bit of essential history along the way.

Reviewed in This Post: Shalimar Parfum Initial, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Guerlain Chamade 1969

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How long has it been since I last smelled a classic Guerlain and marveled in that signature Guerlinade? Entirely too long, I think. I took a break from posting up Guerlain reviews because it’s clear I’m a fan girl from the amount of Guerlain vs. other fragrance houses. But we’re taking a bit of a respite today as summer winds its way down for autumn.

Chamade

Chamade

In Bottle: Ah glorious aldehydes mixed with a complex bouquet of florals and deepened with woods and resins and that unmistkable Guerlinade.

Applied: There’s something familiar and almost nostalgic when I smell Guerlinade in a fragrance after many months of hiatus. It’s like a comforting friend waiting for me with a cup of coffee after a rough day. Except in Chamade’s case, it’s a bouquet of aldehylic florals that stretch beyond the spectrum of complexity. You truly don’t smell anything like this these days. Not even the more daring of fragrance houses have quite this much depth to a fragrance. I can get the florals and the woods with the spicy and resins, but I can’t pick out specific notes. It’s just so beautifully blended together that I can only describe the opening as bright, slightly bitter, green and sophisticated. The midstage is a deep, resinous, complex floral aldehyde. The dry down is a warm, resin woodsy scent with this signature vanilla-like note. Just beautiful.

Extra: Classic Chamade, like many great perfumes, disappeared a little while ago. It was reintroduced in 1999 as Chamade Pour Homme as a limited edition then finally added to the line of Les Parisiennes. Looking at the notes list for the two, you can kind of see the new Chamade has been thinned out a bit. I haven’t smelled her yet though so I can’t pass judgement on whether or not the fragrance has actually been thinned out but I am worried for its history and its lush complexity.

Design: Classic Chamade was bottled in a beautiful flacon that reminds me half of a heart and half of a leaf. It’s a little reminiscent of an Escada bottle (or rather, the Escada bottles are reminiscent of this) except done far better with much nicer design elements and superior form. It’s a beautiful piece of glass and I have no complaints.

Fragrance Family: Classic Floral

Notes: Bergamot, Turkish rose, aldehydes, hyacinth, ylang-ylang, jasmine, lilac, cloves , blackcurrant buds, lily of the valley, galbanum, sandalwood, vetiver, musk, balsam, amber, benzoin, iris, tonka bean.

That was a nice respite. I especially found this pleasant after the disappointing adventure with Cher’s Uninhibited. Classic perfumes can be kept for many years and it’s a good thing too, or we wouldn’t be able to enjoy original Chamade.

Reviewed in This Post: Chamade, ~1980, Eau de Parfum.

Givenchy Organza Indecence

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Sometimes reading up on the history of a perfume is about as complicated as finding it. Organza Indecence had an earlier launch sometime in the late 1990s. I presume somewhere in and around that time it was also discontinued. It has been brought back since 2007  with a reportedly weaker sillage and it is the brought back version that I have.

Organza Indecence

Organza Indecence

In Bottle: Spicy with a clear cinnamon note and a nice mildly woody, floral in the background layered over a warm, sensual amber.

Applied: Spicy, a little bit sweet with a soft floral background that takes Indecence toward the feminine a little bit. I get some of the patchouli but it isn’t distracting because I swear there’s some florals here that are taming that dreaded patchouli and making it work with the spicy cinnamon. As the fragrance ages, it acquires a slight sweet and woody quality and that amber amps up giving this a warm sensual feel that takes it a bit closer to its sister, Organza. In Organza, I got a stronger amber note, with Organza Indecence I get a lighter, tamer amber with a spicy kick at the start and a flowery patchouli. The amber gets stronger and warmer as the fragrance wears on until it’s gone and all you’re left is that golden amber echo.

Extra: One of the more exciting parts about researching Organza Indecence is finding out that the collection it belongs to, Les Parfums Mythiques, also has a redistributed version of L’Interdit, one of those perfumes that I’d go gaga for. Funny enough you can find a few bottles kicking around discounters, on eBay, and even Givenchy’s Amazon.com branch has a couple of these fragrances in stock and the prices aren’t too bad either.

Design: Organza Indecence’s design is a delightful change from Organza as the fragrance plays up the feminine figure motif adding a lovely flowing coat to the bottle. Putting these two side-by-side would be awesome but unless you have the original release bottle, the Les Parfums Mythiques version is a decidedly simpler affair with a rectangle-ish thing that doesn’t inspire as much whimsical artistry. Still, both designs are pleasant.

Fragrance Family: Spicy Oriental

Notes: Patchouli, plum, cinnamon, amber, musk.

The two Organzas  are distinct and of these two, I think I prefer Indecence’s spicier interpretation. There’s something to be said about the tamer amber in this and the sweetness mingling with the spicy cinnamon opening. It’s a little more approachable to my nose, though both of these fragrances have very lovely amberous hearts.

My thanks go out to Dovile for reminding me to get a review of Givenchy Organza Indecence out there. 😀

Reviewed in This Post: Organza Indecence, 2009, Eau de Parfum.

Dior Diorissimo

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Diorissimo is a classic from the 1950s before Dior went the youth route and replaced their hard hitting fragrance lines with stuff like Miss Dior Cherie. I smell Diorissimo and miss the days when it was okay for a fragrance to be heavy and heady.

Diorissimo

In Bottle: Florals with a slight sting of citrus up front and a coating of animalic civet in the background.

Applied: Fresh and green with a citrus opening and that smell of leaves and dew. The lilies come in during the mid-stage and in the final act of the opening and proceed to dominate the fragrance. The lily scent in the middle is very noticeable, clearly the stars of the show as the fragrance settles into this heady floral lily mixture that’s just unrelenting. I still get a bit of that fresh green leaf scent that present when this fragrance was first applied but the civet can’t stay hidden forever. It creeps up as the fragrance gets warmer and dirties the scent up quite a bit. At times I’m wondering who let the mongoose into the garden as the civet is a bit disturbing but at the same time feels like it belongs. The dry down introduces a bit of sandalwood, scenting together with the lilies as the two do a little good against the ever-present civet.

Extra: Diorissimo is still available in its Eau de Toilette form and for the most part, it smells similar now to when I first smelled it in the 90s and, all things considered, it is available for a fairly reasonable price. You can also hunt down the Parfum concentration, though I’m told it’s more rare, more expensive, and even headier than the EdT.

Design: Bottled rather simply but has a classic elegance to it that says this stuff doesn’t need frills and gimmicks to look good and be good. I like the simplicity of it all. The brush script I can take or leave but the overall design is pleasing and nice.

Fragrance Family: Classic Floral

Notes: Bergamot, leaves, rosemary, lily, lilac, jasmine, lily of the valley, ylang-ylang, civet, sandalwood.

I’m not sure how to treat the civet in Diorissimo. It’s not heavy enough to be a deal breaker, but I do notice it and it does put me off a little. Regardless, if you like a little civet here and there Diorissimo is a beautiful classic that’s survived the times–mostly–in tact.

Reviewed in This Post: Diorissimo, 2005, Eau de Toilette.

Guerlain AA Jasminora

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It’s been a while since I’ve been to the Guerlains. I figured a few months worth of a break is a decent time period so I’m heading back slowly with Guerlain’s newest Aqua Allegoria; Jasminora.

Jasminora

In Bottle: Clean citrus with a jasmine and soft floral heart.

Applied: Sharp green citrus up front that quickly fades into a scrubby clean floral scent. The jasmine is easy to distinguish from the other florals although it is struggling a bit due to the amount of clean white musk that was dumped into this fragrance. The mid-stage is a lovely floral and airy thing. A bit of a wilting daisy when it comes to fragrances but this is an Aqua Allegoria after all. Guerlain’s done jasmine better in some of their other fragrances but this one is a nice departure from their usual. It’s a lighter, more youthful interpretation. I just wish there was more to it than jasmine and clean. The dry down is not too much more complex as the jasmine and florals fade away leaving you with this generic clean smell on your skin.

Extra: I’m not overly impressed with Jasminora. It suffers from that “Doesn’t smell like a Guerlain” syndrome. But one could argue that most Aqua Allegorias suffer from that. Still, Jasminora is easy to wear and easy to like. She’s not interesting at all and she’s a bit of a disappointment from one of my favorite fragrance houses.

Design: Bottled in a similar way as other Aqua Allegorias, in a pseudo-bee bottle flacon with a hive cage over the top half. Although these aren’t quite the full deal bee bottles, I bet they’d look beautiful all lined up in a row.

Fragrance Family: Floral

Notes: Bergamot, cyclamen, galbanum, lily of the valley, freesia, jasmine, musk, amber.

Ultimately, I looked at Jasminora and compared it to Thierry Mugler’s Alien. And I know, it’s a bit unfair. Alien is a powerhouse jasmine and Jasminora is an approachable jasmine. There’s just something weak about Jasminora that makes me say you’re better off going light with Alien.

Reviewed in This Post: Jasminora, 2011, Eau de Toilette.

Givenchy Ange ou Demon

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From the other reviews I’ve read, it seems Ange ou Demon used to be something much better than the iteration I smelled. There’s a lot of bitterness for the silent reformulation of this fragrance and I regret not having smelled its original incarnation.

Ange ou Demon

Ange ou Demon

In Bottle: Looking at the notes list, I wouldn’t have pegged any of those to be in this fragrance. My impression is a very sweet rather girlish fragrance. Certainly not one that I could see the likes of rosewood and oak moss being present. This smells like fruity candy basically.

Applied: Very sweet fruity opening that reminds me a bit of Coco Mademoiselle’s very sweet opening without the amber or the powderiness. Ange ou Demon is like a slap in the face with a bag of hard candies. It quickly becomes cloying before it even starts introducing other notes into the mix. As I keep wearing it, there’s a few flowers that come in, none of them very deep but they do add themselves to the fruity candy mixture in the opening so what I end up getting is this sweet flowery mess that doesn’t smell like a high-end fragrance should smell like. Basically, it smells sloppily put together. Like someone mixed two incompatible perfumes together. The dry down doesn’t make things much better as that annoying cloying sweetness sidles up to the vanilla in the base to take Ange ou Demon out to end what was ultimately a pretty banal and semi-annoying performance.

Extra: Seems to me like sometime in the last few years Ange ou Demon went from a more sophisticated spicy floral scent to what it is now as a candy-laden mess. A shame, really, as the previous version sounded brilliant.

Design: I rather like the bottle design even though it can be a bit over the top. It reminds me of a jewel or a geode or something rocky and sparkling like that. The bottle itself is easy to hold and use though so I’m happy with it.

Fragrance Family: Sweet Floral

Notes: Mandarin,  cumin, saffron, lily, orchid, ylang-ylang, rosewood , oak moss, vanilla, tonka.

If there was more to this fragrance, I really missed it. The notes list makes Ange ou Demon sound so awesome. Cumon, saffron, rosewood and oak moss. All hugely sophisticated and beautiful notes but I got none of that. Instead, I got a flower covered lollipop.

Reviewed in This Post: Ange ou Demon, 2011, Eau de Parfum.

Creed Angelique Encens

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I’m rather sad that so many fragrances that are both beautiful and complex are discontinued. This includes Creed’s classic, Angelique Encens.

Angelique Encens

In Bottle: Creamy tuberose as a minor note–a bit of a surprise for me since tuberose tends to be big with my nose. There’s a lovely heady layer of incense hovering all over this fragrance.

Applied: Tuberose and soft florals with a touch of vanilla and amber. The oriental portion of this fragrance is very noticeable at first but the scent ages into its mid-stage with a lovely incense note coming up and flooding the fragrance. The incense in this is so pure and beautiful that if you enjoy incense, you should definitely look this one up. It’s heady and full and blends beautifully with the amber and vanilla opening. There’s a bit of tuberose still lingering around with a perfumy jasmine note trying to make an appearance but only manages a minor cameo. Though you don’t get much of the opening as soon as Angelique Encens gets started, you do feel that they’re still there. The dry down is more incense with a complete fade of any florals that may have managed to peek through. Angelique Encens is just a pretty classic.

Extra: All right, I got my sample of Angelique Encens dated to approximately 1970s but I can’t be sure as to how old it is. My contact also has no idea how old it is so we agreed on a very vague date for this stuff. The problem with Angelique Encens is that it’s no longer available. Creed discontinued her at some point and are now releasing her on a limited basis. Incredibly frustrating, but I suppose that’s how the exclusivity game works.

Design: Angellique Encens is bottled in Creed’s signature flacon. I’ve held exactly one of these in my life and the feel was very nice. It was heavy and looked beautiful. The price gets me a little but Creed makes up for the price in packaging and, in the case of Angelique Encens, the juice is fabulous as well.

Fragrance Family: Incense Oriental

Notes: Angelica, tuberose, rose, jasmine, amber, vanilla, incense.

I wish they’d bring this one back from discontinuation. I think she’s deeper, more complex and far better than most of the Creeds out now.

Reviewed in This Post: Angelique Encens, ~1970, Eau de Parfum.

Estee Lauder Pleasures

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When I first smelled Pleasures, the only Estee Lauder perfumes I was aware of were White Linen and Youth Dew. I was afraid of Pleasures and other Estee Lauder perfumes because of the iconic status of some of their fragrances.

Pleasures

In Bottle: Pleasures is actually a very approachable modern fragrance set as a dewy floral. It’s light and gentle and highly wearable without the need to understand it first.

Applied: Starts off a sweet little kick from the pink pepper and the violets. Freesia adds a jolt of clean and sweet to the opening too. I can barely smell any tuberose in this. In fact, aside from a slick, creamy quality that settles close to the background on the opening I can’t even get tuberose. Pleasures evolves into peony and rose. The rose is a modern interpretation, clean and fresh and coupled with a crisp set of lily and lily-of-the-valley. The fragrance is such a benign blend of florals. The dry down doesn’t move too different, introducing a soft sandalwood mingling with cedar while clean musk keeps everything lumped together.

Extra: Pleasures and the Pleasures line of flankers is like Estee Lauder’s modern floral attempts. And they succeeded. Pleasures is a great clean, fresh floral. There’s not a whole lot of personality to this but it is successful for what Estee Lauder tried to make of it.

Design: I’m always underwhelmed by Estee Lauder’s bottle designs. They tend to be simple, which I like. But for some reason, the designs also remind me of the 80s. And not just the 80s in general but shoulder pads in floral print dresses. Pleasures is no exception to this. The bottle is simple, easy to hold and easy to spray. It just isn’t really imaginative.

Fragrance Family: Fresh Floral

Notes: Pink pepper, violet, freesia, tuberose, berries, poeny, rose, lily, lilac, jasmine, lily-of-the-valley, geranium, patchouli, sandalwood, cedar, musk.

I’m all right with Pleasures. I think it’s a very well done floral that could be a good contender in the modern fragrance arena. I just don’t find it interesting at all.

Reviewed in This Post: Pleasures, 2010, Eau de Parfum.

Givenchy Organza

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My mother owns a bottle of Organza that she’s been slowly whittling down for a number of years. I wouldn’t be surprised if her bottle was approaching its tenth birthday she’s had this for a while. Organza is sensual, classic-smelling, and a bit difficult to like at times for me. But it is beautiful.

Organza

In Bottle: Amber-like. Warm and sensual with a little bit of dirtiness in there. Organza is spicy, sophisticated, and a touch sweet layered with woods.

Applied: Citrus on the opening with a rather sudden dirty note showing up earlier in the fragrance. This smells rather personable while at the same time it projects the fact that it’s a fragrance as put on as anything else. The citrus dries off rather quickly leaving me a spicy amber coating a bouquet of jasmine, tuberose, and earthy iris. The mid-stage is where Organza’s dirty note amps up a bit more, taking this fragrance away from what normally would be a simple clean perfume to a dense, rich amber-like fragrance with florals to temper the warmth a bit. The dry down is an interesting affair. Amber is the star of the show here and the drydown is no different. It play on the amber is a powdery woodsy scent, a bit like wood dust in a way.

Extra: Sometimes I associate my mother with this fragrance but she wore No.5 before she ever knew about Organza.

Design: It’s pretty obvious what the bottle is trying to reflect here. The curve of a woman wearing a dress. There’s elements of column structure here too. I rather like Organza’s design. It’s elegant and like the fragrance itself. The soft, gentle curves and line work on the bottle remind me of Art Nouveau.

Fragrance Family: Oriental

Notes: Bergamot, orange flower, gardenia, nutmeg, tuberose, honeysuckle, jasmine, iris, peony, walnut, cedar, amber, vanilla, guaiac wood.

It’s funny how tastes change over the years. When my mother first got this perfume I couldn’t stand it. It was too strong. Smelled weird. Now I can see why she liked this.

Reviewed in This Post: Organza, ~2003, Eau de Parfum.