Several months ago, I stumbled across Bourbon French Parfums of New Orleans on my endless quest for the perfect olive blossom – one that conjures up the smell of the Russian olives I fell in love with when we lived in Santa Fe. (Shiseido Saso comes very, very close). I was completely charmed by their website, which features vintage floral illustrations and is beautifully done. Quoting from their brochure, “Begun by August Doussan in 1843, this perfumery has been creating elegant, sensual fragrances for 160 years … Bourbon French still individually prepares each formula in small, personalized qualities.” I emailed them, explained I was a perfume blogger, asked for a few samples, and got back 12 tiny vials, which comprises only a part of their line.
The smell of the Bourbon French oeuvre wafting out of the mailing envelope is so powerfully delicious that I´ve been fighting the urge to dump them all together in one bottle ever since they arrived. It´s a wonderful smell – something (can I write this?) that captures the steamy, sensual, somewhat seedy charm of the Big Easy on my first trip there in college, when my friend and I were so broke we stayed in a flophouse with cockroaches the size of my hand and shoved the lone dresser in front of the unlockable door before retiring each evening. We were on the fourth floor of a rickety wooden building, and the fire escape plan was “jump,” which – who cares? – I was 20 and knew I´d live forever. Eventually we decamped to the apartment of some dude we met, where we could stay for free instead of paying the usurious $26 we´d been paying for the flophouse. We staved off his advances by telling him we were lesbians, which served only to increase his ardor (two girls! hottt!) … but I digress.
These are perfumes, eaux de toilette and colognes (there are ancillary bath products) and they have an old-fashioned feel to them – we are not talking Malle here, or fancy headspace technology. If you´ll open yourself to them, though, they have a distinctive earthy charm. They are grouped into several collections of blended fragrances, in addition to a number of soliflores – “Southern favorites,” vintage, and “exotic” – and how can you resist the charms of magnolia, sweet pea, olive blossom, white ginger and plumeria, to name just a few? For that matter, how can you resist “Voodoo Love, a recreation of the special potion by New Orleans´ Voodoo Queen Marie Laveau?” Or “Kus Kus, the soft, powdery original scent of New Orleans?”
My favorites among the soliflores they sent include the magnolia (which captures, beautifully, the weird, fleshy/vegetal greenness of the flower), orange blossom (sweet, old-fashioned and honeyed – sunshine in a bottle), and violet (an odd, strong scent that manages to be both powdery and green, and grew on me over time).
Among the collection, the Eleftorea is a gentle citrus cologne (bergamot, grapefruit, kiwi); the famed Kus Kus is a little powdery for me, but you fans of Teint de Neige would probably swoon; La Pluie conjures up not the muguet in its description so much as the delicate rain of its name; Marguerite, a “light clean, spicy fragrance” that´s a complete mystery in terms of content but contains a lovely note of sassafras; and the giggly Perfume of Paradise, “as steamy as a still July night on the bayou, as overwhelmingly hot as Cajun spice,” registers as mostly white flowers. I´m sad to say I didn´t wind up with any of the Men´s colognes, for instance, Eau de Noir (“the feel of incense with this dark, musky fragrance”) or the Musk Oil (“its aphrodesiac properties are legendary…”)
Again, these have an old-fashioned, easy feel that I find charming in their contrast to the haute parfums (some quite abstract) I smell much of the time. The next time you´re looking for an antidote to Antidote and the rest of the new releases, consider this line. The prices are quite reasonable. As far as I know, they still have a store on Royal Street, and if it´s anything like the website, I´d make a point to visit it. If nothing else, go take a 60-second peek at their website – the illustrations alone are worth the browse.
images in this post from the Bourbon French Parfums website
Sniff …… my GOD.:o
I can’t believe they let you in there.
They didn’t call security?!?
NOBODY over a size 6 is allowed in NM, particularly in leathers. Karl Lagerfeld, maybe.
Maybe.
Just discovered it last week. Took the bike out for a spin and wound up at Tysons II. Nothing scares the skinny black-clad ladies at NM more than a full-figured, experienced in life woman in a motorcycle jacket carrying a helmet. Discovered the Art of Flowers, but didn’t get to the back room. Now I know to dive deeper into the store. Thanks for the tip!
Sniff — if you have not been, do yourself a joyous favor and go to Art With Flowers at the top of Tysons II (the one with Saks and NM) at Tysons Corner. It looks like a florist shop; have no fear. The back half of the store is as niche as it gets in D.C., so far as I know — SL, Rosines, TDC, SMN, ETC. 😉 If you see Bill or Neela, tell them March from the Posse sent you.
March–have we come so cyber-far to live next door? Are in you in DC? I’m across the Potomac in NoVa. I’ve never weighed the stash, but glad I don’t have to. Just quit hiding it and declared myself proud of it! Now I hunt proudly for niche perfumes and pretend that reading you is “research”!
SniffQ — Welcome! Thanks for stopping by, I’ll check your blog out. Yep, fragrance nuts everywhere. Hey, 4 lbs of samples is a nice stash!
Leopoldo — I think the beef as I understand it is gov’t-organized tours … the Cheese has cobbled together his own nightmare trip, so as far as we know the cash is going directly from his hand into the individual pocket … if you ever get to D.C., let me know.
What a great waft back into the past! I bought a bottle of Entre Nous at “La Maison Bourbon” and loved it. Wore it every time I went back, including the mysterious time I had my Tarot cards read. (The whole tale is at under New Orleans Light, and pardon me if I’m not supposed to do that, I’m a bit vague on blogiquette.) In any case, thanks for a fabulous visual and olfactory trip to New Orleans. For years I thought I had something wrong with me because I’m a perfume addict, and then POOF! All of you appeared in my life. And I’m a slug in my meager 4-pound stash of samples!
There’s this big ‘Don’t do Myanmar’ thing in the Uk – and some shocking TV programmes about how tourists directly fund the continued suffering of the people… Heartbreaking stuff for tribal groups in particular…
And if you wore CB Musk, I’d eat you (not in that smutty American sense…..LOL) And ruby hair! Love it!
I love both your types of travel! and if you’re in the UK next year, I’ll have to track you down. I’m in the States next year I reckon… California way to visit a post-surgery lovely lady friend of mine… could go awandering…
I did read about his Morroccan adventures! SO fun! DH and I have never really traveled together since although we never had human children (those adoption rules are a real sore point for me), we do have the MOST worshipped canine child who we never can bear to board. Besides, DH only wants to go to Europe for vacations and likes to stay in places that actually might be worthy of trying for stars. 🙂 I love spending time in Europe too, but I also adore traveling through Asia, Africa and South America and will happily give up stars in order to be able to stay gone for long, long periods of time (another benefit of working for myself). I’ve been known to travel alone by bus in Africa for two months at a time. DH blanches in horror just at the thought. 🙂 I look forward to your report of the Big Cheese’s latest adventure. Myanmar is a fascinating (but often depressing) place. Hope he got to Amarapura.
Elle — P.S. He’s very into the “authentic experience” — perhaps you read my post on his Morroccan adventures in February … heh heh. So he tends to stay in some fairly dicey places. X number of emails from him on this trip have started with “you would really hate this”:-“
Elle — that is so great! The Big Cheese and I travel as much as possible, mostly separately due to the, uh, 4-kid problem. Also very different destinations: for me, the UK and Greece (I hope) in 2007. Right now B.C. is in the middle of his extended 2006 Heart-of-Darkness Tour of Myanmar and Malaysia… next year — Bhutan and China?!
March,
I even got Myth of Saso when I read that that was what Patty loved. Saso is my fav of the two, but MoS layers very nicely w/ some wood and incense scents.
I’m an obsessive traveler and I’m afraid that even in my early 30s I was still staying in dumps just in order to be able to travel very frequently, for extended periods and to cool places (spent 10 months in Paris in an $8/night hotel). My DH refuses to travel w/ me because he says my standards are still too low. 🙂
L
Tigs — those were the days …:”> It makes me sad to think I can’t really go back there. They may or may not rebuild it, but it’ll never be the same.
Leopoldo — well, get over here already! Come see me! Let’s have lunch! You can giggle at my new Ruby Slipper hair color. I promise not to wear CB Musk.
V-Ron — you naughty girl!! How did you know about my (not-so) Secret Lust for men in seersucker? The Big Cheese used to sport the seersucker. And white bucks. Sigh… there must be something wrong with me.
Robin — ah, everyone’s discovered everything a million years before me! Wonder why they raved about Kus Kus … I’m not surprised you liked the orange, though. Nothing fancy, but so pretty. I think of you whenever I smell a good orange.
March, almost everybody has a great Big Easy story, but that one is a topper. Enjoyed your post as ever….
Patty — yep, that’s the charm of those trips of yore to New Orleans … hazy nights and beignets. Yum! I wonder if it will ever be the same… I’m thinking not.
Marina — PS — what is this Romanov?:-?
Marina — “charming” is the word that keeps popping up, and I meant to say that I don’t mean that as some hipster code for goofy or dated — they really *are* charming, and a nice change of pace.
Chaya — oh, get the Legendary Horny Musk and tell me how it is!!!;)
Elles — you and Saso?!?:x I wonder if anyone else in the U.S. wears it. I’m thinking not. BTW I thought of you the other day when I got c*l*ry for the first time in a fragrance — what a travesty…
Ah, our misspent youths. I don’t regret a bit of it, but I’m not sorry to have moved on.
Patch — all your new toys sound perfect for this time of year … and, to be honest, the Bourbon French is not the same level of perfumery. But they’re perfect for what they’re trying to be. I think the bath products sound particularly enticing.
Fat chance of me sniffing that Eau de Noir until I head Stateside. Eau well…
Nothing like Vetivert and a crisp Haspel suit on a steamy summer night.
I like their orange blossom, but so far it is the only one I found that suited me at all. Kus Kus was popular at MUA once upon a time, but haven’t heard it mentioned in ages.
These sound just charming. I can’t wait to get back to New Orleans one of these days and visit them in person. I keep thinking I have been in their shop many, many years ago, but just can’t remember for sure (too much booze)
:(( Marinochka, my tulip-
Where the hell is Romanov?
I looked everywhere…
Do tell !
Hottt!
I really like Bourbon French’s scents, they are so well blended and so charming. Romanov is my very favorite
:)Good Morning, my dear-
THIS was the website I had perused but couldn’t relocate…
Thanks !
Very charming.
I’m on an endless quest for Russian Olive as well, which, like you, is what made me try the Bourbon French line a few years ago. I got Saso after reading your review of it and, you’re right, it really is the closest I’ve found so far. I don’t think I tried the Magnolia. I need to order that one since I’m also always searching for a scent that actually *does* smell like magnolia – not an easy thing to capture apparently. But my mad mixer soul *really* wants to get 12 scents like you did and blend them all together. From what I remember of their scents, I bet it would be *brilliant*.
Oh, and I’ve stayed in hotels like that in my youth as well. 🙂 Nothing like waking the people in the room above you by the sound of shoes thrown against the ceiling to try and kill mouse size roaches.
Oh, you’ve started a new lemming, March. But how nice that it’s affordable. The drawings on the website are something else — the devil’s in all those priceless details. (Irrelevantly — I’ve been playing with some samples the past couple of days: Santal Blanc, Daim Blond, and Ambre Russe. Well, they are all sort of autumnal. Husband’s amused but the cat’s going around with his upper lip curled, saying “You have morphed into something very, very strange.”)