Quelques Fleurs (Vintage) by Houbigant in 1913: LIVE Video Sniff
Hey Hey All You Happy Huffers, Portia from AustralianPerfumeJunkies with you again and today Margeaux (David) and I are thrilled to bring you a vintage fragrance that has been reformulated into another fragrance entirely. We are sniffing the fabulous historical magic of an older Quelques Fleurs formulation before IFRA started changing the world. As usual we are flying blind and don’t get all our facts right. This is entertainment, hopefully you’ll enjoy out madness.
Quelques Fleurs Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Orange blossom, green notes, tarragon, bergamot, lemon, citruses
Heart: Carnation, tuberose, orchid, lilac, orris root, jasmine, heliotrope, ylang-ylang, lily-of-the-valley, rose, violet, iris
Base: Sandalwood, tonka bean, amber, musk, civet, oakmoss, honey and vanilla.
The Scent Critic says better than I ever could: Houbigant, its creator, was a favourite fragrance house of Marie-Antoinette’s. Allegedly, she tucked three vials of Houbigant fragrance down her décolletage to wear to the guillotine. Napoleon loved the perfume house, too. There were Houbigant ‘pastilles’ – an early way to scent the air – burning in the room where Bonaparte died, but lest we get maudlin here, Queen Victoria – not to mention her Russian Tsar cousins – were crazy for Houbigant while very much alive.
And Quelques Fleurs itself – which by rights ought to be one of the most famous fragrances in the world, but somehow isn’t – was a ground-breaking scent in its own right: the quintessential (as the name suggests) floral, in which jasmine and rose waltz around heady ylang-ylang, in a swagged, crowded ballroom of a scent which features no less than 313 different essences.
Further reading 1000Flowers
FragranceX has modern Quelques Fleurs 50ml EdP $53
Thanks for watching, I hope you have a great time watching our silliness.
If you liked this, why not come on ever and see what madness is going on at AustralianPerfumeJunkies, we LOVE visitors.
Portia xx
Hey, Beauty! I LOVE this stuff. I used to wear the living daylights out of it, back in the day!!!!! xooxA
Hi Musette,
I bet you did. I reckon you smelled incredible then, as now.
Portia xx
Great, entertaining review, as always, Portia & Margeaux!! I think I have a sample of this somewhere from a while back so now I need to go dig it up. Can’t wait to see what you think about it after spending some quality time with it. Also am loving their newish orange blossom scent.
Thanks Ann,
Did you find it?
I think I need go check this new OB scent if you think it worth a sniff.
Portia xx
Can’t wait to see the whole story! And David is a cutie!
Hey Tom,
I will get to it. There is SO MUCH ahead of it in line though. Overwhelming sometimes. Margeaux is the cutest ever.
Portia xx
Love it – looking forward to your full review, Portia.
Thanks Rosarita!!
Portia xx
I seriously don’t need another vintage lemming! Don’t you miss the complexity? By the way it’s pronounced oobeegahn…the French don’t pronounce “h” the way English speakers do…like hotel is eautel. Thanks for the laugh–oh, and the new Houbigant orange blossom one is nice too.
OMG! I am so DUMB! You know we hardly even speaka de Englaise in Australia so French is WAY out of our comfort zone. OOBEEGAHN it is from this day forward. thank you for telling me so kindly.
Portia xx