Hi there Perfume Posse! One of my favourites just appeared as if by magic. Today we are smelling 24 Faubourg, an orange blossom with ALL the trimmings and celebrating its 20th year in production in 2015. From the year that brought us Versace Blonde, Le Male by JPG, Poeme by Lancome and Ubar by Amouage: it was a VERY good year for fragrance and all of these are currently FB in my collection 20 years on.

24 Faubourg by Maurice Roucel for Hermès 1995

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, Orange, Ylang_Ylang, Hyacinth, peach
Heart: Black elder, orange blosson, jasmine, gardenia, iris
Base: Vanilla, patchouli, sandalwood, amber

I often turn to 24 Faubourg at the end of summer. Yes I wear it occasionally through the year but it’s the end of the muggy heat in Sydney that really makes me head for the bottle and spray lavishly. Funnily, this year the bottle is in storage but I did happen upon a decant that I’ve had sitting in a box today from Posh Peasant and as the weather here is still warm enough I thought I go spritz crazy.

Photo Stolen WikiCommons

Ooooh! I think this might be a bit older than my bottle. The aldehydes and resins are immediately apparent even before the citrus/fruit zings into focus. WOW! Bright, dense, powerful, rich and glorious are the 5 words I wrote on spritzing, like the Georgia O’Keeffe painting above. It smells heavenly, so full and rich. Is there some animalic stuff not mentioned in the notes? Honey, civet or ambergris? Sexy, sensual and very high octane. My newer bottle has all these ingredients but arranged a bit differently and in what seems to be different doses from memory.

Into the heart the flowers make an exquisite bouquet that creates a perfect frame around the white flowers. So pretty; bold and yet completely wearable. Elegant. 24 Faubourg is like the synthesized juice of the Hermès branding, luxe, elegant, regal yet relaxed and comfortable. Like what the upper classes probably wear to polo or yachting. If ever a fragrance were to announce that you’ve arrived I think 24 Faubourg could be it. I could imagine Princess Diana, who it is said loved 24 Faubourg, arriving at a gala dressed in one of her fabulous gowns, gloves jewels etc and smelling 100% perfection in this.

Photo Stolen Hermès

After about an hour, maybe a bit less, 24 Faubourg becomes a much tamer animal and slightly soapy. Still fragrant but now it has calmed considerably. Lush floral with amber background and still a lovely animalic purr. I get quite good longevity at 5+ hours. Perfect for most situations but probably a bit full on for work environments unless you use a very light hand.

Further reading: Olfactoria’s Travels and The Perfume Magazine
You can buy 24 Faubourg online at Hermès Hermès World Site Page<<<JUMP
Surrender To Chance starts at $3/ml

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What is your Spring or Autumn fragrance fling right now?
Portia xx