A Little Bit of Houbigant

Yet another storm, Ingrid, moved through our area last week. Gale force winds for hours. Now, rain. We’re due rain for at least two weeks. I’ve got an orthodontic appointment early evening when the worst of today’s rain is due.

I was going to do Kurkdijian Baccarat Rouge 540 today. Portia has written about this, as have Patty and March. So, I thought I’d get on the bandwagon. That is until I put it on. Someone in the comments on Fragrantica said this smelled like caramel candy in a dental office. I read this after I put it on and indeed that was it on me. The dog came over at one point, smelled me and walked away. So, that’s all you’re getting from me on this. Utter and complete fail.

The next thing I pulled from this set of samples was Figuier Noir from Houbigant. And that sent me off looking for a couple more Houbigant samples to round things out.

So, a handful of Houbigant today. A really old house, from the 1700s. Quelque Fleurs had a big moment on the Makeup Alley fragrance board ages ago. I’m not going to do the history. Here’s a link to wiki on this house: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Houbigant_Parfum

I recall being able to get it from the drug store ages ago or maybe it was secreted in a corner of the local smaller department store when I was in my teens.

Anyway, I popped the Figuier Noir (2022) into the cart because … it’s fig.

This is quite nice. It’s not Noir as in dark but rather specifically black fig. A gentled down Diptyque Philosykos without the coconut. More leaf, wood and fruit. It’s very wearable (fig leaves, cardamon, cloves, black pepper, black fig, iris, jasmine, cedar, patchouli and candied fig). If you like fig fragrances this is definitely worth a look. And the more I sample, the more I like this.

Next up is Quelques Fleurs l’Original Extrait (1913). Boy oh boy is this pretty. If you are a lover of white florals definitely worth a look. It’s the proverbial kitchen sink notes list: bergamot, galbanum, tarragon, lemon, jasmine, tuberose, lily of the valley, violet, rose, ylang, carnation, orange blossom, clove, oakmoss, cedar, musk, orris, sandalwood, civet and tonka bean. I initially get lily of the valley and carnation and ylang. I don’t know why I never sampled this way back when it could be gotten at the local drug store. This is ‘hot’, meaning old style sexy with a good undercurrent of pong.

Finally, Mon Boudoir Privée (1919). I bought this for the name.  Notes: bergamot, pink pepper, Timur pepper, geranium, Bulgarian rose, jasmine, heliotrope, iria, ylang, patchouli, sandalwood, benzoin, Tahitian vanilla, ambergris and musk. Another proper sex bomb perfume. It opens on me vanilla (which doesn’t show up in the list till the drydown), almond (the heliotrope) and pepper. But the vanilla of old-style talcum powder that weirded you out in an older woman’s boudoir when you were a young’un and didn’t know better. Some of Tom’s long-ago actresses must have worn this. The almond is musk-nutty rather than sweet. And there’s this undercurrent of pepper. What an interesting find. NB: And as I was falling asleep hours later I realised I could still smell it and the fragrance had morphed into sugared almonds, but not sickly at all. This is just sex in a bottle.

These generally appear to be available in 100ml sizes and bar the extrait are not stupid pricey (ie, they are below £200; I’ve seen the extrait for between £355 and £395).

I have to say that going down the rabbit hole of a perfume house I’ve long known about but ignored was rewarding in surprising ways.

Pics: wiki parfums, pexels