OJ&B Gets Regal With Houbigant's Fougere Royale!

I am so excited to share with you, Fougere Royale, a fragrance that has an amazing true story and smells phenomenal! It was worn by some MAJOR names in history. If bloggers existed in the 1700's we would have totally blogged about these notable names wearing the scent!

Fougere Royale come from the House of Houbigant which has operated since 1775 and is the only fragrance house that has existed through four centuries of history. Through these centuries, the perfumers of the House of Houbigant have made groundbreaking discoveries in the formulation of perfumes that have revolutionized forever the way perfumes are constructed.

Jean-Francois Houbigant's fragrances found favour with royalty and the nobility. Houbigant taught the titled women at the Court of Versailles how to perfume their fans so that just a fragrant flutter would send out a romantic message. In 1793 Marie-Antoinette carried 3 vials of Houbigant perfume in her corsage to give her strength when she was executed by guillotine. Over the centuries, the House of Houbigant became perfumer to the royal courts of Europe. Josephine, the future Empress of France, belonged to a group of stylish young men and women called “The Muscadins” because of their craze for musk which was Josephine’s favourite essence. Houbigant fragrances travelled in Napoleon’s campaign chest during the years when he was conquering Europe. In the spring of 1815 Napoleon was only in Paris for three months, a period that history calls “The Hundred Days”. In those brief months he raised an army and found time to shop at Houbigant. Napolean's bill of sales is actually framed at Houbigant. Other royals who wore Houbigant include Her Royal Highness, the Princess Adelaide d’Orleans, mother of King Louis-Philippe, Her Majesty, Queen Victoria of England, Czar Alexander and many more.

Above: I went back in time to visit Marie-Antoinette.

First introduced in 1882, Fougère Royale completely revolutionized the world of perfumes and established modern perfumery as it exists today. Fougère Royale was the first “fougère” (or fern-like) perfume ever created, establishing a completely new fragrance family which still remains today the most popular family in men’s fragrances: Brut by Fabergé, Paco Rabanne, Azzarro, Boss by Hugo Boss and Prada by Prada for Men belong to this family. But even more important Houbigant was also the first perfume house to discover how to isolate particular molecules from natural raw materials and more specifically the coumarin, which is isolated from the tonka beans.

I was blown away with how amazing this luxury scent smells. It has so many amazing notes and I could not believe how it magically changes from fresh spritz to it remaining on you skin for a very long time. It is like a fragrance kaleidoscope that continually changes until it finally settles leaving you smelling fresh and luxurious.

I was so honored to have met the House of Houbigant's Executive Vice President, Gian Lucca Perris and Creative Director, Elisabetta Perris along with the head perfumer at Giavaudan, Rodrigo Flores-Roux. I spoke with Gian and Elisabetta about the history of the fragrances and they told me how many of the original and older bottles of the fragrances are very sought after all over the world. I asked Gian about the proper way to apply a fragrance and he told that fragrances can be applied anywhere on the skin except for the sensitive areas. The most common places would be the neck and wrist and that many people rub the skin after applying a fragrance but that is the wrong thing to do! I was surprised to find out that that actually breaks the molecules in the skin and the fragrance causing it to change the way the fragrance smells.

OJ&B EXCLUSIVE TIP! DO NOT RUB YOUR WRISTS TOGETHER AFTER APPLYING A FRAGRANCE. ALSO If YOU HAVE LOTION WITH THE FRAGRANCE, APPLY THE FRAGRANCE AND THEN THE LOTION AS THE LOTION WILL SEAL IN THE FRAGRANCE AND THE SCENT WILL STAY WITH YOU LONGER.


Above: The House of Houbigant's Executive Vice President, Gian Lucca Perris and Creative Director, Elisabetta Perris.

There is no surprise that I LOVE this scent as the creator, Rodrigo Flores-Roux, also made scents for John Varvatos! “I am absolutely thrilled, and feel extremely privileged, to have been summoned by the House of Houbigant to participate in this part of the Fougère Royale being reborn. As a perfumer, I can say this is a one-in-a-life-time gift,” says Flores-Roux of his work.

Congrats to the entire team for making a truly phenomenal product! I am so honored to have been able to experience Fougere Royale and the House of Houbigant with the scents creator, EVP and Creative Director. Best of luck to the entire team!

Above: All the details present on the original design have been incorporated but the over all look has been revisited to make it more masculine and modern.