Fougere Royale

Based on my evaluation of the reconstructed sample of Fougère Royale (1882) by Houbigant from the Osmothèque of Versailles, I can confirm that it has absolutely nothing in common with the modern version of Fougère Royale (2010) created by Rodrigo Flores-Roux. The original Fougère Royale by perfumer Paul Parquet smells almost identical to Wild Fern by Geo F. Trumper (1877), which is still in production, as well as to English Fern by Penhaligon’s (1890), which was discontinued about ten years ago. At the same time, it is easy to notice that Wild Fern by Geo F. Trumper (1877) predates Fougère Royale (1882). This suggests that the British were the first to release this olfactory profile, while the French at Houbigant likely took inspiration from it and issued their own version, changing the name from “Wild Fern” to “Royal Fern” to add a touch of luxury. Their version gained wider recognition and eventually became famous as the progenitor of the entire fougère family. That's my conclusion. Fougère Royale smells like green, aldehidic soap. Here bright greenery is combined with soapy aldehydes. I would not immediately describe it as lavender-forward. The dominant impression is green. In second place comes a soapy cleanliness, as if you were inhaling the scent of vintage handmade soap made with lavender and geranium essential oils. There is a subtle clove nuance. In the base, it becomes slightly powdery, revealing a sweetish, marzipan-like golden powder that softens the otherwise cool, strict, and rather austere profile. There is also a very faint medicinal nuance, reminiscent of Tiger Balm or similar products, which adds a certain piquancy. In the deep base, a sense of natural metallicity emerges - that faint, slightly acidic metallic note that can be detected in lavender, oakmoss absolute, and even in marzipan and tonka beans (this metallic facet of tonka is accentuated with modern aquatic notes in Allure Homme Sport by Chanel). As a result, the base smells like soapy green freshness with a delicate, ringing metallic nuance, almost aldehydic - like a taut, vibrating string. This effect gives “Royal Fern” its composure and masculine character. Longevity is very high - it lasts a couple of days on a blotter. What are the differences from Wild Fern by Geo F. Trumper and Fougère Royale? To my nose, none, except that Fougère Royale is perhaps a few percent sweeter and slightly more marzipan-powdery. Otherwise, my nose detected no difference. Conclusion: anyone interested in experiencing the authentic scent of Fougère Royale should seek out Wild Fern (English Fern is much harder to find now, as it has been discontinued). There is no real point in exploring the 2010 reinterpretation of Fougère Royale by Rodrigo Flores-Roux - it smells modern and rather molecular. It is somewhat reminiscent of Masculin Pluriel by Maison Francis Kurkdjian: both are saturated with ambroxan and other molecular constructions. These tend to smell dull, lifeless, and monotonous, and as a result, quickly become tiresome to me. The original Fougère Royale, by contrast, has a refreshing effect due to its slight acidity. Its scent genuinely resembles the smell of a fern - those who have transplanted ferns know that these plants do have a noticeable aroma when handled. Fougère Royale (as well as Wild Fern and English Fern) has an addictive quality: the brain memorizes the scent and craves it again. I do not find any resemblance to Pour Homme by Paco Rabanne, which is often cited as a close descendant of Fougère Royale - it is much more powerful and rougher, darker in character, with an almost brutal soapiness. It also features a distinct animalic note reminiscent of Kouros by YSL, which is completely absent in Houbigant’s composition. I also see little similarity with Eternity by Calvin Klein, despite frequent comparisons - it is built around modern dihydromyrcenol (like Green Irish Tweed by Creed and Cool Water by Davidoff). Platinum Egoiste is also different: it relies on dihydromyrcenol, has less sweetness, and feels more “blue” than green. The only fragrance currently in production (besides Wild Fern) that somewhat echoes Fougère Royale to me is Armani Pour Homme, though it is less refined, simpler, more basil- and nutmeg-driven, less aldehydic-soapy, and overall darker. If you mentally remove the nutmeg and add fine aldehydes, you can vaguely detect traces of Fougère Royale’s base. Therefore, the only true living relative, almost identical to Fougère Royale today, is Wild Fern by Geo F. Trumper.

I have sampled two versions of vintage Fougere Royale. One is I guess an eau de cologne version from the 80s or so under the name "Houparco" (and "Royal Fern" for that matter, so presumably US distribution), and one is an aftershave with a green bakelite cap. Both essentially smell like they contain the same components, but in slightly different calibrations. The newer one is sharper in the bergamot and geranium. The older one, which I prefer, is sweeter and feels more like a lovely use of coumarin shaped and styled with the other fougere elements--geranium, lavender, bergamot, oakmoss. Coumarin by itself definitely can have a doughy, thick feeling to it and lose some of its "dried grass" texture when in isolation. The way it is sculpted in the older bottle I have, it maintains all of its fresh, grassiness. It definitely feels like an elemental "chord" in perfumery and it's interesting to see it all by itself and realize how it has been played with throughout the decades in various ways. Since it's not a super era-specific scent (i.e. the 80's, super fresh metallic fougeres or 70's intensely leathery, aromatic fougeres), it actually feels quite timeless. I'd love to smell what it's like in parfum, but the after shave actually lasts a pretty long time as a skin scent--longer even than the 80's version Houparco eau de cologne.

Recently I had a pleasure of sampling a reconstruction, ancient formula contemporary ingredients, of 1882 Fougere Royale. It was fabulous. None of that chest-hair sprouting, testosterone affirming, sea life decaying or, God help us all, diabetes inducing nonsense. It was a wilderness inspired exquisite concoction for men and women. Barely contained in the bottle. Something that I could never became tired of. I finaly understood, fougere is not about cut grass or lavender, it's about untamed wilderness. About freedom.

@realfrags you nailed it brotha. Pure masculine nothing unisex. Toxic masculinity gets us no thumbs up and that's perfect!

Absolutely lovely fragrance. Lavender makes you calm. However, I would not wear it in public. It has signs of age on his stick and smells musty maybe for one or the other. Old school.

A perfume for the history! Lavender is the star of the show... 1884, you can have it with the Osmothèque in Versailles in France.

Green, lavender, clary sage. Sharp. Not very masculine. Too much lavender for me.

This was my 1st husband Richard's fragrance when it was still selling and smelling like the original back in the 50's. He passed away and the bottle remained in my possession and I too began to wear it for old times sake and to remember his scent. I finished it up circa 1962. By that time I had moved on and was involved with another man who would become my second husband. This fragrance is so melancholic for me. I can't help but shed tears for the loss of my Richard. It's such a sentimental aroma for me. I can no longer smell it and it has a reformulation that is selling today but it is nothing like the original. I have bought an old edition through ebay and wear it out of nostalgia on the anniversary of our wedding. The opening is fresh bergamot and anise (not listed) spicy and not fruity. It smells like a man's aftershave and a bit similar to the opening of JICKY bu Guerlain. The sage and citrus are very aromatic and green and fresh. This part is very enjoyable. I remember being close enough to kiss Richard and inhaling that citrus scent. Fougere Royale is a traditional fougere and in fact THE FIRST fougere so it has a very important place in fragrance history. This scent has a lavender note that smells very typical of fougeres, which are essentially floral fragrances for MEN, but are unisex as well and can be worn by women. This is the first floral fragrance for men and it would be a formula and style that would continue to be used up to the time Sophia Grojsman created Eternity for Men. The lavender is floral and spicy, aromatic, and it's joined by additional flowers of rose, orchid, heliotrope and geranium. The one thing the rose and heliotrope have in common is the light touch of powder but they never get into powder scents because the lavender reigns supreme in this fragrance. She is too spicy and too bold to let the heliotrope and rose becomes dainty and girly. For the most part however this is a floral fragrance and each flower can be detected. The heart is floral and I have always enjoyed the progression it takes from sage to florals. Beautiful! The dry down is vanilla and it, too, is sweet and powdery, soft, but then it's embraced by a musk that returns the fragrance back into the realm of men's colognes. The musk is realistic and warm. It also has oak moss and lots of it. The fragrance becomes green and wild, like a scent of forest lavender and sage, moss and woods. The scent starts and develops like a woman's perfume but finishes up like a man's cologne. But it's soft and lovely and today even in that reformulation can be worn by both sexes. This is my Richard's fragrance and so far I have never smelled it on anyone but him. It is a fragrance that has not had too much attention and is a rarity in the world today. It's out there and I recommend you fume heads to check it out. For me this is a one of a kind fougere and a good example of a traditional classic fougere. It has so much meaning to me and my past life that I am able to literally smell it in my dreams when Richard shows up in my dreams smelling of Fougere Royale.

Anybody who may be interested in experiencing a sketch of the original "Fougere Royal" by Houbigant should most definitely avoid buying the recent re-issue of this by Houbigant: It is so far removed from the original in every aspect that it defies logic that they would dare to slap this legendary name on a very expensive bottle, beautifully packaged, that contains a perfume so common, that, barring Serge Lutens "Muscs Kublai-Kahn, which made me vomit in the loo at Barney's, it is the only perfume I have ever had on my skin that, not only caused me embarrassment during the day I tried it, but eventually made me quite ill, and would not come off of me: I have a very high tolerance of fragrance, and have tested thousands of perfumes: Very seldom do I find myself trying everything imaginable to get one off: This was the case with the re-issue: Nothing would kill it, including, after soaping, scrubbing, alcohol rubbing, blasting with the strongest scents I own. It is so vile that it truly reaches "joke" territory, so common that I would sooner dump a plastic bottle of Brut "cologne" all over me in a drugstore than allow a single drop of this onto my dermis. I found a 500ml bottle of the original Fougere Royale perfectly preserved in it's box in the Clignancourt Flea Market in Paris in the late Eighties, and used it to the last molecule: Even setting the bottle upside down once empty then swabbing the screw-on cap with a Q-tip. Penhaligon's "English Fern" was a near perfect copy of this in the days prior to re-formulation. Today, it still is the closest I can suggest. The second closest would have to be Geo Trumper's "Wild Fern." Interestingly, if you can get hold of an original bottle of Dana's Canoe, which may only be "Made Bottled and Sealed in France," especially in its long ago disappeared "Extra Rich" formulation, while this has much more carnation in it than Fougere Royale did, somehow, I am reminded very specifically of this flea market bottle i picked up for a song that I so voraciously wore, that, when it was done, I found myself in a panic. For years I looked for another, and never found one. The fragrance "H Pour Homme," which regularly is passed off as "Fougere Royale" in ebay searches, is not the original, as I very sadly found out after buying an entire stock of it (18 bottles!). I can only marvel at the house of Houbigant, and, under my breath whisper "Shame!" that they could ever begin to think this re-launch could so much as suggest the original, which, buyers beware, it most definitely does not. Fougere Royale, R.I.P.

The Fougere of All Fougeres. Vintage Fougere Royale is a unisex fragrance in today's market but in the 1880's it was a men's cologne that had less spicier and less intense notes of musk or tobacco. This fragrance is a beautiful floral scent of lavender, rose, geranium and heliotrope. The lavender is aromatic and opens this scent beautifully. The rose and geranium smell alike but the heliotrope really stands out. It's a soft and comfortable scent. It's something to wear while staying at home or when you don't really want to make a statement. If men were wearing this in the 1880's this was their scent to wear when spending time with their wives who snuggled up next to them. It's an inoffensive subtle scent. It's got all the big ingredients that make up a fougere: lavender and oak moss. Yes it does turn woodsy but not heavily woody. It's aromatic but not in the patchouli sense. I do love the flowers in this scent and they're my 3 top favorites: heliotrope rose and orchid. On me this is mostly a floral vanilla. Women should wear this because it does smell very nice and perfectly suited to women. I recommend it for casual wear in the day time in spring and summer. Beautiful classic timeless fragrance.

Yes, Fougere Royale started and gave its name to the Fougere category. Be advised. The Fougere Royale presented on this page is the original as created in 1882, which, while fabulous, is no longer available (and if you have a bottle – don’t open it – it’s SO collectible!). See my review of the wonderful, newly-recreated Fougere Royale.

Be advised. The Fougere Royale presented on this page is the original as created in 1882, which, while fabulous, is no longer available (and if you have a bottle – don’t open it – it’s SO collectible!). See my review of the wonderful, newly-recreated Fougere Royale.

Fougere Royale EdC (vintage) opens with very intense (not dramatic like Guerlain) lavender and wild bergamot. During the drydown I detect hints of vanilla with a pleasant herbal green vibe. I really like it :)

This is a beautiful masculine fougère, I love its timeless quality and the lavender definitely shines 🪻

The new Amouage Bracken Man may be closer to the far superior vintage.

This is ÜBER masculine. Nothing unisex about this.

The first fougere ever created.