French Flower

This is an ambroxan heavy hitting bomb. And because of it a delicate white flower fragrance that behaves in a very extroverted fashion and from that perspective comes quite a long way away from the idea of for instance the Parisian woman that the name to me for whatever reason made me think of when I first saw the name and read the note breakdown. French Flower the perfume however moves the experience more into the territory of the bold rather than the delicate... Then again the idea of the French woman is for all intents and purposes also a myth. And who am I to pretend to know what a Parisian woman is like in reality,... Or if that even has been an idea behind this fragrance? Or if that is just a figment of my limited imagination? Anyway - One has to be aware of the strength of this delicate French flower and not get offended by her boldness. And one can’t be a hater of all things molecular or all things ambroxan. Because mr Ambroxan is in the building and he is not leaving... Personally I have a bit of a soft spot for French Flower. And I have a soft spot for Aurelian Guichard as a perfumer also. I first learned about him when I encountered a fragrance he made for a skincare brand in my country, owned by the old 90’s super model Emma Sjöberg. A cheap fragrance but one that still had something really special. And everytime I wore it people commented on how good I smelled. It was also a white flower centred fragrance, (now sadly discontinued). But when I learned about Matiere Premiere and that Aurelian Guichard had his own brand I was intrigued. And French Flower was naturally my point of entry. And even though it’s in no way the same as the fragrance I had before but I could immediately tell that the perfumer was the same... And to me `French flower is both intoxicating and beautiful. And really a great tuberose/orange flower fragrance for people who don’t really like tuberose or orange blossom fragrances... as it is more about the sweet and bubbelgummy and playful aspects of these flowers and really nothing of the more realistic and indole or aromatic leaning aspects of these flowers. Its fruity ness is also not like many fruity floral fragrances that sort of creates a clash between the floral sweetness and the sour aspects of fruits. No here the white noticeable presence of pear play the part of adding more sweetness to the mix and zingy ness with the ginger. And together that brings a coherence that unless you have some aversion to anything sweet is quite intoxicating in its own right. Then together with the equally prominent ambroxan accord flankers with a bit of tea adds not only boldness but also a powdery ness to the composition. Which helps to curb the sweetness and makes it more mature and intoxicating to me. Overall French Flower is quite pear forward as a fragrance too. Perhaps even more so than floral to my nose. And I kind of like that... I don’t mind it despite this being a fragrance with flowers in its name... I also like that this is unabashedly a feminine leaning fragrance. And in a fragrance world where unisex has become the norm. And unisex more often than not leans more masculine than feminine. I still kind of enjoy to be reminded of the feminine once in a while. And French flower is for sure an all in modern feminine fragrance. But again... Boy she is a heavy hitter, and the ambroxan is real. Even though it here plays a significant role in counteracting the overdose of sweetness that without it probably would be a mess. But it is strong. And French Flower will announce your presence from a mile away. And she is by no means office friendly. But great for an outdoor party or for days when you just want that sillage with a big S. and you want your presence to also linger long after you have left the building... I even love wearing a French flower when I have the ability for some alone me time at home and I just want to feel the presence of myself in the air... and my home to smell great too. When out and about. And if you are careful with your application you will get a lot of compliments when wearing this fragrance. Out of all my fragrances I dare say this one is up there among the higher compliment getters. Then again... I mostly wear more bashful fragrances. And do not usually feel a need to stand out. But if ever I liked to feel the fragrance off of myself with... I too quite enjoy being me wearing her... But be warned. She lingers on and you will still clearly smell her on you the day after you put her on... For the serious tuberose or orange blossom connaisseur however French Flower was not made for you! You will most likely feel that this is an abomination... but what a delightfully intoxicating pear worshipping little abomination she still is... And she is fun and sparkly. And sweet like sugary sand on a hot day sipping fizzy drinks while the sun is beginning to set and life is easy and the yolk for a moment feels lighter.

If you’re looking for a true tuberose scent, this is the best quality that you can find! Absolutely gorgeous. The ginger really amplifies the freshness of the white flower and transports your imagination to a tuberose field, and that vision is further supported by the vegetal aspect of the tuberose being amplified by the gentle pear and tea notes. A simple and incredibly intelligent composition that truly pays respect to the beauty of the tuberose. This high quality tuberose scent stays on the clothes for days. I remember spraying it on my coat when I was testing out the perfume while shopping, and after 3 or 4 days, I was just done at the gym and was putting on my coat as I was walking to leave the changing room when I caught a whiff of an unbelievably beautiful fresh tuberose scent, having forgotten that I had sprayed French flower on my coat sleeve a few days ago, I initially thought it was someone else’s perfume and I actually stopped briefly trying to figure out who it came from because it smelled so incredible that I HAD to ask what perfume they’re wearing, then I realized that the smell is coming from my coat and that was French Flower. That’s when I knew I just had to get the full bottle lol. Update: less than two weeks in and I’ve already used almost a third of the bottle, it’s addictive, I can’t bring myself to put on any other perfume since I got it lol. The smell REALLY stays on, and that gorgeous lively tuberose sweetness greets my nose randomly throughout the day and it is always the most lovely surprise. I’ve been wearing it 24/7, even wearing it to the gym, spraying it on my gym clothes and then somehow my body heat during the workout makes the scent sweeter and project even more and I have been getting compliments on it! This is becoming my absolute favourite scent. The best tuberose I can ask for, so grateful for such beauty to exist 🤍

This fragrance is just dreamy. All the Matiere Premiere line are so warm and rounded and wearable. What a lovely thing, to put stemmy tuberose (not that green, just green enough) with pear. I get the white flowers, the pear and the green tea (but again not too green); and the ginger and ambroxan are less discernible but work together gorgeously to soften the edges. The latter helps this radiate. I was intrigued to see what Aurelian Guichard would do with tuberose, as of course he must be intimately familiar with Fracas, having done the Piguet newbies. Out of curiosity I looked at the notes of his Petit Fracas, and again, he uses pear with tuberose. I must smell that one. Concentrate hard enough and you can also discern a delicate thread of Chinatown by Bond in this. Of course, remembering he made that one, this was bound to be great. And all those other white florals - Pleats Please, the Narcisos... The thing that strikes me most about Aurelian Guichard's own line is his restraint when looking at what he has created for other brands. Here he is favouring simplicity, having the confidence to know exactly what few notes will do the job best. A class act. Just editing to add... I have now transitioned to using the sprayer, and wow - it's a different experience sprayed compared to dabbed. It's just as lovely (lovelier!) but takes on a much warmer, modern and diffuse cloud of butteriness and subtle woodiness. Yes, this is a warm, sultry floral after all - perfect for summer nights and year-round use. Gorgeous!!

For me, this fragrance covers all the grounds I wanted. I wanted pear, and I wanted white flowers, and I wanted it to be gender-neutral. And it is! It also projects very well and lasts great on clothes. It finds an amazing ground between chemical and natural smells: a pear is right in the middle, and the green tea transforms from air freshener-adjacent to genuine hot green tea. And then the white florals are so natural, the smell seems to be coming from an open window rather than from my wrist. It's delicate and soft, but also calm and somewhat grounding. It's offering you to take a seat. Now, the reviews seem to be polarizing. I agree, the sweetness at first can be similar to bubblegum or a fruit syrup, but the smell transforms pretty quickly, the sweetness leaving almost completely. However, to me there is no sourness in the smell it at all. Maybe the swiftest bitterness: the drop of the ginger juice, firm vegetativeness of the flower petals. I also want to mention that to me, it is not a green perfume. There are only the heads of the flowers and the thin, translucent pieces of ginger and fruit, green tea brewing with trickles of steam in the air. There are fragrances that are a hug or a walk; for me, this one is an afternoon conversation with a person who drinks highest quality green tea, wears white and asks all the right questions. It is undeniably pricy, but for me it's worth it, because that is what I was searching for; and some days, it is exactly what I want.

Sample reviewed from Luckyscent. AG is a superior perfumer handling tuberose. He prefers to couple it with pear which cuts thru tuberose's thick nature. Pears slightly sour aquatic feel freshens up the tuberose piggybacking that on the fresh vegetal tea note. The ginger adds texture and a spicyness. AG used tuberose absolute in the form of enfleurage. It gives the tuberose a more natural , softer, rounded approach to the flower. At this point, the top and middle of the fragrance is elegantly beautiful. I scratch my head at his decision to use ambroxan in the base that tears thru this composition and can be detected in the opening. Its such an aggressive synthetic, it disrupts the beautiful storytelling he presents to us in the first part of the fragrance. If you dont mind ambroxan, and wish to get your nose on great tuberose material, its worth checking this out. I feel this is another, more luxe riff on his Piguet creations Douglas Hannant and Petit Fracas, two excellent fragrances also centering his idea around the pear/tuberose dynamic. I prefer those ideas to the ambroxan base here in French Flower. All of it is superior work by AG and boils down to personal preference how you like your tuberose fragrances. What a delightful decision to make.