English Fern

I think this fragrance is hugely underrated. It's a soapy green fougere whose over 100 year old formula still feels relevant today - not to mention oh so very English. It calls to mind bracing walks in the English countryside - perfect for the quintessential dandy. It also calls to mind old fashioned soap, used both for shaving and also laundering a crisply pressed shirt. For this Englishwoman, it is the perfect antidote to winter doldrums: grab your wellies and your dog, throw your hardiest country jacket, and douse yourself in this before venturing out into woodland, field or fell. I find this particularly invigorating on a cold, windy day: a comforting waft of Victoriana as I hack my way through the brambles. Lovely stuff. I do detect a decent dose of cardamom and/or bay in the formula, but these notes are not listed here.

I was going through a box of samples this weekend and realized "I have one too many samples, I need to start wearing through these." So today before I left for work, I reached for my sample of this, poured it out in my palm, and slapped it on. This is, without a doubt, one of the BEST barbershop fougere fragrances I have ever come across. This was everything I wanted and more. And when I was on break at work, looking online for bottles of this, I wanted to CRY when I saw that it was discontinued. God only knows at this point how long this sample had sat tucked away while I was off looking for a good barbershop fragrance, and I could have had THE ONE long before now if I would have just opened this one up years ago. Life is just not fair some times. (╥_╥)

This one surprised me a little. With a name like English Fern, I was expecting it to be very green and possibly a bit dull, but it opens bright and sharp, with the lavender dominant. It also smells a little of citrus to me, though no citrus notes are listed. With time the sharpness subsides, and it becomes softer, slightly powdery and soapy, and much more feminine than I expected, with the lavender present throughout. This lasted much longer on me than most Penhaligon's do. I don't usually like sharp or green or lavender-based fragrances, but overall I liked this one much more than I expected to.

I must say, I was surprised by this fragrance. I picked up all the notes that are listed, but I also get a good dose of anise (which might be part of the [now synthetic] oakmoss). I was not expecting this to call to mind YSL Rive Gauche PH, or Azzaro PH, but it does for me. English Fern is much brighter, and better suited to warmer weather than those two, but they haunt my mind when I take this in. This is a great gentleman's scent, and I would highly reccomend this to anyone who enjoys Azzaro PH or Rive Gauche. All around good stuff!

I really agree with DawnLady3 about the expectation about English Fern, which should be green. However, it is definitely SOAPY, which comes from the lavender. And I don't usually like lavender. As time goes by, it smells very soapy and white flowery. The base note, which I always love, is not quiet but a little out due to the pachouli in it. Overall, it is not bad, and I do like it. Though I expected to be a green one, so a little bit disappointed.