Fougere L’Aube

This brand is blowing my mind. Rogue fragrances are a recent discovery of mine and I’m extremely excited to be collecting them. This was my first purchase from the brand. Rogue Fragrances seems to be a brand that celebrates the past in a very forward way. That may seem like an odd statement but Rogue Fragrances comes across as modern interpretations of classic fragrance styles. It’s a fresh, mossy, floral that is very masculine. It reminds me of a blend of both Millesime Imperial and Green Irish Tweed. Fougere L’Aube is a lot better priced tho. You can buy a 60ml (2oz) for $110 from LuckyScent. Fougere L’Aube is a throwback fragrance that pays homage to the first Fougere ever made. An amazing feature of this scent...it has real Oakmoss in it and at such levels that this fragrance is banned from being sold in Europe. The Rogue Fragrance brand focuses on the integrity of their creations over accessibility. Rogue Fragrances is indeed a Rogue brand with its middle finger turned up at IFRA. However, if u are allergic to Oakmoss, I would avoid this or u will be in for a rough time. It starts off very bright with sparking citruses, moss and flowers (lavender Geranium and rose), it can be mildly powdery in the drydown at one phase but that shifts into the woody aspects of the scent. Overall, it has a very fresh vibe but unlike a lot of fresh fragrances, Fougere L’Aube is a freshie that can be worn with ease in all 4 seasons. Performance was very good. It lasts on me for 7- 8 hours and projection was strong for the first 2 hours. It’s not a disruptive scent but it could be with a heavy hand. It could be worn to work as it can come across professional but I’d also wear this casually just to throw people off. A scent like this when wearing jeans and a stylish hoody would be a great juxtaposition. Sadly, some will not like this and dismiss it as an Old Man Scent. I hate looking at fragrances from an ageist perspective. Older men can use a few playful fragrance options and younger men can benefit from using more sophisticated scents. Yes, this is admittedly a throwback as I mentioned before and to be honest it would fit a successful older man easily but a young guy will also make a great impression wearing it too. It’s not an original idea but most Barbershop scents are made to smell like Barbershop scents. This scent's unoriginal concept doesn’t bother me at all because of its well done execution. It takes a style of scent that’s old school, and practically unavailable in this form, modernizes it and reintroduces it to a public drunk off dozens of interpretations of Invictus, Sauvage and Axe by various brands. Rogue is actually one of my favorite finds of the year. Based on the wear, smell, value and construction of Fougere L’Aube, I would consider it a Strong G fragrance (P-Poor A-Average G-Good E-Exceptional). It’s one of the best options of this style of scent available right now and the quality is unquestionable. If this is an old man scent then unapologetically, I want to smell like that old guy. SIMPLY PUT SCENTS

When I first tried the Rogue sampler, I was so blown away by Chypre Siam to take much notice of Fougere L'Aube. But when I had the chance to pick up a bottle in a swap, I did, and I have no regrets. It's becoming one of my easy reaches... when I don't want to think too much about what to wear, I spritz Fougere L'Aube, and it never disappoints. This is my ideal fougere. It does not have that whiff of barbershop which can feel dysphoric for me; it's far too bright and green for that. It opens with a big blast of galbanum, bitter and grassy, and crisp citrus, and an absolutely beautiful lavender. Lavender, for me, can be a tricky note. I dislike the high-pitched, shrill lavender common in many modern perfumes, but Fougere L'Aube's lavender is floral and plush, strong enough to be noticeable, but it stays in the background, content to let the green notes be front and center. My favorite part is the drydown. The costus note becomes more present, and helps the green notes meld with your skin. I have noticed a similar effect in Papillon's Dryad, although the two scents are very different: Dryad is drier, somber, more autumnal; Fougere L'Aube juicier, playful, brighter. Both, however, balance a plethora of green notes on top of an oakmoss/costus base, and both have absolutely addictive drydowns. Coincidence? I think not. This is lovely in warm and hot weather: the coumarin shared by the lavender and hay warm up the fragrance, making it slightly sweeter. But I think I prefer it best of all in cold weather: it is so sharp, green, and bracingly bitter, I find it absolutely beautiful. The mintiness of the geranium and camphor is stronger in the cold, too. If you, too, have a bitter tooth, you'll find Fougere L'Aube to be invigorating, easy-to-wear, timeless.

Fougere l’Aube, to my nose, is an experiment to see if you can plug-n-play different notes into the traditional fougere structure and see if they work to still give you a traditional fougere. Rather than swells of bergamot and lavender at the top, dial those back and insert a bigger and louder galbanum note. Delete carnation and insert rose. Delete oakmoss and insert hay. Delete the standard woods and insert petitgrain. It works very well. The galbanum opening is fresh, springy, and beautiful thanks to the extra-light touches of bergamot and lavender, like splashing your face with cool water. There is a purity and a cleanliness to the bitterness. The rose at the heart is powdery and soapy, like what we would traditionally get with lavender, and is swept with a pleasantly sweet and grassy hay note. It's a beautiful rose accord, and far from any fruity or baroque characters we frequently get with rose. Nestled underneath is a smoothly sanded sandalwood note that is kept light and creamy, and is given some green and citrusy geranium that lifts the rose heart into the air, and leaves the final skin scent energetic and fresh. The combination of the light and bright woods with the greens and citruses smells remarkably of petitgrain, its lemony/orangey character a dead give away, but that may just be a trick my nose cannot see past. Cleansing. That’s the word I’m looking for to describe what it feels like to wear Fougere l’Aube. There is an elegance and luxury to it, but it never succumbs to the weightiness of elegance or luxury. If feeling cleansed, fresh, and invigorated can smell elegant and luxurious, this is it. It’s a very simple perfume, but some of the prettiest things are simplest of things. Excellent work.

My first association was with Green Irish Tweed (and Cool Water, for that matter...), the main difference being that Fougère L'Aube was smoother and less dry and powdery. Looking at the composition of notes, this association is strange, because the dominant notes are supposed to be different (violet leaf and iris VS lavender, geranium and galbanum). But I guess the effect of different note combinations could be similar. On the second wearing, it suddenly clicked that Fougère L'Aube also reminds me of Chanel Egoiste Platinum! Cold lavender, geranium, bitter galbanum -- it's all there, once you get over the GIT parallel. But whereas Egoiste Platinum has this aggressive shower gel or 90s deodorant vibe going on that obscures the notes for me, I get better note separation here. It's more natural smelling. So, while I have never thought of GIT and Egoiste Platinum as being in a similar ballpark, I have to conclude that Fougère L'Aube is, in a way, an interesting mix of these two. It is green, dry, fresh, bracing, retro-clean and natural smelling. You can imagine yourself strolling in the countryside or coming out of a barbershop, so pick your escapist fantasy. Of the three Rogue Perfumery fragrances I have tested so far (Fougère L'Aube, Mousse Illuminee, Chypre Siam), it is the most easy going one. Just a very well done classic masculine fragrance. Performance is also very good for an EDT. As to the Fougère Royale parallel, it's not totally off the mark. There is a certain vegetal green note, I'm suspecting geranium, in common to both of them. But the current formulation of Fougère Royale is much sweeter and more modern smelling than Fougère L'Aube.

Pure class in a bottle. scent breakdown - Opens up with beautifully clean and watery lavender, geranium, and a menagerie of citrus’. As it dries down the greenery of the soapy oakmoss absolute, hay, and galbanum come in to support the geranium and lavender. In the deep dry down I get slight sandalwood nuances, but the oakmoss absolute takes over. personal thoughts - To my nose, especially in the dry down, it smells like a more nuanced, thicker, and natural Green Irish Tweed by Creed but with that iconic Rogue Perfumery DNA. While I would wear GIT in the heat of summer (as it is much fresher), I much prefer this as it has wonderful nuance and just radiates class. If you’re a fan of green fragrances, you gotta get your nose on this. Stereotypically masculine due to it being a Fougere, but wear what you want. Super easy dumb reach, and tied for my favorite from the house. performance - surprisingly powerful performance of 8-10 hours with classy projection for the first 3-4 hours. rating - 9.2/10. Signature scent worthy. when to wear - Formal springtime brunches; White Teeshirt and Jeans type of days; When you KNOW you look good song vibe - Deep in it by Berlioz TLDR - Lavender + Citrus + Geranium + Oakmoss + Assortment of Greens. The classiest dumb reach fragrance I’ve ever smelled. A must try if a fan of Green Irish Tweed by Creed or green fragrances in general. One of the best from the house.