The first fougère perfume was 1882’s Houbigant Fougère Royale — just reissued.* Fougère (fern) fragrances make up a huge proportion of men’s fragrances, but fougère colognes are not well represented in my perfume collection. For a long time, I’ve smelled fougère perfumes, searching for one that I can love and that doesn’t make me smell like a fuddy-duddy.
Fougères come in a variety of formulations: Hermès Brin de Réglisse, Diesel Fuel for Life, Yves Saint Laurent Kouros, Brut, Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle — fougères all! Recently, the fougère genre has revived after years of dormancy. Two new fougère entries are Amouage Memoir Man (a demi-fougère that turns quickly into an incense fragrance) and Penhaligon’s dowdy Sartorial (loved by many, but not by me). To find a fougère I could enjoy wearing, I went back in time to the “archives.”
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003), developed by perfumer Jacques Cavallier, includes notes of bergamot, rosemary, star anise, lavender, geranium, clove, coumarin, patchouli, oak moss, guaiac wood, and vetiver. Rive Gauche pour Homme starts off with bergamot and anise (that go from “crisp/tart” to “creamy” in seconds) followed by a rosemary-lavender-geranium progression that quivers between green/herbal rosemary-lavender leaves, and furry, aromatic geranium leaf. A mild sweetness emerges in the shift from top and middle notes to Rive Gauche pour Homme’s base notes (a mingling of dusty, mild clove, coumarin, moss and patchouli). The base notes feel “moist” and “talc-y” at the same time.
All Rive Gauche pour Homme’s transitions are smooth as can be, and though I have fulminated against classifying vintage women’s scents as “Old Lady Perfumes” there is an air of “Old Gentleman Colognes” surrounding Rive Gauche pour Homme; it’s not the type of fougère scent I love.
Pascal Morabito Or Black (1982) tells a different fougère story; it was developed by perfumer Jean Louis Sieuzac and includes notes of bergamot, pepper, leather, sage, benzoin, cistus, vetiver, ylang-ylang, amber, Tonkin musk, and oak moss. Or Black opens with lightly smoked, leather-saturated bergamot (or should I say bergamot-saturated leather?) The “cologne-y/creaminess” that often gives fougère fragrances a tweedy, “venerable” vibe on my skin is thankfully absent from Or Black, which is a sterner, “cold/hard” fragrance. (Or Black’s personification is certainly not a rosy-cheeked, smiling older gentleman traipsing through the woods with his “Guide to the Ferns of the Pacific Northwest” tucked under his arm; Or Black is leaner, maybe even ‘meaner’, a haughty fougère.)
Or Black is linear smelled from afar, but up close, you can detect cistus, benzoin, sage and vetiver. There is an interesting floral facet to Or Black…perhaps the ylang-ylang mingling with other notes? The base of Or Black is musky amber accompanied by leather and a whorl of lingering smoke. Or Black smells great on me…and didn’t make me feel like a gentleman of a certain age, even as I used a cane in public this past week due to a back injury.
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme is readily available at online perfume discounters; Pascal Morabito Or Black is more difficult to find in the U.S. Or Black “minis” are available at many online discounters for under $20 for a 4 ml splash; a full-size bottle (100 ml) of Or Black (if you can find one) costs about $150.
Note: top fern image and middle frond image via Wikimedia Commons.
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* The newly reissued Houbigant Fougère Royale will be reviewed tomorrow.
Wonderful review! And you’ve made me realize I dearly want to smell the rosy-cheeked Pacific Northwest fern enthusiast … especially if he’s wearing leather boots for all that traipising in the rain, although I suppose he’s not in the case of Rive Gauche.
Thalia…well, it being the NW the boots MIGHT be leather, but certainly not YSL…more like LL Bean! HA!
Isn’t that funny? I wear Rive Gauche all the time. I love the saturated, angular quality of Or Black, but the couple of times I’ve worn it, I’ve been told it’s too “old gentleman” for me. “Flashback to Grandpa”, I think was my spouse’s comment, and he rarely comments negatively. It’s odd how masculine scents on women seem so different….
Erin: yes…that’s interesting. Or maybe our ideas of “old gentleman smell” just differ!
Perhaps! Of course, my Grandpa was a stylish, on-trend dude, so maybe that’s what my hubby was thinking of 😉
Erin: Indeed!
Erin, I’ve long considered trying to wear my husband’s Azzaro pour Homme; now you’ve convinced me.
l love both of them. But you’re right – the YSL gives you instant respectability, while Or Black you wouldn’t leave alone in the room with your daughter….
Ad: HA! (and I’m so glad people have smelled Or Black…I was wondering if many knew about it….)
Great review! Or Black is one of my “anchor” scents – when I feel depleted, unsure of myself, or in need of extra backbone, I reach for it every time.
olenska: yes, a good CONFIDENCE-building scent.
Snap! I’m posting my review of the new Fougere Royale tomorrow too! It’ll be interesting to compare notes… especially as I’m rather fond of Rive Gauche Pour Homme.
Persolaise: today is the big debut…I’m curious to see what becomes of a “legend” in today’s perfume market!
Lovely review, Kevin. Or Black sounds interesting – I am looking for something for my husband for Christmas. He is NOT a big fragrance person but I think the more ‘traditional’ nature of a fougere would ho down well.
I hope your back is better soon. I have any many years with back problems so
Darn iPhone and invisible posting windows. Anyway, I can completely sympathise with how miserable a bad back can be. Speedy recovery!
FragrantWitch: thank you…the back is better and the cane is hidden in the corner for now.
You can order a “refill” bottle, 100ml, from Pascal Morabito’s web site, but although it only costs 45 Euros, the shipping is 40 Euros (even if you’re ordering from Germany). It’s still worth it. At least they get it to you quick — they ignore any laws against sending perfumes through air mail, and you get it in a week.
But I have a real question. What exactly is it that makes it a fougère? There’s no lavender that I can smell, and it’s so mossy I figured it was a “leather chypre.”
Rick: that’s great info…thank you. If only all perfume sellers would ignore those restrictions! As for fougere…that lavender-geranium-coumarin accord…plus moss is in many aromatic fougeres. An overdose of coumarin (as in tomorrow’s Fougere Royal to be reviewed) is also a good sign of fougere formulas. But I always say thank goodness for the classification systems out there that are reliable…the fougere genre is huge and varied.
Indeed, it’s much closer to being a leather chypre than it is a fougère to my nose, though Luca Turin calls it a “dark fougère.” Some things transcend classification.
Glad you found a fougère to love AND that your back is better! Must order up one of those minis of Or Black!
Have you tried Caron’s Troisième Homme? I really love it and keep wishing I were surrounded by men who wore it…
nozknoz; you are psychic…I just ordered a bottle (and I’m ashamed to admit: I ordered it unsniffed. But at steep discount!)
Le 3e Homme is wonderful!
Ditto this! I have a cute little mini.
Also, no guilt about buying this one unsniffed: it’s so reasonably priced it’s like Caron is paying us to wear it! 🙂
Ha, ha – maybe YOU are psychic, Kevin: I’ve been thinking for the last year how much I would like to read a review of 3me by Kevin! LOL!
Nice write up!
Rive Gauche smells like metal to me, and it reminds me of Escada PH. I have never tried Or Black, gotta find & try.
I am confused by fougeres and chypres, can’t tell the diff. Barber shop scents on the other hand I can pick up with ease…I am sure these overlap somewhat.
Would you consider Narciso Rodriguez For Him a fougere?
NOZKNOZ: I bought Caron The 3rd Man and I had great expectation for it. After many attemts to like it or at least ‘get’ it, it is in my for sale/swap pile. I find it weak and unsure of itself. What do you like about it? Maybe you can help me understand it better.
Andrew: I do believe NR is categorized as a “fougere”… As I wrote Noz…just ordered 3rd Man myself and will review it soon…maybe before Xmas.
I’d love to see a review of 3rd Man, Kevin. It’s not an easy fragrance to figure out!
Haunani: GOOD! A challenge….
Makes sense. Cool, thanks.
That’s a hard question to answer. It is a soft scent, but I find it masculine. I often gravitate to unisex scents for myself, but 3me is definitely one that I would rather smell on a man. In spite of its film noir name, I find it soothing, balanced, natural, with that touch of melancholy that LT deems essential to a great masculine. It is floral (lavender and probably other notes) but not too sweet, and it is a bit smoky or incense-like but not overly so. I guess I love that love balance of floral and smoke or incense.
Also, I’m not a huge citrus fan, and a lot of masculines go overboard on citrus, and on sharp or heavy notes, not to mention the dreaded aquatics.
Or the short answer would be that it smells like the kind of man I would really like to spend time with 🙂
I see! It’s the same reason why I cannot get enough of Masaki’s Mat Very Male. I simply find it irresistable!
Thanks for this. Does anyone know where in Paris you can buy – or at least try – Or Black? I love the bergamot and then geranium in RG pour Homme, but my favorite fougere on my husband is Azzaro pour Homme. I call it his swooney-Clooney scent, but there’s a bit of a logsman (logger?) in the woods about it too. I never tire of it!
There’s a Morabito boutique at 16 Place Vendome, 75001 Paris.
Merci!
I like both and I have Or Black, to me the definition of “dark fougère” is perfect to it, I think if Baudelaire were alive maybe he wore this fragrance.
sergelcio: for once the “black” name seems apt.
Thanks for a great review!
I never thought of myself as a particular fan of fougères, but sought out Or Black because of Luca Turin’s comment that Magie Noire had turned into a masculine in the Or Black mold. The opening of Or Black is a little bitter for me, but I love the drydown (which really does remind me of the later iterations of pre-reformulation MN).