Fougere

Fougere

The Fougère fragrance family is  based on fragrant woods: and, within that remit, very varied - grainy, dry, blond and smooth; or earthy, oily, dark and suggestive of forest depths.

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In French, 'fougère ' means 'fern' and this gives a very good clue as to the style of this Family. The eponymous original Fougère Royale was created by Houbigant in 1882. This legendary perfume reflected the mood of its time by advertising its heavy reliance on the new synthetics of the period. It also contained the now classic herbaceous ingredients of the fougère type: mosses, hay and plenty of lavender. So, aromatic and fresh but with a musky deep warm base.

Fougères are traditionally associated with male fragrance use, perhaps because their ingredients reflect the great outdoors, the darkness of woods and the dampness of earth. They have a chthonic aspect to them; nowadays they also have great appeal to women who find commercial perfumes overly sweet and cloying.

Fougères are closely allied to the Greens but are softer, more powdery, less abrasive in mood. Fougères are reminiscent of the forest floor, a carpet of mosses, resinous pine needles and crushed fragrant bracken.

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