Blog post by Gwen
L'Aventurier – citrusy and woody and sensuous
Photo: perfumeniche
One of the most underrated fragrance houses in niche perfumery has to be Fragonard, so it's time to learn more about it.
In 1926, Eugène Fuchs, a former Parisian notary, opened Parfumerie Fragonard in an 18th-century tannery in Grasse, originally built by perfumer Claude Mottet in 1841. He named the company after the famous Grasse-born artist Jean-Honoré Fragonard. Fuchs’ business plan was simple: to manufacture and sell perfumes directly to the public.
In 1936, after launching two successful fragrances, Fragonard opened its first boutique in Paris at 9 rue Scribe. The business continued to grow and was passed down through the family. Today, Agnès and Françoise Costa are at the reins of Fragonard and continue to build and expand the company with products like shower gels, old-fashioned bath salts, scented candles, scahets and quality lifestyle goods like clothes, tableware, towels and cushion covers. Currently, Fragonard has six shops in Provence and five in Paris. Fragonard still offers its Perfumer’s Workshop at Grasse, Cannes, and Paris locations.
I was reminded of Fragonard’s fragrance heritage when I read Luca Turin’s four-star review of Fragonard’s L'Aventurier in the ‘Perfumes, The Guide, 2018’: “Fancy that: a modern masculine without a woody-amber! What is the world coming to, we ask. Young perfumer Jordi Ferandez is clearly as fond as I am of the old (pre-reformulation) Azzaro Homme (1978), because he has managed without slavish imitation to recreate the husky-velvety timbre of that old marvel. This perfume has a full-on guy thing, but not high-strung aspirational, or weird hope-you-don’t mind-me-smelling-of-wet-concrete hipster: just a guy hard to date in time but easy to date for dinner. Naturally, this makes it perfect on a woman.” Sounds like just the kind of fragrance I want to wear.
It opens with notes of lemon and pink peppercorn. The lemon is aromatic and vibrant, while the pink pepper adds a rosy floralcy to the opening. Soon, a rich, resinous, sweet note of amber joins the lemon and pink pepper. It’s as if they are drawing the amber up from the heart to the top. I like what’s happening here. The amber blooms at the heart, where it’s joined by patchouli. At this stage, I want to press ‘Pause’ for a moment so I can focus on L'Aventurier, close my eyes and inhale and release. When I do, I smell woody, earthy patchouli, that’s deep and dark, yet allows the lemon and the pink peppercorn to peek through. If this is the ‘full-on guy thing’ Turin mentions, it’s pretty fantastic on me! The patchouli latches on to vetiver at the base, enhancing its woodiness, while a note of leather gives it a velvety sensuality that belongs to both sexes.
L'Aventurier is the smell of confidant sensuality that I have every time I wear it.
Check out L'Aventurier in our Shop.