Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale

Stop me if you think you've smelled this one before...

Somehow, I managed to live nearly 37 years and not come across a single bottle of any Houbigant perfume*. It's quite an accomplishment, considering we're talking about one of the oldest houses, responsible for some classics, like the original Quelques Fleurs and a few others (see Sweet Diva's recent review). I'm guessing the newish (2004) fruity-floral addition to this line, Quelques Fleurs Royale is probably not the best introduction I could have hoped  for.

It's been a while since I came across a scent with such three distinctive and separate stages. The fruity opening  of Quelques Fleurs Royale wasn't promising. Bergamot and grapefruit as top notes. Where have we smelled it before? (Answer: Everywhere). Then there's some kind of a berry-but-not- berry thing; I don't even know what is this fruity note but it doesn't sit well with me. The heart notes are as floral as they get. Jasmine, rose and tuberose; classic but this interpretation is loud and screechy. What I got was mostly jasmine, aggressive enough to swallow most of the other notes. Quelques Fleurs Royale is too dainty for me. Nice, but I don't do white gloves and Junior League. My biggest complaint, though, was not so much the lacy handkerchief as much as the total lack of originality. I've smelled this one before, and so did you. Houbigant should have tried harder.

Some of the jasmine stays behind (my skin has always been a jasmine amplifier), but the dry-down is mostly amber-sweet wood, and surprisingly, quite lovely. I really liked it after the first few hours, enough to spend several days trying to make nice, but it's just not worth it to sit through the uncomfortable too-floral stage.

Houbigant Quelques Fleurs Royale ($150, 1.7 oz EDP) is available from Neiman Marcus.

*It completely escaped my mind that Chantilly used to be a Houbigant perfume before Dana bought the license.