So You Want to Smell Like the Goddess of Spring (extreme bargain edition): Orangers en Fleurs Pure Parfum by Houbigant

Let me first start with the bargain part and just get it out of the way. At fragrancenet.com you can get .33 oz of Houbigant's Orangers en Fleurs pure parfum for $20.00. That is a steal!

I originally tried Houbigant's Orangers en Fleurs years ago when somehow it randomly ended up on my local Nordstrom's counter, I admired it, and recognized immediately that it had a whole lot in common with Serge Luten's Fleurs d'Oranger, a scent that had never quite moved me, but had most definitely required testing as an orange blossom lover. I did note that Orangers en Fleurs worked a tad bit better on my skin when compared to Fleurs d'Oranger, but at its price point acquisition was not going to happen. And now to the present, I was doing that thing of trawling for perfume bargains as so many perfume lovers do when randomly I decided to do a search for Orangers en Fleurs, part of the search was I am simply wanting an orange blossom, when I suddenly spied pure parfum attached to the listing of it. Needless to say I went for it, pure parfum is sort of the unicorn of perfumes, because it is usually supposed to be the concentration of the scent at its best form because you are getting the clearest vision of what the perfumeur is trying to communicate.

Orangers en Fleurs pure parfum opens with a blast of cold root-y crystalline tuberose that is made all the more cooler by a dash of nutmeg, I will admit the opening is a bit scary because it really does not register to my nose as orange blossom, it is a bit like the orchestra is getting situated before everyone is ready to play. The tuberose plays the icy handmaiden of Spring who has come to announce the lady of the house has arrived. What enters is the queen goddess herself of Spring one of the most intense no holds barred heady orange blossoms I have ever encountered. There is nothing wan or pastel about this orange blossom, regal and powerful, this orange blossom sits on the throne. This is basically the Targaryen of orange blossoms and the dragons ridden on are tuberose, jasmine, and ylang ylang. Jasmine adds the radiance note that it can sometimes add and thankfully the indoles are kept in check. Ylang ylang keeps the scent from getting too hot. There is also to my nose a linden blossom like greenery running all through the background it keeps the heady melange of flowers from going into dour territory.

Houbigant Orangers en Fleurs pure parfum smells rich, you can tell that someone was allowed to play with good stuff and basically decided that they wanted an orange blossom queen. Every time I sniff it the commandment running through my head is "Bow to the Queen." I would love to know who the perfumer is behind this.

Try Orangers en Fleurs if you like Fleurs d'Oranger by Serge Lutens, Azahar by Madini, or Dilmun by Lorenzo Villoresi.



First Image aromo.ru
Second Image 'Lady Flora, Goddess of Blossoms and Flowers' Evelyn de Morgan 1880
Third Image Yakovlev and Aleeva