Of all the classic styles of perfume it is the fougere which seems to best reflect the times it is made in. It was there at the beginning of modern perfumery and has represented itself ever since. The original fougeres were slightly sweet lightly green perfumes. They have developed along with the new ingredients perfumers have added to their organs. It makes for an interesting timeline of perfumery if you examine fougere through the decades. As we move into 2020 Floris Vert Fougere provides the latest data point.
Edward Bodenham
Floris creative director Edward Bodenham has enlisted a new in-house perfumer, Nicola Pozzani, to update this venerable English brand. It seems like with Vert Fougere they are showing the ability to honor the history of perfumery while adding modernity into it. In this case it is done with a blast of green and a swirl of smoke.
Nicola Pozzani
That blast of green is the fanfare of galbanum that leads the way in Vert Fougere. Galbanum in this quantity has a spiky edginess to it. M. Pozzani wisely blunts it with grapefruit. The citrus adds a tart shade of green while also eliding the sharper facets of the galbanum. It results in an intensely fresh green top accord. The classic lavender and neroli floral pair of many fougeres flow around the sparkly green accord. M. Pozzani adds some sizzle to all of this with a swoosh of ginger. The final piece of newness cones as smoke skirls through the florals and over the crystalline galbanum. It ends on a warm ambery woody base accord.
Vert Fougere has 10-12 hour longevity and average sillage.
Floris is one of those brands which could use an update. Based on Vert Fougere it sems like Messrs. Bodenham and Pozzani are ready to take Floris into the modern age.
Disclosure: This review is based on a sample from Floris.
–Mark Behnke
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