The first fougère perfume was 1882’s Houbigant Fougère Royale — just reissued.* Fougère (fern) fragrances make up a huge proportion of men’s fragrances, but fougère colognes are not well represented in my perfume collection. For a long time, I’ve smelled fougère perfumes, searching for one that I can love and that doesn’t make me smell like a fuddy-duddy.
Fougères come in a variety of formulations: Hermès Brin de Réglisse, Diesel Fuel for Life, Yves Saint Laurent Kouros, Brut, Jean Paul Gaultier Fleur du Mâle — fougères all! Recently, the fougère genre has revived after years of dormancy. Two new fougère entries are Amouage Memoir Man (a demi-fougère that turns quickly into an incense fragrance) and Penhaligon’s dowdy Sartorial (loved by many, but not by me). To find a fougère I could enjoy wearing, I went back in time to the “archives.”
Yves Saint Laurent Rive Gauche pour Homme (2003), developed by perfumer Jacques Cavallier, includes notes of bergamot, rosemary, star anise, lavender, geranium, clove, coumarin, patchouli, oak moss, guaiac wood, and vetiver. Rive Gauche pour Homme starts off with bergamot and anise (that go from “crisp/tart” to “creamy” in seconds) followed by a rosemary-lavender-geranium progression that quivers between green/herbal rosemary-lavender leaves, and furry, aromatic geranium leaf. A mild sweetness emerges in the shift from top and middle notes…