Historiae - Hameau de la Reine

Picture:  Petit Trianon, parc de Versailles
Photo by  Urban, (cc) some rights reserved
 Wikimedia Commons

Hameau de la Reine is green floral created by Bertrand Duchaufour for the french house Historiae. The fragrance is inspired of Marie Antionette  and her "revolt" against the Versailles court ie  "Marie-Antoinette wants to have her own little village to enjoy the pleasures of the countryside with her children. Her aspiration for a rural paradise is somewhat a result of the Enlightenment. The Queen had her Hameau built in Versailles in 1783, going against the traditions of the old Royal Court".

Hameau de la Reine starts sparkling, light green with citrusy accents. The greeney is like fresh buds with a touch of tart tomatoleaves. The greenery is very natural smelling and soon Hameau de la Reine elicts the image and scent of a sunny midsummer meadow with its wild untamed grass, midsummerflowers and moisty earth  underneath. As Hameau de la Reine dries down, flowery notes gets more predominant and now we are transported from the meadow to the garden of a sweet cottage, just as in Marie Antionettes little artificial, rual, village. Wild roses, mock orange and robust peonies are present over the green backgrund that has become slightly darker and accentuated by woody notes when the fragrance reaches the balanced musky, basenotes.

Picture: Marie Antionette (1755-1793)
Painting of Louise Elisabeth Vigée  Le Brun (1755-1842)
1783

Light green, airy and delightful, Hameau de la Reine is a perfect fragrance for the coming midsummercelebrations. It's a casual fragrance but also suits for work as it can't offen anyone. The sillage is close and the longevity not for a whole day which is surprising as the others tested from the line so far, Orangerie du Roy and Bouquet du Trianon (see previous reviews) both have very good longevity. But Hameau de la Reine is that sort of light fragrance that could be reapplied during the day without causing olfactory disasters, i.e the rule that says: Never apply perfume on unclean skin. But there are some exceptions: Some light and fresh fragrances, preferably citrus, could be used even a day after the previous shower.

Those who like Chanel Cristalle Eau Verte and the new version of Balmain Vent Vert will probably also appreciate the delicate Hameau de la Reine.

Rating: 3+

Notes: Bergamot, blackcurrant bud, tomato leaf, fig leaf, rose, galbanum, peony, geranium, mock orange, ivy, vetiver, patchouli, white wood, musk, honey

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test

Historiae - Bouquet du Trianon

Picture: Queen Marie Antoinette of France walking in the park of Trianon
with two of her children.Painting 1785 by Adolf Fredrik Werthmüller  (!751-1811)

Bouquet du Trianon is a floral woody fragrance created for Parfums Historiae by the famous nose Bertrand Duchaufour. Historiae are using a high precentage of natural fair traded esential oils in their fine fragrances.

When it comes to the inspiration to Bouquet du Trianon the story tells: "On August 15, 1774, King Louis XVI makes a wonderful gift to his wife Marie-Antoinette: "You love flowers, I have a bunch to offer you: the Petit Trianon." At Trianon Marie-Antoinette created a haven of intimacy that allowed her to escape the etiquette. She indulged her taste for countrystyle patterns and pastel colors."

Bouquet du Trianon starts with an airy and fizzy burst of greenry, some crisp flowers and most of all blackcurrant buds. The black currant is the mainplayer in the topnotes and is still clearly recognizable during the whole dry down. There is also a light, transparant, almost incenselike note that accompanying the blackcurrentnote, maybe the mint and beewax combined with the refined and smooth sandal- and cedarwood notes creates this effect. The flowers of the blend takes the centerstage somewhere in the middlenotes and are still present in the woody base. The dominating flower is a light, transparent and fizzy tubereuse, note meety and indolic, but wellbehaved and minimalistic. There is also something reminding of a pleasant, hard caramellnote. In the top- and in the beginning of the middlenotes Bouquet du Trianon seems to be a transparent version of another recent Bertrand Duchaufour creation dominated by blackcurrant: Enchanted Forest from The Vagabond Prince. It is easy to suspect that the two fragrances where created simultaneously a transparent one and a heavier one. Of the two I personally prefer Bouquet du Trianon as it blends much better with my skinchemistry. The critical Mr Parfumista complimented Bouquet du Trianon, thought there is some1980s vibe of the perfume and even found some similarities in its apperance and style, even if Bouquet du Trianon is lighter, with the great Montana Parfum d'Peau.Personally I also find some similarities with Grossmith Floral Veil and with the spirit of Golden Chypre from the same house.

Picture: Bouquet de Trianon Edt
Photo: PR Historiae (c)

Bouquet du Trianon is a perfect fragrance for officewearing, elegant and not disturbing. Despite it's transaprant character, the sillage is medium and the longevity is for almost 24h. To me Bouquet de Trianon is a very comfortable springscent, a real wristsniffer and I'm very enthusiastic about it.

Rating: 5

Notes: Lemon, bergamot, mandarin, galbanum, mint, freesia, blackcurrant bush leaf,  tuberose absolute, ylang ylang, beeswax absolute, rose, honeysuckle, vetiver, patchouli, amber, musk, sandalwood, cedarwood

Thanks to Fragrance & Art for the sample to test