Duc de Vervins (for men)

debbborra

Sometimes a fragrance just sneaks up on you and makes you fall in love.

This is undeniably masculine, and virile. It is also fresh. A lot of very green scents will go funny on skin. They become sort of rotten smelling. Duc de Vervins does not suffer from this problem. It stays lovely through out.

If you read my Gli Odori review, you'll know that I like the cuminy smell that rises from, I guess, the celery seed. There is a hint of that in this Houbigant, however it is much more subdued. Here, it's a interesting contrast to the sweet and citrus notes without any sweat connotations.

I love this smell, perhaps passionately.

No, Andy, I didn't get leather. But I wasn't searching for it.

andyray

To be, or not to be [leather], that is the question....

Is Duc de Vervins really part of the leather' family of perfumes? I ask this question as I struggle to find the leather in this early-90s blockbuster. Maybe I've missed something, but Duc de Vervins simply doesn't do the 'leather thing' for me! I confess that I rather like this fragrance having re-explored it for the purposes of this review, though it needs conservative application so as not to overwhelm others!

I would tend to place this alongside those complex mid-to-late 1980s green/fresh scents such as Nobile by Gucci and Xeryus by Givenchy that introduced amber, musk and - (especially Xeryus) - a splash of leather to their composition whilst remaining sure-footed in the aromatic/fougere camp.

Thus, compared to the company of Verasce, Van Cleef and Arpels, Oscar de la Renta and others seen in the boxes to ones left of the review, this Houbigant fragrance seems a tad out of place.

Duc de Vervins is as green as the bottle it comes in and has massive impact and staying power whilst lacking any discernable pyramid of notes. The introduction is quite sharp and tart and announces the 'Green' theme and, whilst it slowly softens, calms a little and, interestingly, sweetens somewhat, the bass notes still resonate strong green and rather soapy notes to me. Perhaps the 'soap' IS the 'leather' and my senses are insufficiently tuned?

However, I suggest that, leather or no leather, this is going to be a love/hate sort of fragrance. It lacks the pyramidal subtlety of the wonderful Nobile, and whilst in possession of the 'door opening' impact of Xeryus, it lacks the latter's deeper intrigue in the spicey middle and bass notes and stays 'soapy/green' and rather one-dimensional.

Whilst it has a very clean accord that will appeal to some and work on their skin's chemistry and, after several hours, becomes less 'noisy', it's the sort of fragrance that people might comment on rather disparagingly if worn on the train during the morning rush hour as those with allergies might find it a tad too 'aftershavey'. It reminds me of those smokey old days when someone would get into the stuffy train carriage with simply too much Paco Rabanne on first thing in the morning: windows opening; sneezing etc...To be sure, and as Shamus 1 says in his review of Paco Rabanne; that's not he fault of the fragrance, rather the amount sprayed on and in what context.

I would be interested in others' opinion of this scent and the leather/no-leather issue. Andyray