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Fracas - Sultry hot flowers after the rain

Fracas
http://www.robertpiguetparfums.com/

Sometimes creating a masterpiece is bad thing because like having an exceptional child, people tend to forget the other siblings, each with own allure. Such is Fracas – such an extraordinary, landmark perfume that when you think Jean Piguet and Fracas perfume creator Germaine Cellier, you forget there was Baghari and Bandit, Visa and others. But we are here to bring homage to Fracas, Martha Stewart’s signature scent, wouldn’t you know (she once did a whole segment just on her favourite things in perfume and everyone got a bottle of Fracas to take home)

Top Notes

Bergamot, Mandarin
Middle Notes
Jasmine, Tuberose, Gardenia, White Flowers

Base Notes
Musk, sandalwoodFracas is sultry - and like most sultry things, hardly subtle. It’s as if someone decided what’s better than the waxy, floral glory of sweet, intense gardenia and tuberose? I know – yet more gardenia and tuberose. I liken Fracas to finding a scented orchid in the middle of a dense rain forest – it leaves me with an impression of a hot jungle flower, transported to a hot house where it has been groomed into intensity beyond its roots, and then showered with rain to cool it off, leaving the heat and humidity and floral notes, still hanging - like soaked clothes on a perfume clothes line, in the air. There is a definite watery feel to this floral, even though it is sweet and emphatic. Fracas is for a woman, not a girl, and thus I am not surprised Madame Stewart claims it as her scent – it is a brand in and of itself. Like Ms. Stewart, Fracas has style, confidence and staying power. And that, in a perfume, is a good thing.

Baghari, by Robert Piguet - Carnal, Timeless - It's a Strut in a Bottle

Baghari, Robert Piguet

www.RobertPiguetParfums.com

In the Piguet PR kit there is a line that describes Baghari perfectly: Baghari is a classic soft floral, beloved by women who are frankly romantic, feminine and young at heart’. You cannot describe Baghari any better than that unless it is to mention it is, after famed Fracas also by Robert Piguet (and Martha Stewart’s signature scent) one of the world’s remaining, old school glamour gal perfumes. But first, as always, the essentials:

Top Notes:
Aldehydic Notes (a complexity of cool and creamy white florals)

Middle Notes:
Rose, Jasmine, Iris, citrus

Base Notes
Amber, Vanilla, Musk

At first breath, Baghari wafts elegance, luxury, and it’s almost like you’re inhaling Paris, circa 1950. There is headiness to it because it is almost, but not quite, over the top. It announces itself the way a woman who owns the room does – gliding in with that enviable carriage and a steadiness to the gait – saying: she can have any man she wants. It’s a quiet strut but it’s a strut –no mistake. It’s pointless to suggest there’s a touch of flirtatiousness - that would be kind of lightweight when talking about Baghari. It's so unapologetically seductive it’s almost animalistic; let’s just say gently carnal and with a soul that is sheer womanliness.

Since 1950, perfumer Aurelien Guichard of Givaudan rebalanced the original fragrance, ensuring it’s classic impact but giving it a contemporary nuance that makes it a ‘modern classic’. It begins with luscious orange and creamy white florals which then surrender to a forest floral sense in the iris, rose and jasmine (it feels almost wood and fern, rather than floral at this point). The finish recaptures you with sweetness but this time, the sweet bottom notes are emphatically down to earth.

In a strange way, Baghari tells a story – there is such a definite beginning, middle and end – you can feel it blossom on your skin. Then there's a resonance that stays which is definitely that which we call : all woman. This is a perfume, as they say, that has 'legs' on it. Simply gorgeous.