Story
Fougère, the cornerstone of masculine perfumery, dates back to 1882, when Houbigant released Fougère Royale around lavender, geranium, moss and coumarin. Fougère Bengale, released in 2007, per the press kit issued by the house, by Parfum d’Empire, takes that classic chord on a detour through India, soaked in Assam tea, hot hay and blond tobacco, as if a fougère had been carried by boat to Calcutta. Marc-Antoine Corticchiato, a chemist who founded the house, signed the composition.
Fougère Bengale reworks the fougère accord into an untamed creature with animal sensuality and an Indian savannah feel. It sits inside Corticchiato’s long-running narrative method: pick a story, find the natural materials that carry it, and build the perfume backbone before anything else gets fine-tuned.
Structurally, Fougère Bengale opens on lavender, lays over a heart of Assam tea, hay, honey, blond tobacco, then settles into a drydown of patchouli, tonka bean, oakmoss, vanilla. The brand insists on sourcing its own naturals where it can, and has run an essential-oil production unit in Madagascar for years to back that claim.
The fragrance ships in the house’s familiar 50 ml and 100 ml flacons cast by Pochet du Courval and engraved with the laurel-crown signature.