Best Fragile by Jean Paul Gaultier Alternatives & Similar Perfumes

The Orange Extraordinaire collection.

An homage to the role of spices in Western perfumery, history and culture. Naturally it’s a majestic aromatic flow of cinnamon and ginger, with numerous sparks of pepper and a rich incense background.

An iconic classic in its own rite, Quelques Fleurs is a true ingenious scent of its time. The French perfumer, Robert Bienaimé, unveiled Quelques Fleurs the first true multi-floral blend ever created, in 1912.

Since then, his perfectly-balanced, refined bouquet has become modern perfumery’s peerless criterion for pure, meticulously-crafted, multi-floral accords. Prior to his bold invention, floral fragrances had been mainly singular flowers, or florals combined with various nuances of herbs and spices. Bienaimé’s singular triumph is remarkable for its secret, mythical formula. Upwards of 15,000 exemplary flowers and 250 prestigious raw materials are diligently-curated in the creation of a single ounce of perfume.

Cool herbs, the sweetness of anise, the warmth of a boozy flame at the bottom of a glass. Blue Flame begins in that glass. It opens bright and bitter, like lemon peel twisted between the fingers. Mint leaves and dry coriander seed steadies it. Then comes sambuca, the anise liqueur that lingers with chilly sweetness, shadowed by bitter/herbal Mugwort. Vetiver and cedarwood trace the outline of dry wood, and benzoin resin adds a low hum. Finally, white musk emerges, turning this cool customer into a warm, languid skin scent, its sweet herbs still held within.

Matilde Bonaparte, niece of Napoleon I, was known for her breasts (“le plus beau décolleté”) and her talent as a painter. She also hosted a celebrated 19th-century Parisian salon attended by the greatest artists and writers of her time. This namesake perfume is an olfactory salon of provocative white florals (ylang-ylang, narcissus, jasmine) given tropical succulence with passion fruit and papaya. Mathilde’s heady brightness is softened by iris and sandalwood.

The soft, gentle, enveloping fragrance of Teint de Neige in its most concentrated version. Recalling images and atmosphere of the belle-époque, with sweet and powdery notes of jasmine, rose, ylang-ylang on a base of musk, tonka beans and heliotrope.

White is a bright and lively fragrance built around the friction between hot spices and suave florals. The cinnamon, clove and cardamom opening suggests candied red hots, which makes it all the more surprising when the melange of rose de Mai and lily of the valley softly asserts itself. The undertone of tagete, with its bitter herbalness, keeps White from getting too “pretty-pretty”.

In 1912, Houbigant's perfumer Robert Bienaimé picked up the ball from Paul Parquet (who earlier invented the whole fougere category while working for Houbigant at the end of the 18th century) and introduced Quelques Fleurs, one of Houbigant’s all-time great fragrances and the first multi-floral bouquet ever created.

The current owners of Houbigant take the heritage and history of the house very seriously and try to adapt the famous formulas from the 18th and 19th centuries to the 21st century's tastes and technologies while keeping the character and old-school flair as close as possible to the originals.

You might have read about Quelques Fleurs in books on perfume and the guides on the greatest perfumes of all time.

The current reincarnation is an adaptation of the original formula to modern times taste and it benefits from modern advances in perfume making.

Meet the 21st century Quelques Fleurs, a gorgeous romantic floral with a big history and an infinite number of floral facets.

The name of the perfume is a reference to the ancient port of Darin (located on the Tarout island/جزيرة تاروت‎ in the modern day Saudi Arabia).This port was famous in the Middle ages as the musk exchange hub, where merchants from everywhere would come to buy deer musk.

Darin’s musk was legendary (top quality and genuine). Swedoft are treating us to that fabled musk aroma in a poetic modern perfume way. Darin’s Musk is a bright, voluminous fresh musk cloud. It’s not animalic. It’s white musk, clean and exquisite. It did however inherit the outstanding longevity and diffusiveness of the original deer musk traded centuries ago in the port of Darin.

Sileno or Silenus in Greek  (or faun in Roman) mythology would be a creature of the wild forest – part man part beast. Silenus would accompany and entertain Dionysus in his god’s routines and parties.

The perfume is a sensual but fresh ylang-ylang with a generous crisp spices layer. 

Perfumer: Dominique Moellhausen

The spirited country girl arrives in the bustle of the city, determined to change her status to “anything but innocent”. That’s Sweet Lure, bubbling with naughty possibilities. Cinnamon and lily-of-the-valley swirl in a bamboozling haze of neroli and vanilla, keeping things alluring but fun.