Hello Fragrance Family,
For many years tuberose lovers, white flower lovers, would talk lovingly of Fracas: that saucy, sensual, bubblegum fragrance that lured many a perfumista through the doorway and down the wormhole. Even the Fracas haters would compliment its artistry, its sweet green sappiness that could read as erotic or toxic, depending on your viewpoint and skin chemistry. I have a very old spray set of Fracas parfum that has weathered time quite well and a bottle of the modern EdP.
As you may know we had Joe Garces from Robert Piguet in Sydney this week and he kindly offered us a special APJ Piguet Masterclass. You’ll find some of the snaps here at APJ on Wednesday if you’re interested in the fun day we had. It was EXCELLENT!
Petit Fracas 2012 by Robert Piguet
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Bergamot, mandarin, pear
Heart: Tuberose, jasmine, gardenia
Base: Cocoa, musk, sandalwood
Recently I got a bottle of Petit Fracas from Libertine Perfumerie and can’t believe how similar and different the Petit Fracas and original Fracas are. Joe Garces tells us that when he went to be CEO for Robert Piguet the house was in deep shit. It needed to be turned around somehow so they decided to add some new fragrances and revitalise some of the old ones with reconstructions that are as close a nod to their same name predecessors as can be produced in modern perfumerie. As they still had a bestseller called Fracas why would they tamper?
Well the story goes that Joe’s daughter hates Fracas, detests it. Which is highly believable in the current age of fragrance tastes. So Joe had the idea to bring something completely new and modern to Fracas to make it more youth oriented, a better version of the fragrances that what many younger fragrance wearers are spritzing now: with its basic body coming from the Fracas mold. I can’t remember who had the idea but someone said gourmand was in and they should add chocolate. ADD CHOCOLATE? To FRACAS?!? So someone DID add chocolate to Fracas, lightened it up, gave it a fruity punch at the beginning and a more interesting and traveling story than original Fracas.
Photo Stolen TelegraphUK
How does it smell on me? Well the fruit leads the way and it’s a milky fruit, like pear and citrus zest whipped cream with a dash of vanilla ( but that could be early chocolate signs). The white flowers are already a part of the equation but they don’t fully take centre stage because there is no room for them until about 20-40 minutes in. It’s fruit, fruit, fruit but not in the ubiquitous modern designer fragrance way, this is hefty fragrance and you feel fully perfumed though in a modern way. There is still some air between the notes, like a glossy, bright and very slightly fizzy aura. The bubble gum, sticky, sappy green candy swoosh heralds the moment of white flower take over. It is regal and alluring, a powerful intoxicant that is less herbaceous than Fracas original and a little bit more fun. Maybe I’m imagining it but Petit fracas is not Petit, it is younger but not smaller and I think it would be an excellent choice for brides and girls on a night out.
The chocolate is not as pronounced as I expected it to be and reads more vanilla in my nose, and milky, and there is something dark that may be a nod to chocolate, but it seems like dark, bitter chocolate, and only a hint.
Wear time is better than average wit whispers left after 7 hours and I think it way too fragrant for most offices but try it, see if they let you. It’s worth it.
Joe Garces: Robert Piguet CEO
Joe was honest about the need to continually tweak to maintain currency and to stay within the IFRA guidelines, also the need to keep the juice consistent because some years the naturals that are used come in extremely different to previous years, or way more expensive or less product because of drought etc so every batch is tweaked to make it as much the same smell as every other bottle you’ve purchased as possible. Interesting.
Further reading: The Candy Perfume Boy and Ca Fleure Bon
Libertine Perfumerie has $198/100ml
I could not find a sample of Petit fracas on any of the major sites. SO ANNOYING!! You’ll have to go to your nearest department store that stocks Robert Piguet.
See you tomorrow. I hope your weekend was good.
Portia xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 
Portia darling.
I’ve been lemming this since our Wednesday meetup. Smelt it on one of our posse and it was divine. I’ll have to wait till next pay day as I’ve been naughty of late.
You know my thoughts on original Fracas but I love this just as much.
M xxx
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Go and ask for a sample at Libertine Madeleine. That way you can wear the sample for a week and see if you REALLY need it. You probably will because it is gorgeously good.
We need to do your list.
Portia xx
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Yes definitely only a sample. Going back to Libertine this week. I emailed regarding the list xxx
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I will seek this one out. Sounds lush.
xxxxxxx
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This is only perfume Val. it’s YOU that is LUSH!
Portia xx
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Fracas in pure parfum form is my Holy Grail of tuberose, and the idea of it needing updating is weird to me. After all, tuberoses smell the same as they always did! I’m afraid that this has me thinking sourly that eventually the world will contain nothing but fruityfloralsomethings, and every year they seem to get fruitier. Might as well just hang guavas around our necks and be done with it. I do hear you saying that this one is pretty, Portia, and eventually I may test it, but not until I’ve finished shaking my head over the state of the world’s nose. There, my gripe is over!
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HA HA HA!! Excellent! I loved it and applaud you for writing FeralJasmine.
This is the next step up for the young ones who have been smelling ONLY those fruity floral nothings and are ready for the next step. One day when these girls are full fledged 40 something perfumistas they will be wailing because you can’t get decent fruity florals like in the good old days of perfume. They will be, “Remember that fabulous Princess by Vera Wang and that AhMayZing Badgeley Mishka!! They just don’t make perfume as good anymore since white musks have been IFRA regulated” It will all happen again.
Portia xx
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Ah, Portia, you give me perspective. Somebody who heard that I was interested in perfume gave me a bottle of Britney Spears Fantasy. I had best preserve it carefully so that one day, when the current crop of perfumistas-to-be are whining that you can’t find a really rich cupcake in a bottle anymore, I can pull it out of my cupboard (cackling) and dispense it to them in tiny vials.
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I hope you’ll be selling it at the Vintage Unfindable Prices, like $16/ml. That will be COOL!
Portia xx
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It’s something to think about. After all, I’ve seen “vintage Tigress” selling at unbelievable prices, and didn’t that originally come from the drugstore?
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I prefer to eat my fruits and smell my flowers, though I do like peach in perfumes sometimes. I have both vintage and new Fracas and they’re both great. You have gotten me somewhat interested in sampling Petit. One of the great things about perfumes is that you can find loves or strong likes where you least expect it.
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Absolutely Fatima,
You could have knocked me over with a feather when I loved Petit Fracas, I thought I was going to HATE it.
Clearly I did not,
Portia xx
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That is extremely interesting! Thanks for the wonderful review of Petit Fracas as well as for the write-up about the event. I have actually avoided Petit Fracas, worried that it would be all candy sweet and sugared fruit. Now I am very intrigued.
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Hey BaconBiscuit212,
It is both candy sweet, full of sugared fruit and not. A very interesting dichotomy of a fragrance and it smells GREAT! I am glad they made me try it and now I have a bottle.
Portia xx
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That does sound interesting. Well, I may have a dislike of candy sweet fragrances, but you also never know. There is always that one that changes your mind!
Thanks again for recommendation, Portia! And always a pleasure, I might add, to read you. I hope that you had a wonderful weekend! xoxo, Daisy
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I tried this on one hand and the original Fracas on the other to compare. At first Petit was way too sugary sweet, but it dried down really lovely on skin, smells better on skin than on a test strip. A kind posse member is sending me a sample of Fracas pure parfum, so I can’t wait to try that too, I think I need some form of Fracas in my life!
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Hey RuthF,
You are the lucky one. I love the fracas Parfum. The fruit is sweet but not too sweet on my skin, or maybe I love sweet. It’s no match for the original if we are to compare but lovely in its own right.
Portia xx
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Portia! I had so much fun last Wednesday, thank you! Even though I didn’t take the Fracas train like most, I did fall in love with Cravache. Thank you to Libertine also for the generous sample, it smells even better on my husband! 😉 Xo
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Didn’t we have an amazing time. I’m so sad you didn’t come to DIOR, it was pretty spectaculr.
I am glad that Crevache is a winner for you, the Piguet line has shot into my top 5 since wednesday.
We’ll have another very soon, thank you for being an integral part of the magic,
Portia xx
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I appreciate the candid thoughts Garces shared with you. I’m cheering for this house, as I want them to do well. None of their recent releases has been a love for me, but I sense that will change. They are certainly making a real go of it, it seems!
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Hey Natalie,
When trying all of their new scents I was wowed. Before I had only tried Fracas, Futur, Bois Noir and Petit Fracas. I was loving Baghari, Calypso and Madmoiselle Piguet. They are interesting and beautifully constructed to my nose, there was another too that blew me away but my mind is mush.
I’m glad you’re cheering for them too and want them to do well, they are trying so hard to make perfumes that cross generations and can be worn by perfumistas and regular people. A very fine line, like a tightrope walk and they’re making a go of it.
Portia xx
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