Hello Frag Hags,

I love a fragrancce that comes with a could-be-true story. It’s a great ice breaker, predisposes me to want to like the frag and lets me know some reasons why it may smell like it does. Anybody not frag obsessed, or a Perfume Bore as my BFF calls me when I get started, will think that I’m mental but it does give perspective and added interest, for me anyway. Just so you know I am reviewing a modern iteration 125ml EdT that cost me less than some 3ml decants I’ve bought recently.

Royal Bain de Caron by Caron 1941

Photo Stolen Fragrantica

Fragrantica gives these featured accords:
Top: Lilac, rose
Heart: Opoponax, benzoin, incense
Base: Sandalwood, amber, musk, vanilla, cedar

This post was inspired by BoisDeJasmin: Simple Summer Pleasures: Cologne Bath. I was so impressed by the idea of putting a couple of tablespoons of cologne into the bath and remembered reading about how this was designed for some millionaire, at a time when that meant something, who wanted his bath to smell like the champagne (Champagne was the original name but the word became unusable)  he had been bathing in. So it was an easy match, even though Royal Bain de Caron is an EdT it doesn’t matter. Remember, when I read this in the Northern Hemisphere it was summer but down here in Oz we were in the grip of winter and I wanted something not quite so fresh and light for my bath.

Royal Bain de Caron opens with a sparkling, warm, boozy richness that is more like cognac than champagne but it’s probably a hark back to the days of champagne being super dooper sweet. The vanilla, amber and sandalwood all give a spectacular overture which then leads to a very sweet amber-ish floral bouquet that merely hints at the lilac and rose in the notes list because all the resins completely engulf the florals on my skin. Almost linear after the first rush and decidedly unisex, it smells darker, richer and spicier on TSO Jin than it does me. If I spritz myself after the bath with a decanted atomiser of Royal Bain de Caron the fragrance life is around 5-7 hours depending on the day and remains warm and inviting to the very end.

A great statement fragrance, warm and sparkling. I think too fragrant for office work and definitely way too in your face for perfume-phobic workplaces, still it would not be overly intrusive for recreational closeness like theatre, cinema or dinner.

TheBath by AlfredStevens Stolen Art.com

Further reading EauMG and PerfumeSmellingThings
FragranceNet has 125ml/$28 BARGAIN!!
ThePerfumedCourt starts at $3/ml

Do you like to be completely and utterly decadent sometimes? What is your favourite way to feel ridiculously luxe on a budget?

Hopefully the world is giving you lemonade.
Till tomorrow,
Portia xx