Houbigant's new release: Ambre des Abysses (by Luca Maffei, 2023)

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I love that everything Houbigant creates shows consistency.

First of all, consistency with the special history -three hundred years long- of this brand. Then, consistency with the personality and style of the people behind it, and with their personal vision of perfume: a vision that speaks of a sophisticated, serene, balanced, smiling kind of elegance. In a word: a happy one. Although Houbigant was born as a perfumer for the Royals at the time of Marie Antoinette, the perfumes it offers are not intended to affirm any idea of richness or beauty, nor to be noticed among others. They do not shout their presence all around. Perhaps, their success lies in the fact that they aim for happiness. 

The happiness of those who create them, and the happiness of those wearing them. Happiness, in perfumery, is a rare quality.


At Esxence I met their new Pivoine Souveraine by Celine Ellena, a hymn to spring, at the center of which shines a floral accord as fresh, beautiful, and bright as a diamond, and the four masculine releases, by Luca Maffei. Today I’m writing about Ambre des Abysses, featuring a perfect balance between tradition and modernity. 

The base is an ambery fougère, a great timeless classic that I find fascinating also from the point of view of historical consistency: the legendary Fougère Royale is just a creation of Houbigant. When you have such a prestigious past behind you, it can be difficult to find the courage to offer a new point of view, and instead... this beautiful fougère, as soft and caring as velvet, does not disappoint at all. 

As soon as it reaches the skin and begins to warm, its fresh components (mint, geranium, jasmine) and warm ones (bergamot, rosemary, and the amber base with patchouli, vanilla, and tonka bean) begin to melt one inside the other in voluptuous waves, while touches of leather and oak moss offer the whole a seat on which to rest. An unexpected marine hue interacts with all the accords, adding bright sparks throughout the composition. Dynamic, fresh, and contemporary, yet also warm, enveloping, persuasive, and stylish. I recommend a test on the skin because paper does not make it bloom well.

Launch after launch I am increasingly convinced that Houbigant should be studied as a case history in marketing school, during a purposely built seminar entitled "How to honor a one-of-a-kind heritage, bringing it into modernity without distorting it, and earning well-deserved good money". Congratulations!

Houbigant website

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