Boucheron pour Homme Boucheron 1989 Eau de Parfum

This fragrance smells wonderfully to me and to many people but not to everybody. It is not an all-rounder that will please everybody.

Nevertheless, it's a very good fragrance with a citrus opening (more verbena than lemon), then a mix of floral and woody notes, with a touch of incense and benzoin in the background.

Sillage and longevity are good with the EDT and excellent with the EDP.

I think the incense and benzoin notes explain why some people don't like it, but it's part of its DNA. It's a wonderful fragrance for a dinner in the evening.

Unlike Jaipur, Boucheron PH is a more adequate to heat fresh, citrus fragrance.

It is opposed to the oriental composition of Jaipur.

Although fresh with an excellent opening with verbena and lemon, its drydown reveals itself slightly oriental, but running any sweetness.

The base notes are light and well balanced, with possibly feel a little incense and woods in the background.

Definivamente a classic fragrance that reaches the same audience of Chanel Pour Monsieur, distinguishing this by having less moss.

Duration is excellent, though with little projection.

Talk about cheap and cheerful, Boucheron Pour Homme is ebullient, and it's all about the EDP for me. A soapy lemon verbena citrus aromatic that is a culmination of all that I love about the genre charged up to a rapturous level, particularly the floral heart: rose, carnation, jasmine, and lily of the valley, soaring and sunny. Not to fear, gents, it doesn't read as feminine—you ought to know all of this by now, I can't repeat myself over and over. Being manly and masculine requires a touch of sensitive, soft and tender, just like a touch of white or black paint makes for a beautiful tint or shade. Nuance, people, lean into it! Yin and yang! And add some color to your wardrobe, for crying out loud!

Now how on earth did all of this dry down to such a wonderfully mossy, sandalwood incense base when there are restrictions that allegedly killed perfumery? How, pray tell? It's called science, specifically chemistry, and we can synthesize scents by extending the little amounts of naturals that we covet so longingly in our fragrances regardless of sustainability. No Mysore sandalwood? Of course not, it's called protecting the Santalum Album species from extinction, a sacred tree, a holy plant that was ravaged for years by overharvesting for the sake of, among other things, perfumery. Stop glorifying its past use and rejoice that we've scaled it back to protect these trees. We have viable substitutes, some that are even used in, my word, a fragrance that can be had for 30 US dollars.

This is as good as any Roja Dove I've smelled. Challenge me.

Though Boucheron perfumes are still available, it is unclear who is making these perfumes now. The Boucheron website does not list any perfumes. The two Boucheron perfumes I know can easily be replaced by many other perfumes, so I am not really mourning for this house.


Boucheron Pour Homme EDT is everything that the notes tell you. The opening is an intense citrus, with the pungent green of bergamot dominating the sweetness of orange. The minor floral notes, if any, are too mild to make an impression. In a few hours, the bergamot and other citrus are joined by some other undefined sweet notes. I assume that this is the floral melange of carnation, rose, jasmine and others, listed as the middle notes. Once these notes fade, the base notes -musk, amber, sandalwood, tonka, benzoin etc - come to the foreground. However, the strong citrus personality pervades all throughout the life of this perfume on my skin. There is also some soapiness associated with this scent. Unfortunately, these qualities bring it closer to common barbershop colognes.

The performance of Boucheron EDP is excellent. The intense citrus at the beginning would label you as the cologne guy at least for the first few hours. The middle notes are strong on my skin for 6-8 hours. Even after twelve hours, I can get a strong whiff of this scent on my skin.

Is this perfume worth the cost? If you are looking for a strong citrus, Boucheron Pour Homme EDP at $29 at US grey market sellers is certainly a bargain. For me, Salvatore Ferragamo Pour Homme is a better, cheaper men’s summer fragrance, because of its fig leaf accord in the opening. I have had Boucheron for many years now, and seldom have I reached for it.

In John Huston's film "The Maltese Falcon," he sits as Sam Spade at his desk, trying to piece together the loose threads of a criminal case, when his secretary Effie hands him a visitor's business card. He sniffs it, irritated, and grimaces - clearly perplexed. Effie helps him out: "Lily of the valley..."

There can be no doubt that the dandyish Joel Cairo (Peter Lorre) did not spray his cards with a scent relative to Boucheron pour Homme, because otherwise Bogey wouldn't have wrinkled his nose. Boucheron is far from a (possibly lily of the valley-dominated) floral scent, as the notes listed here in the heart might suggest, or rather cause concern. On the contrary, Boucheron pour Homme comes across quite classically, and the manufacturer itself does not mention any floral notes on its website.

The opening features citrus and verbena, underpinned by a soapy quality. Although a hint of clove soon breaks through, it remains primarily citrusy for a long time. However, it is neither too sharp nor too sour, instead pleasantly mild and, above all, reliably green and airy. Unpretentious basil contributes its fresh part. The citrus note reaches its peak in a sort of candy-like impression after about an hour.

Alongside the herbal green, a - let’s say - floral aura slowly emerges, which, however, claims no priority, especially not for individual players, but rather becomes increasingly embedded in a clean, foamy cream as the midday progresses. Throughout the afternoon, the latter gradually takes the lead, and it continues in a neatly groomed manner into an almost amber-tinged evening. On the skin, a herbaceous-green-fresh fragment remains consistently present.

I find it difficult to distinguish the scent from others of its era; I certainly do not recognize any unique selling point. Personally, I think it’s good that it never becomes scratchy.

Conclusion: A solid all-rounder for the perhaps olfactorily more conservative gentleman.

I thank Ergoproxy for the sample.