Blenheim Bouquet Penhaligon's 1902 Eau de Toilette

Blenheim Bouquet (Eau de Toilette) by Penhaligon's

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7.3 / 10 488 Ratings

A perfume by Penhaligon's for men, released in 1902. The scent is citrusy-fresh. It is still in production.
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Main accords

Citrus

Fresh

Spicy

Green

Woody

Fragrance Notes

Pine

Lime

Amalfi lemon

Black pepper

Lavender

Musk

Perfumer

Walter Penhaligon

Ratings

Scent

7.3488 Ratings

Longevity

6.3359 Ratings

Sillage

5.8356 Ratings

Bottle

8.0334 Ratings

Value for money

5.9110 Ratings

Submitted by Seglein, last update on 07/04/2025.

Interesting Facts

Blenheim Palace is the best known building of the baroque period architect and dramatist Sir John Valbrugh. Being the ancestral seat of the Duke of Marlborough it is one of England's most popular castles and the largest non-royal ancestral seat. The perfume was said to be designed personally for the Duke of Marlborough in 1902. The scent doesn't have a heartnote.

Smells similar

What the fragrance is similar to

Wellington Cologne

Blenheim Bouquet Aftershave

Granville

Interdit Absente

Town & Country

Oud 3007

Reviews

10 in-depth fragrance descriptions

04/14/2012

5
Bottle 5
Sillage 5
Longevity 8
Scent

Apicius
224 Reviews

Apicius

Very helpful Review 3

English Style and Humour

Blenheim Palace is a well known house in Oxfordshire – nothing petite but a respectable country estate which evaporates a certain grandezza. It is the ancestral seat of the 11th Count of Marlborough who belongs to the higher aristocracy within the English hierarchy. As a fan of the folding bike, of course, Blenheim Palace is known to me, since the annual “Brompton Foldingbike World Championship” takes place there – an event that can really count as typically English. It is a cross county race on tiny Brompton folding bikes that have only 18'' wheels. The participants are asked to dress themselves according to the noble event – cycling shorts and jacket, shirt and tie or bow tie are a must!

But Penhaligon's, rightly or not, adorns itself with borrowed plumes by using the name Blenheim.

Years ago I noticed the mostly positive reviews on Basenotes. Blenheim Bouquet seems to be something like the fragrance reference of this brand. Anything else they do is likely to get compared with Blenheim Bouquet.

Blenheim Bouquet is basically citric. It is a straightforward lemon with only some green and herbal echoes. I suppose, before the aquatics were invented, it was those green citric scents that men would go for instead. By regarding this style as conservative and outdated you would not do justice to Blenheim Bouquet. This style is robust and gripping. It is the sports fragrance for the modern and athletic gentleman of 1902!

The more the lemon fades away and the green notes come forward, the better I like Blenheim Bouquet. But I am not convinced about the fragrance note “pine”. I do not see dark coniferous woods here – like i.e. Acqua di Selva. Musky notes and also some vetiver rather give you the impression of the amiable English landscape park that surrounds Blenheim Palace. I do not understand that vetiver is not part of the known pyramid. After about two hours, I get lots of it.

Blenheim Bouquet may be a fragrance of the past, but also today it would make a good company on a stylish outing in Oxfordshire. Who knows – one or the other participant of the Brompton Foldingbike World Championship may complete his appearance with a few spritzes of Blenheim Bouquet!

06/07/2023

Rosymel
122 Reviews

Rosymel

Helpful Review 3

Expensive hot scented towels (I mean this in a good way)

This is a lovely cologne—sweet citrus (the lime adds the sweetness) plus ginger is what I smell, even though there’s no ginger listed. I know some people find it astringent or harsh but I definitely don’t. It’s a soft sweet fragrance on my skin. I totally agree with the people who said it smells like those nice hot scented towels you get on the plane or in a restaurant! But like really expensive ones, and in a good way. Longevity is very short and projection weak, however.

06/25/2025

5
Pricing 5
Bottle 3
Sillage 3
Longevity 6.5
Scent

Ursaw
127 Reviews

Ursaw

Helpful Review 3

A billiards room of a gentleman's club

Prickly, but in a good way. Lemon rind – the puffy white part of it. Candied young pinecones. Dry wood dust. Ground pepper. Feels weirdly warm on my skin. I'd enjoy it way more if it was just a little bit colder, but it is what it is.

I don't necessarily love it, but I do quite like it. A very elegant flavor profile – fresh, subdued, with something almost smoky in it. I haven't smoked in ages, but something about it makes me crave a cig. Delightfully neutral – a rarity in the modern teeth-rottingly sweet landscape. Settles on skin pretty much immediately and throughout the next ~3 hours slowly fades away, becoming a softer and softer version of itself until there's nothing left but a faint musky aftertaste.

In a weird and roundabout way, but it immediately reminded me of Eau de Citron Noir. Not in a "smells similar" way. More so in a "oh, that's what Citron was trying and failing to be". So this is the Gentlemen's Club that Citron saw once in a historical drama and has been trying to recreate while drunk off cheap booze at a local pub ever since.

When I see the concept of a respectable men's club performed by Blenheim Bouquet, I finally understand it. It's neat! Not exactly my style, but if I had to keep just one decant out of my Discovery Set – it would be this one. I would probably even use it all up. But that would be it.

09/22/2018

10
Bottle 8
Sillage 6
Longevity 8.5
Scent

Konsalik
81 Reviews

Translated Show original

Konsalik

Top Review 27

The man needs three things: fire, whistling... um: lemon, pine, pepper

I only write more detailed comments for fragrances that I find very good, good or at least "exciting" (impossible word). My time is almost always too precious for me - I'm sure many people here feel that way. A statement for the private campaign against nasal offenders is usually sufficient. And so grandiosely and gloriously failed that he deserved a comment is for me so far only Lagerfeld "Classic". But I'd have to put it on my skin again. No tempting thought.

Be that as it may: In my case there are quite a few "simple" fragrances to be found among these perfumes, which have already been found to be good in a certain sense through a commentary: Two tones, simple chords, but self-contained and exquisitely harmonious. Besides a delight in French charm (the more perfumes I get to know, the greater my admiration for Carons "pour un homme"...), there are of course also English classics on the agenda. On the surface, deeply stacked "functional scents", without the romantic, emotional joy of association of colleagues on the other side of the English Channel. Consciously arranged simply from high-quality components, but with a clear goal in mind: What should the fragrance do for its wearer?

"Blenheim Bouquet" now appears on paper as an archetype of the British scent type - at least if you follow my simplistic confrontation for reasons of illustration. He has no heart. That means no heart note. But indeed, this (formal) "heartlessness" really creates a smooth, professional-friendly, somehow "liveried" scent: The fullness of lemons at the beginning refreshes. And how! Good morning! A sparkling-slashy smack in the face. So direct that our modern nose, which actually only knows lemons and limes in artificially accompanied, sugary-warmed form, can be tempted to the wrong inversion conclusion to have to do it just in the case of Blenheim Bouquet with artificial lemon (hard to put it: cleaning agent). And I also had to readjust my nose in this respect, which is why my review was written many weeks after the purchase, contrary to my habit. There are forms of simplicity that must first be understood.

The result is a moderately balsamic pine and (even more) black pepper. That's it (nothing musk). And basically it almost seems as if these two components are primarily there to prolong the citrus fruits of the start by... imitate? Let me explain: Although the top note should have long since vanished, I still imagine a somewhat shy, but still fresh, crisp lemon after hours. Or a memory of her. Nevertheless (or just because of that) the drydown seems so interesting and unique. As said: Such compact, clear fragrances can hardly be found today.

This fragrance is the old English interpretation of the always popular and yet so rarely stylishly varied freshness theme. "L'Instant de Guerlain" I described in my comment as the fine service provider of the evening. "Blenheim Bouquet" could be seen as a counterpart to the day, and it is quite conceivable that a gentleman who only wants to have two good fragrances in his closet and values a certain courtesy in the matter of olfactory accompaniment, will get through the year well with these two.

05/05/2019

8
Bottle 6
Sillage 7
Longevity 7.5
Scent

DonJuanDeCat
669 Reviews

Translated Show original

DonJuanDeCat

Top Review 13

Smells like a duke

Good evening, everyone! Here I am again and talking about a Penhaligon's fragrance, a brand I like quite a lot and I also like its bottles so much. And although some of you have called me a bottle victim, I have to make it clear that I think the fragrances are beautiful in themselves, and not because they are filled in great bottles... but don't believe me! D

Last year I had described Penhaligon's scents here more and more, and I liked one so much that I got it, too, namely Lothair. "Of course," you'll say now. After all, Lothair also has tea tea tea in it! So what? Shut up, Shut up, I say, hey hey. Okaaay, Lothair actually has black tea in it, and fig leaf as well, so I liked the scent a lot and this was one of the reasons I tried Penhaligon's more back then, so I finally tested more scents of this brand.

So, now that you know my little life story, I can finally come to this fragrance here, which is quite old since it came out in 1902 and was personally composed for Churchill. Of course, Churchill here means Charles Spencer-Churchill, the 9th Duke of Marlborough (nevertheless, Winston Spencer Churchill, probably much better known, comes from this family). The fragrance name indicates the head office of the family, which resides in Blenheim Palace. And after this little history lesson, I finally come to the scent! :)

The fragrance:

So, one notices right at the beginning that the fragrance has been on the hump for several years, because it smells quite classically of aftershave, oakmoss and lavender, but oakmoss seems to me only so, because it's not really in there and you don't smell it later either. Yet despite its "old-fashioned" aura, the fragrance is a little different from all the other classic fragrances that were made that way at the time. Because apart from the lemons, which give the fragrance its freshness, there is a certain fine spice with pepper. In addition there are pines, which I have hardly noticed at all with this kind of scents, but which come across very nice with their green and woody scents.
Soon one smells above all the lavender particularly intensively, which radiates its tart herbaceous scent quite strongly and which also makes the scent spicy especially with the pepper. And since lavender remains strong for quite a long time, it is also one of the main scents here. Towards the end a little sweet musk is added, but the fragrance doesn't change much more. As I said, it is a nice classic fragrance with woody notes that comes across nice.

The Sillage and the shelf life:

I think the Sillage is good, because the scent rises into the nose every now and then, i.e. as weak as the Sillage was evaluated here, so I don't think it is. The shelf life is okay with seven to eight hours.

The bottle:

As written at the beginning I think the Penhaligon's flacons are very well made. It is a cylindrical bottle with a square label on which elaborate drawings or patterns can be seen. The lid is cylindrical at the bottom and round at the top. In addition, the lid carries a grey silk bow or fly. All in all perhaps not the most beautiful bottle of this brand, but still beautiful in general.

So, this fragrance here smells almost as expected slightly "old-fashioned", as if oakmoss was in it, but this only happens at the beginning. Nevertheless, there is a fragrance in it that was used more often in older times, namely lavender, which also radiates strongly, so that one should also like this fragrance. With the pepper, the fragrance is also spicy, but not heavy, since the lemons make it fresher. This combination turns the fragrance into an all-rounder that could actually be worn at any time of the year, during the day, but also at evening social occasions such as meetings, meals and the like. To party wildly or to rock your head rhythmically to the music at rock or techno open air events or to turn your hair mane (which is unfortunately not so long with me, *sigh*) in a circle, the scent is a bit unsuitable :D

Since the scent is so old, it can be good that you all had a kind of scent like this in your nose hundreds of times now, but I think that this one is simply well done and comes across as high quality, and everyone who likes these "old-fashioned" scents should definitely sniff in here, especially since the scent comes across slightly different due to the beautiful pine notes (which unfortunately are covered a bit too much by the lavender later on).

And with that I am at the end again and wish everyone a nice evening here. See you soon :)

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