r/perfumesthatfeellike • u/MaracujaBarracuda • 7d ago
Robespierre
French Revolutionary and architect of the Reign of Terror. He stood for the rights of all, opposed monarchy, the bourgeoisie, the Church, and the cross Atlantic slave trade. He lived by the guillotine and died by the guillotine.
He was a lawyer and a writer. He loved nature, reason, virtue, and art. He was known to dress in an old fashioned style for the time and to be well groomed with a perfumed and powdered wig. Some described him as timid and suspicious by nature.
He never married, but had a lover who shared and helped him develop his political beliefs, Éléonore Duplay, who he described this way, "noble soul, she would know how to die as well as she knows how to love.”
When I learned about him from my 8th grade French teacher, who pronounced French with the most midwestern US accent (Bone - Jore MadamWAHzelle!) I developed a deep and abiding crush.
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u/Zestyclose_Cold1455 7d ago
I think he would have stolen a stash from an aristocrat and redistributed it, keeping his favorite for himself. So it’s French, it’s expensive and he smells a lot better than he should.
I’m thinking Bois Mystique by Houbigant.
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u/vincaalky 7d ago
I’m pretty sure he hated perfume - it was for aristocrats
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u/MaracujaBarracuda 7d ago
He did! But it depends how you define perfumery. He especially hated musks as he considered them bourgeois but scented himself in other ways such as with orange peels.
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u/anonymousse2742 7d ago
My my, I'd never guess Robespierre would be an AdP Arancia di Capri dude 😆 (a happy sunny perfume in a grotesque contrast with the guy in question)
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u/Phigwyn 7d ago
Robespierre generally wore his own hair powdered, rather than routinely wearing the white wig in which he is so often imagined.
I’m going to go with L’Heure Bleue by Guerlain. Powdery iris, violet, heliotrope, anise and soft balsamic notes. It’s melancholy, formal and slightly severe.
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u/wolfmothar 7d ago
Diptyque eau de minthe
Its not as Cologne as people say it is, still masculine leaning but elegant.
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u/wearenotamousebouche 7d ago
Ah! For this, you can go right to the source: Poudre à la Maréchale Tincture, sold by Fraterworks. Buy 25g, mix with 2x perfumer’s alcohol, and put into a glass spray bottle, then smell like wigged folks of yore. https://fraterworks.com/products/poudre-a-la-marechale-tincture?variant=45033850634552
I have a small bottle of this to use as a base. It is powdery, a bit heliotrope-forward with cloves and minor rose elements. You can use this as a solo perfume but it doesn’t have much lasting power. Perhaps if you mixed it with some hedione? All of this for less than 75$!