Fleurs d'Été
Bienaimé (1935)

Robert Bienaime worked with Houbigant before beginning his own fragrance composition. He released 13 scents between 1935 and 1950, the first of which was Fleurs d'Ete (1935).

It may come as no surprise that his first scent would be a floral bouquet. Houbigant in 1912 set the fragrance world topsy turvy by creating the first mixed floral, Quelques Fleurs, a concept that today seems simplistic, but in the latter half of the 19th century, all Madame could look forward to in the boudoir was a seemingly endless series of soliflore scents in parfum, cologne, lotion, soap and sachet.

Quelques Fleurs smells remarkably commonplace to today's sophisticated noses. I was curious to see if Fleurs d'Ete was an improvement or at least an interesting side experiment. I am experiencing a decant of vintage edc, which has to be 67 to 82 years old.

Immediately carnation makes its presence known. It is enveloped in a very light rose/tuberose combination, neither shouting their arrival, happy to simply cradle the carnation. There isn't much development beyond this happy trio, but it is enough to create an impression of both vibrancy and luxuriousness, bright and perky and at the same time warm and comforting. As such I deem it a success.

It's almost impossible to find Bienaime products on Ebay or Etsy these days. This is one to keep one's eye out for – one of the loveliest light summer florals I've experienced. It could be unisex, so gentlemen need not shy away from experiencing it.