Lady Evangeline
Bourbon French Parfums

LADY EVANGELINE (Bourbon French)

Lady Evangeline is named after the heroine of an epic poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, published in 1847. It details a young woman's search for her love, after being separated during the Acadian Expulsion by the British, stemming from the French and Indian War in the 1750s. When conquered by the British, the Acadians chose to remain neutral in the war, something the British would not allow. They burned their villages and forced the inhabitants to repatriate throughout the wilderness west of what would be the future initial states of the USA, as far as Mississippi and Louisiana, where the poem ends.

The scent is a blend of true vanilla and both sweet and bitter almond. It is very warm and inviting, true to the character of the loyal, loving heroine it is named after. There is a lovely nuttiness here as well, perhaps hazelnut. This is a true gourmand scent, but has none of the cloying “vanilla candle” quality of BF's single scent, Vanille. It speaks of the kitchen of colonial days, homey and down to earth.

I find it to be very agreeable and oddly unisex. While not a fan of gourmand scents in general, I can find no fault with this happy, congenial scent. It is even something one could gift one's mother or even grandmother with.

BF's site mentions a blend of vanilla, musk and spices, though I cannot detect single spices to identify. A fitting tribute to its namesake.