Houbigant, L'Œillet du Roy, Oeillet, 'Carnation of the King', 50 ml. or 1.76 oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, Baccarat, 1906, 1920, Paris, France

The illustrious perfume House Houbigant has been in business in some form or another since the late 1700's and is still in business today. There is so much that could be written about Houbigant that it would take a book to fully address all of the achievements of this amazing fragrance company. Houbigant’s two perfumers Paul Parquet and Robert Bienaimee revolutionized perfumery and their work would influence many generations that would follow. The important innovations that they brought to the world of perfumery include creating multi faceted fragrances, using synthetic materials to achieve complex scents and creating beautiful imagery to perfume packaging, flacons and advertising.

Houbigant hired the young chemist Robert Bienamiee when he was only in his early 20's. Under the tutelage of Paul Parquet, Bienamiee, became proficient in both the Art and the Science of perfumery. His first major success was Quelques Fleurs “a few flowers." Robert Bienaimee created Quelques Fleurs in 1912 and it is a benchmark fragrance in modern perfumery as it had a lightness and a brightness that had never been achieved previously. This fragrance is credited as being the first modern floral fragrance.

L’Oeillet Du Roy is an oriental carnation perfume by Houbigant which was launched in 1906, and was created by Paul Parquet

Carnation perfumes were very popular in the early part of the 1900's, as the flowers grew abundantly there are very highly favored. Carnation perfumes were more often fragrances for men, or were unisex.

Carnation is cultivated in many countries, but carnation absolute is produced only in the south of France. It possesses floral spicy scent with pepper and clove nuance. Carnation is often used in classical fragrances due to its spicy peppery scent that deepens floral notes, and is especially effective combined with rose scent. Unfortunately, today many perfumers consider carnation to be an old fashioned component, as at the moment the fashion dictates fresher fragrances. Yet, carnation is still unavoidable component in oriental fragrances.

This beautiful fragrance is a bouquet of spicy oriental notes with mostly citrus top notes. Carnations are widely cultivated in France. "Carnations belong to the Dianthus species, which in Greek means flower of Jupiter. According to Greek mythology the carnation sprouted from tears shed by a shepherd who was seduced and abandoned by the goddess Diana. In Catholic legend though it was the Madonna’s tears, shed at the base of the Jesus’ cross, that gave life to the first carnations. In flower symbolism the carnation is synonymous with fidelity."

This spicy perfume is created with Carnation, Clove, Cinnamon, and other spices.

Top notes are Citrus, Neroli, and Bitter Orange
Heart notes are Carnation, Honeysuckle, and Orange
Base notes are Clove, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and Sandalwood

Offered here is a wonderful flacon of this beautiful ancient perfume. The bottle is beautiful and the label is very clean. The bottle is said to be Baccarat, but it is not marked. The bottle has much staining inside. A wonderful spicy carnation fragrance. Historical ..