Bienaimé, Bienaime, Lilas, 'Lilac' 10 ml. or 0.35oz. Flacon, Parfum Extrait, 1936, Paris, France ..

Robert Bienaimé studied the chemistry of perfume in college and excelled. Within three years Bienaimé had mastered the basics of perfume creation and had adopted a creation style of his own. He worked initially for Houbigant, and continued to create for Houbigant until sometime shortly after the financial meltdown of 1929.

After the death of Paul Parquet at Houbigant, Robert Bienaimé became co-partner with Fernando Javal, son of the late Alfred Javal, Parquet's partner in Houbigant who had worked the marketing and production sides of the business. The Houbigant firm briefly took on the Javal name and then became Bienaimé Houbigant. During these years of expansion Bienaimé brought to Houbigant the talents of Paul Schving, Paul Leroux, Raymond Kling, André Copaux, Degont Desplanques and Marcel Billot among others.

In 1935, Bienaimé launched his own Paris fragrance house, originally located at 396-rue saint-Honoré, Paris, where Bienaimé began to create fragrances under his own name. Bienaimé fragrances continued to appear during the 1940's and existed until 1950, but it would appear that the house did not survive for long after the war. Bienaimé also launched a cosmetics company under the name Robel. In spite of considerable activity in support of various industrial processes and other institutions, Bienaimé continued his involvement in his own perfume company until his death in 1960 at the age of 84.

Robert Bienaimé is one of my favourite perfumers of all time. He created' La Vie en Fleurs' in 1935, right at the same time he launched 'Fleurs D'Ete'. Both are the most beautiful feminine florals. As perfumer for Houbigant from around 1910 to 1935, Robert Bienaimé created fragrances such as Lilac, a single flower fragrance and, one of Houbigants all time best sellers, Quelques Fleurs, a floral bouquet.

Lilas is a lovely soliflore Lilac fragrance, which was so popular with fine ladies during the 1920's era on onwards. Bienaimé launched a line of soliflors called Fleurs de Bienaimé. This line included the following scents .. Muguet, Oeillet, Lilas, Rose, Violette, Jasmin, Gardenia, Cyclamen, Heliotrope, Fougere. Notes might have included the following ..

Top notes are Orange Blossom, Bergamot, and Neroli
Heart notes are Lilac, Jasmine, and Angelica Seed
Base notes are Galbanum, Sandalwood, and Vanilla

Offered here is a charming little bottle of the Lilas fragrance, with not too much evaporation occurring over the years. It is still sealed and the baudruche is in tact. Highly collectible .. a delicate and lovely perfume ..