Serpent Bohème Eau de Parfum

Named after the jewellery collection that has carried the house's snake motif for decades, Boucheron Serpent Bohème Eau de Parfum is a rose scent built for people who find most rose scents either too sweet or too old.

The opening is short and tart. Mandarin orange gives a quick sweet lift and blackcurrant brings a dark, slightly green sourness that takes the sweetness out of it immediately. Within a few minutes the flowers have taken over.

Three of them and all distinct. Turkish rose is the rich, jammy, full bodied one, sambac jasmine adds a heady, almost fruity white floral sweetness, and desert rose runs drier and more mineral beside the other two, which is what gives the heart its unusual dusty quality. The combination reads modern rather than nostalgic, and that is the achievement of the composition.

Underneath, patchouli brings earth, labdanum adds a sticky resinous darkness, sandalwood a creamy dry wood, and white musk a clean skin softness that holds everything close. The finish is warm, slightly powdery and much less sweet than the middle suggests. The three flowers are what the money is for and they hold their shape for hours rather than collapsing into one another. In wear it lasts seven or eight hours with moderate projection, close enough for an office and present enough for dinner. It reads feminine, suits autumn and spring particularly well, and is one of the more wearable rose fragrances at this level. Anne Flipo composed it in 2020.

The house began as a jeweller in 1858 under Frederic Boucheron, took its place at 26 Place Vendome in 1893, and joined Kering in 2000. Its fragrance arm, in existence since 1988, borrows its names from the jewellery.