Eau de Hongrie (1979)
by Fragonard

Green herbal florals... but smells like a leather chypre. Odd little number that's fresh yet dark. It's a lot like Gramercy Park but less green. Good stuff.

It is a nice bergamot labdanum fragrance. I do not get any jasmine in it. But cistus makes a great herbal here, lavanderish green. Masculine and original... Worths a try for herbal green scent lovers.

Eau de Hongrie is one of my top ten. I love natural jasmine as a bona fide, starring note in men's/unisex frags and there aren't too many with such panache. The jasmine here is very natural, fresh and more high-pitched than that of average, indolic, African--especially Egyptian--types. The accord formed with the bergamot is the "grapey" type--an accord I can never get enough of. I have detected this synergistic nuance in many frags, especially Italian ones. Some people relate it in part to classic "barber shop" frags. It can be rendered like bug spray in cheap, synthetic blends or be glorious, mesmerizing and transcendental like it is here. EdH is warm without being sweet, fresh without being ozonic, very sensual while remaining dynamic, unfailing and eternal. Sometimes simplicity is more fascinating than a complex chypre--and when it's done with quality ingredients it will put a smile on your face all day. The price/quality ratio is quite agreeable.
EdH is in a similar class to MPG's Jardin du Nil, L'Artisan's Mure et Musc, Lalique Pour Homme, Byblos Uomo, CdG Rose, etc.
10/10

No no no. This is NOT an Eau d'Hongrie...Eau d'Hongrie is a fresh and fleeting composition of rosemary, lavander, orange, lemon, with hints of hyssop, clary sage, mint, sweet marjoram, rose, cistus and or juniper or spruce - rosemary is the basis of the fragrance, followed up by lavander, orange lemon and rosewater.

Historically, 14th and 15th German, Polish and Hungarian recipes called for additional hints of mint, rose or, for embelishment for a rich client, or for lack of proper ingredients, whatever herbs that may be distilled are to be found seasonally growing in the monastary garden, or the hill-side.

A traditional Polish-Hungarian recipe is usually typified by rosemary, lavander, a tri-citrus element, rose-water, not rose essential oil and seasonal herbal additions.

Hungary Water was originally intended to be a cosmetic, medicinal, age-defying and all-purpose preparation, like the Bay Rhum of the 14th century!

Only after the aristocracy took interest in it's perfuming qualities and potential, was it embellished beyond recognition.

Infact in those times the namesake 'Hungary Water' had a somewhat similar meaning to cologne these days, developing both general and a specific meaning.

A perfume merchant were to supply an aristocrat with a preparation of amber, incense, cinnamon and musk, and as long as its structure remotely resembled the original hungary water, it would be generically termed hungary water.

Anyways, sorry to digress.

All that being said, this fragrance is a perfectly acceptable "embellishment" of the original - although to me, it smells like something that should be name "Eau d'Aristocracie" or "Eau de Royaume" (Kingdom Water) etc.

I perceive a blend of traditional Eau de Cologne notes (lavender, citrus), Eau d'Hongrie notes (rosemary, rosewater - rosemary also found in Eau de Cologne) and warm ambery, woody and ubiquitous notes, found in the priceless blends of ambergris, musk, civet, rich dark spices and heady eastern florals that might have been possed by the uber-important aristocracy and royalty of the 14th to the 16th centuries, to cover up nasty bodily humours...

The fragrance itself somehow comes accross as warm, contemplative and balanced, soft andfresh at the same time. Although, I find that something is missing big time, giving an unverving quality.

This is one of the better jasmine/bergamot scents out there, but it's just not a combination I enjoy. It doesn't last long and, like a lot of the Fragonard scents, it smells dated. Also, the citrus note is out of place.

My mom gave this to me as a souvenir from a trip to Provence. Very summery - clean smelling.
A note on the packaging - it's in a very cool aluminium spray. Supposedly the salespeople told my mom that the cologne would last longer this way; up to 10 years. Not that I'm going to have it that long...