Duc de Vervins
Houbigant (1991)

To me, this is a cross of Tsar and Loewe Pour Homme. In the opening, you are introduced with an elegant green smoky aroma of fir, pine, and moss. As it slowly dries down, the basil and geranium become much more apparent, and this is where I find the resemblance to Loewe Pour Homme discernible, but a lot greener. In the far drydown you are rewarded with an herbal, clean, virile composition with an undeniable tranquil contemplative character. A gorgeous fougere from top to bottom, with a very fine green shaving foam smell that I find undeniably upscale and masculine.

This one opens with lemon and a shaving soap form of lavender that's taking in quite a few green notes. I get pine, oakmoss, patchouli, and mint but in moderation to make a smooth and clean fougere/barbershop blend. That's really all it is in style with some notes to add. At initial spray I always get some musk and as this dries down it serves as a light finish. Also into an hour of wear the mint becomes more detectable and just a hint of nutmeg comes in and out.

I'm going to give Duc de Vervins a neutral with a low star rating. This smells great but it just doesn't last. The performance level is poor for the price tag it goes for and the thing is it has a generous sprayer. This just plummets from decent projection to under the shirt collar subtlety within two hours then gone by the sixth hour.

A classic barbershop fougère fragrance for a confident person who wants to make statement. Duc de Vervins does no doubt have a little retro air to it but it doesn't come across as ridiculous or totally out of place in the contemporary fragrance world, particularly when modern bitters give little nods or winks to the style of these type of scents smash hit. Even in 2022 these type of scents are nice. Fresh, invigorating and masculine. Something in favor of this one, the dry down is so nice. I tried Lomani, i can not recall it has the same complexity as Duc de Vervins.

Opens with a few citrus notes similar to most generic men's colognes with bergamot tangy lavender notes and a noticeable quite sharp medicinal lemon or lime. As soon as the fresh burst of lemon evaporates the warmwood and green notes are obvious. I was picking up on the notes of patchouli, oakmoss and vetiver. These green notes surrounds florals of geranium, rosemary and again the lemon. Smells more of a formal night out or semi formal with a dress shirt or button up shirt and slacks, leather shoes. In the dry down the soapy aspect becomes the main player-it kind of reminds me of Egoiste Platinum in that stage. Nothing extraord to my nose, but it has that old school barbershop vibe, which is my style.

Van Cleef and Hayman show you around their green lemon grove and adjacent lavender farm. The old trees on the property perimeter are old, twisted, and covered in moss. The lawn was just trimmed and the sunlight is filtering through the leaves of the grove. Perhaps you are sipping a Limoncello on ice. Good moods only.

Duc de Vervins EDT (current version) -

Knock, knock.

“Who's there?”

Tsar.

“Tsar who?”

Tsar you Drakkar Noir?

Yes, and I love you.

If Drakkar Noir and VC & Arpels Tsar had a love child, it's name would be Duc de Vervins.

3.5 stars

I used to love Duc de Vervins by Houbigant (before the release of Duc de Vervins L'Extreme). Back when I first sampled it in the early 1990s, it was a beautiful green powerhouse fragrance that was strong and wore like an eau de parfum. Fast forward to December, 2020. After spraying the back of my hand with my newly-purchased bottle, I was appalled that the fragrance was barely detectable, of not gone, after only five minutes. It seemed to linger after three or four more sprays, but was still distant and not the in-your-face green power bomb that I had sampled previously at the Dillards store. I don't know what is going on at Houbigant. I don't know if they decided to water down the original and then launch the "L'Extreme" version (which basically was the formulation of the original). The eau de toilette concentration of 2020 seems more like a watered down after-bath splash, not the rich and long-lasting original. I don't know whether or not to return my bottles and exchange them for the "L'Extreme" version in hopes that it will be the version that I remember from the early 1990s. I only give it a thumbs down because of the poor performance, both longevity and sillage, of which there is none. Yes, I do get the resemblance to Tsar, but even my current version of Tsar outperforms Duc de Vervins. Too bad it doesn't come in a splash, because I would just leave the lid off and let some of the alcohol evaporate to concentrate the juice even further. That seems to work for me whenever I get a weak performer. I've even boiled down some fragrances (using a small potpourri crock) to half their volume, and that really works in concentrating the strength, longevity, and sillage. I simply left it reduce by half, let it cool down, and then pour it back into the bottle (or an atomizer). This has worked well with several of my poor performers, and now they last at least halfway through the day without a touchup. Anyway, after I use my current inventory, I probably won't return to Duc de Vervins, but go in search of a similar green fragrance that will last all day. So sad to see such a poor performer from such a respected house such as Houbigant.

Does anyone else think Duc de Vervins smells like Perry Ellis' Portfolio Elite (blue bottle) or Fred Hayman's Hollywood for Men? I smell some similarities there, yet those two definitely outperform Duc de Vervins in a BIG way. Portfolio Elite and Hollywood last ALL DAY!!!