Petit Fracas
Robert Piguet (2012)

I wasn't expecting much from this, but it's gorgeous! I'm usually not into fruity florals, but this is so perfectly executed that I can't resist it.

There's a lot going on here. There's a peachy pear/apple/pineapple fruit salad on top, with aldehydes that add lift and class. It's also citrusy, which I think is orange blossom, and sweet, which I think is jasmine. There's a mix of indolic tuberose and creamy ylang that adds richness, and a Chanel-esque base of rich, creamy musks, vanilla, and woods.

With so much that could go wrong or overpower everything else (for example, a little more peach could have made this smell cheap, while a little more tuberose could have made it smell vulgar), it's the deft blending that makes this remarkable. It's simultaneously classy, youthful, rich, vibrant, and dense, projecting luxuriously without veering into crass loudness. Thumbs way up for an unexpected treat!

A intoxicating mix of white florals and a sweet long lasting dry down that radiates warmth and complexity for hours.it has some bubblegum accords but it's not a big deal. The scent itself not in your face sugary sweet in powdery tone. It's a perfect mixture between Fracas and Visa2007. She is calm and mysteriously smiling while having that delicious dessert and admiring the flower decoration but that scent in the air makes you think about what's under her reserved, long dress. Creamy, smooth, luscious,floral, sweet, sensual and flirtatious.

The intoxicating opening blast of pear and mandarin orange is almost immediately softened by creamy tuberose, jasmine and gardenia they compliment each other so well. The dry down is strong powdery cacao making you a bit nauseous but also relaxed, confident and happy. Very seductive like a vintage curvy pin up girl in a white dress with cherry red lips and wavy hair smilling at you with a perfect smile. It feels like summer morning when you walk down the neighborhood and smell the flower growing in yards and gardens. Suitable for intimate occasion.

The range of opinions on the reformulation of classic perfumes usually alternates between a sighing, “It wain't what it used to be, kid.” and a howling, “They've RUINED it!” By all accounts, Guichard is credited with saving the Piguet perfumes by reformulation and maintaining the outstanding quality of the Germaine Cellier icons. Quite a coup. So, who better to design the flanker to the original than the man who keeps Fracas in its current shape?

In the mid 2000s, Guichard reformulated and relaunched the icons of the Piguet line: Visa, Baghari, Futur and Calypso. Fracas and Bandit had been reformulated in 1998 or so and already defined the Piguet line. The butch-femme pair reflected the lesbian aesthetic of Cellier's time, barely coded for mainstream consumption. Guichard's reformulations are the best in the business and his original work for Gucci, Davidoff, Issey Miyake, Kenzo, Mugler, Hilfigger, Versace and many others places him at the top of his profession.

After his initial work at Piguet, in the period from 2011-2013 he added 15 new perfumes to the brand. Exceedingly prolific, especially when you consider that in that same period he produced 26 additional perfumes for other brands. (per Now Smell This.) Of these perfumes he made for Piguet only one is a flanker: Petit Fracas. The others are all-new perfumes. I was very intrigued to see what Guichard, a technical expert at reformulating Cellier's work, would make of a flanker.

Guichard kept the theatrical uber-femme spirit of the original but sets it in a more contemporary vernacular. It keeps the hyper-femininity of Fracas but makes a baby-doll version of it. From the sweet slap of the topnotes through the cocoa dusted drydown, there is always a recognizeable shape of Fracas. Rather than riff on the original's themes (pretty much just killer hothouse flowers) he embeds a hologram of the original in the heart of L'il baby Fracas. The buttery tuberose, the doughy iris, the grape-like orange blossom still form the center of the perfume, but Petit Fracas substitutes the faint peach of the original for a potent pear note and an almost plastic musk. Pear and cocoa? The notes update the composition, but the perfume doesn't aim for trendy. Rather than simply updating Fracas with newer materials and accords, Guichard fits the odd assembly of pieces together into something novel.

Guichard smartly avoids simply plucking a perfume out of its era and modernizing it. Petit Fracas is a great tribute to the original perfume and perfumer. In a way, Guichard makes the mirror image of Fracas, a notoriously feral flower. He substitutes the erotic role role of the vamp from the original with a baby-doll's exaggerated sense of spectacle (think Coutney Love, who incidentally wears Fracas) Despite the olfactory differences of the two perfumes, they both engage in lipsticky feminine role playing.

Now give me Petit Bandit, please.

Whilst there is an orange-lemon component in the opening, it is pear that dominates it. A luscious pear with only a bit if sweetness. Then tuberose arises, but on my skin less dominating than in the original, be it the vintage or the reformulated Fracas. A floral stage with gardenia leads to the base, where musk and sandalwood are evident. Very well blended, and whilst probably less complex than vintage Fracas, on my skin this Petit Fracas is more intensive and richer in development than the newer version of "Grand" Fracas. Performance is outstanding with excellent silage and projection, and nine hours of longevity. Petit in name, grand on my skin on a cold spring day.

Fracas for the Younger Souls Sometimes, something results in an 'aha' moment and this is exactly what happened in my encounter with Petit Fracas…there has been a huge backlash by some against modern trends, by those who continue to mourn the demise of perfumery trends of yesteryears and i will admit i was also in that group for a while..but i gradually started realizing that perfumes are as much supposed to celebrate the existing tastes as they are to preserve the tradition and maybe we need to have forward looking approach instead of still sticking with the past and Petit Fracas provides an answer how a compromie is possible…It, at once, manages to preserve what has made Fracas timeless but at the same time also reflects the existing trends, by adding fruity and slightly gourmandy vibe..Fracas has always been meant to reflect success but there is a long journey before success is achieved…Petit Fracas is meant for those who are halfway in their journey to success. The fragrance signature is still tuberose but it is cheerful tuberose, not the intimidating tuberose that represents the older, more successful Fracas crowdPros: Fracas is for formal occasions, Petit Fracas is for informalCons: