On Apr 3, 2010, at 4:54 AM, Stan Kelly-Bootle quoted Alexey:

Quelques Fleurs - in Ada, commercial name of Aqua's and Marina's talc powder 


Dear Alexey,

I just realized a slight mistake in your description of Quelques Fleurs. It is not the "commercial name" of the powder, but the name of the perfume produced by Houbigant in 1912. It is still produced but with an altered formula. However thanks to the internet, older bottles are still to be found. I found a small bottle (no reflection on you, Bootle) of the perfume (see photo below on the left) a few years ago, but the smell had "turned" to an unpleasant alchohol.  I also found a bottle of the powder with this older label, but I suspect the original was replaced with some ordinary powder, because there is nothing distinctive about the fragrance. I don't recall now if the powder in Ada came in a bottle or  the more usual container.

I found this article with some background on Quelques Fleurs, for any interested enough to read it (the acetaldehyde is rather intriguing, I think, as is the synthetic nature of the perfume):


Click on image to enlarge
older Quelques Fleurs bottle

Older BaccaratQuelques Fleurs perfume bottle. "Stock" bottle and stopper were common to many fragrances of the era.

In creating Quelques Fleurs, Houbigant perfumer Robert Bienaimé "joined the early users of methyl nonyl acetaldehyde" (aldehyde C-12 MNA) — a synthetic aroma chemical isolated by professor Georges Darzens in 1903.

In 1912, Quelques Fleurs was a great fragrance — a "prestige" fragrance, was we would say today — a fragrance Houbigant could be proud of. In fact, the name itself mirrors the original sign over Jean-François Houbigant's Paris shop — the "Basket of Flowers".

In 1935, Bienaimé left Houbigant to found his own fragrance house. Quelques Fleurs continued to be a top seller for Houbigant worldwide but, over the years, the formula and "positioning" of the brand mutated. By 1993 Houbigant had split its licenses, trademarks and manufacturing rights among various licencees in various countries; quality control became less important than cash flow. Quelques Fleurs became more of a name (trademark) than a fragrance. By the 1990s, it is likely that most buyers of Quelques Fleurs had no knowledge of the fragrance's proud origins and it would more likely be found in a chain drugstore than an upscale department store.

Today Quelques Fleurs can be credited as providing a good part of the inspiration that led perfumer Ernest Beaux to create Rallet's Bouquet de Catherine (1913), which, after its failure in Russia, was renamed Rallet Le No.1, and led directly to Beaux's creation ofNo.5 for Chanel.

Click on image to enlarge
photo of older bottle of Quelques Fleurs
Older bottle of Houbigant's Quelques Fleurs perfume.

Also studying Robert Bienaimé's use of aldehyde C-12 MNA were perfumersHenri Alméras (who created Joy for Jean Patou), Vincent Roubert (who createdL'Aimant for Coty), and Henri Robert (who went on to become Chanel's perfumer in the 1950s and creator of Chanel's No.19).

When it was launched in 1912, Quelques Fleurs was hailed (by perfumers in particular) as a modern fragrance — and indeed it set a course which 20th century perfumery followed for many years.

Click on image to enlarge
photo of 'Quelques Fleurs' from Mexico

An older bottle ofQuelques Fleursdistributed by Houbigant's Mexican representatives, Las Parfumas de Francia, S.A., Mexico City. The fragrance in this bottle retained its glorious original aroma.


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If you have any information on Quelques Fleursor Houbigant, please share it with us using the message sender below.

Philip Goutell,  

Lightyears, Inc.


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