fougère

plural fougères · alternative fougere

1. countableuncountableperfumeryOne of the main olfactive families of perfumes, based on the compound coumarin; (countable) a perfume of that family.

   Fougères are built on an accord between lavender and coumarin, with every conceivable variation and elaboration.

   2010, Luca Turin, Tania Sanchez, Perfumes: The A–Z Guide, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 22

   2 more examples

   Drakkar Noir, however, was not the kind of fragrance you would want to douse yourself with. It was one of the early aromatic fougeres, and a stonking powerhouse.

   2011 November 3, Ta-Nehisi Coates, quoting shamu1 (Il Mondo di Odore), “Marketing to the Maxim Set, Cont.”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 04 Nov 2011

   In this example, a fougère type of perfume is inspired by the idea of what a fern would smell like (fougère is the French word for fern). Although some ferns have a light fragrance, the scent of a fougère perfume is an imaginary concept created by the perfumer using the unique scent of coumarin.

   2022, Elise Vernon Pearlstine, Scent: A Natural History of Fragrance, Yale University Press, →ISBN, page 217