Fracas Robert Piguet for women

For some reason the combination of the indole and humid white florals + the hint of peach smells EXACTLY like when I was young swapping spit with my best friend under the covers at a sleep over. No other make-out session, just that one specifically. I love knowing that Courtney Love smells like me exploring my bi-sexuality as a young girl.

What an absolute nostalgia bomb. I would never desire to wear this as a guy, but I absolutely love this.

As soon as I smelled this, I was instantly transported to a distinct olfactory memory: Around 1998/1999, summer in Australia, school holidays, this fragrance captures that EXACT moment of when you walk in from out of the scorching Australian heat and into the crisp, air-conditioned floral-scented air of the local florist/flower shop. This reminds me of my mum shopping for flowers in the late 90s.

I'm absolutely in awe of this. I can't stop smiling as I press my nose against it.

10/10.

i blind bought this about 6 years ago. it’s very expensive, especially back then for me. ive only worn it twice around the house. the first time i wore it felt like thousands of tiny lights inside me lighting up. it’s very strong and powerful. it’s very much there. i need to revisit this. i remember feeling too small to wear this. yes, i definetly need to pull this out and start using it. i didnt judge it one way or another. it’s like seeing something amazingly grand and incomprehensible, like a mountain, and it just is. im too little to climb it.

I just received my first bottle of Fracas today, a 50ml size. One, not even a full spray on my arm.

At first, it's citrus, all citrus. You smell the bergamot, the hyacinth. As it mellows out in about 20 mins, the white florals make way, bubble-gummy tuberose, the beast she is, she is there and in front center "I'M HERE BABY, HELLO!" is what she is saying. These white florals are not like just any white floral composition though. It's creamy, and to the fullest, fleshy petals in describing it, indolic quality. It's a powerhouse with the little dribble of spray I got on my arm now, and so very intoxicating! I feel this will flourish in hot weather when the skin is hot and sweaty, and I look forward to experiencing that this coming summer.

This was a blind buy that I purchased based on the reviews, and it sure lived up to it's expectation. I am very pleased with this fragrance.

I will say this though, buyer beware. If you know for in fact you are unsure about, or not a fan of white florals, I would recommend a decant to be sure, Fracas simply isn't for the faint-hearted, plus you don't want to spend hundreds of dollars on a perfume you're unsure about, only to buy a full size bottle and dislike it. However, I happen to really love Fracas, and I think you should try it to if you enjoy white floral based perfumes. This will be one of my signature scents now.

Fracas. She is simply, Fracas, but far some simple 😘

A scorching hot day in the late 90s and I finished training and nipped to Harvey Nics Knightsbridge and their beauty/fragrance hall for an explore. It was one of those heavy scorching London summer days where the heat is oppressive and the pollution and humidity make the air like syrup.

This was prominently displayed in the fragrance dept and unthinkingly I just sprayed it on my wrist.
As an Amarige, Red Door, Yvresse wearer in the past I liked a big hitter but I was unprepared to be stalked all the way home by this remarkable jaw dropping bomb of tuberose. Every person on the tube and I became familiar with fracas that day.

I never bought it and many years later, living oooop north I saw a bottle, noted its name and popped on a list of must get round to.

This year my partner surprised me with a bottle for my birthday and it remains one of the most identifiable, magnificent fragrances, as I remember it. It is unapologetically loud and confident. It’s a film noir vamp, a red lipsticked goth, a glamorous film star. It’s also sweet, complex, heady and to be worn at any time, rules are made to be broken; except if you are not the boss in an office. It could overwhelm your colleagues if you are not very careful.

It’s an art work and has longevity and projection in spades. On skin, on clothes, it will last more than a day.

It is a try before buy. It took me over twenty five years to own a bottle due to the shock of first wearing it. If you love it, don’t wait that long 😁

I use to wear this fragrance and it is a perfume for a big personality. Heavy sweet floral, with some juicy fruits. Its for that person that knows who they are and ain't following any one but is a leader in their own style and can walk with the big cats in the jungle!!!

This intoxicating potion, along with other white floral heavy hitters like Jungle Gardenia, Lust and Amarige, make me dreamy with visions of actresses from the golden age of cinema. A richly resonant symphony of tuberose, orange blossom and musk always smells confidently strong and effortlessly beautiful. It takes a certain attitude to pull this one off regularly.

I often want a spritz of this when watching The Women by George Cukor. It fits the mood perfectly. I hope this landmark perfume stands the test of time for the next generations to experience and lavish upon themselves.

I know it has these hyper-feminine associations (maybe heightened by comparison with Bandit) but I actually think this is, like Bandit, a very androgynous scent. It just smells very sexy and needs to be worn by someone who’s prepared to feel desirable, which women are taught to be more comfortable with. Intoxicating tuberose, yes, but also a lot of bitter green and woody notes and on the other side, gourmand hints of bubblegum and marzipan too. It smells squeaky-clean but not at all bland or soapy, everything’s very well-blended and harmonious so it just seems to radiate off of you. Stunning longevity, and catching a sniff makes you desperate for another.

Sits in a niche of “magical rainforest” scents with Mugler Aura and Cacharel Eden for me - a niche I apparently can’t get enough of.

Fracas is the second oldest perfume in my collection. I had it for a few years now and all I can say is that it did not disappoint. I don't typically wear a lot of vintage perfumes all the time. This will probably last me forever. But that mostly has to do with the fact that a little bit of this goes a long way. It is a very strong heavy perfume. I can understand why Fracas was very popular among the hollywood stars. Fracas was ahead of it's time. It's a very tuberose perfume, but there is more to this. There is some freshness from the green notes and a little bit of sweetness from the fruit. The notes are so well blended. I have to agree with some people who say that they get a slight bubble gum scent from this. I get a bubble gum scent in the the dry down. I don't know if it's the powder from the white florals mixing with the fruit notes. But this is slightly gourmand. It's a very pink and feminine fragrance. It's not something you would expect from the era. This seems more like a modern day floral fragrance. I don't know if the formula has changed over the years. It is just absolutely incredible and so well done.

Landmark Vintage Tuberose...

I just have a travel tester of this, but I've tested this off and on for awhile. Overall this is a vintage tuberose scent, but there's a lot going on in the notes so I'll do my best to describe what I'm getting. Opens with a powdery white-floral burst with vintage, fruity & green accents. This is my favourite part, and already in the opening, the tuberose is swelling through. As it transitions to the heart, some dark & smoky tones emerge from narcissus, sharpened & reinforced by oakmoss & vetiver in the base. The base notes here I experience mainly as supporting players.

This was a landmark when it came out for the representation of tuberose in perfumery, and smells really beautiful in the air, but up close on the skin there's a burnt & bitter quality, which adds to the complexity. In this way, I could imagine this scent permeating the film set of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which also came out in 1948, starring Humphrey Bogart. Like the film, there's a depth & complexity here, and many contrasts including beauty and poison. Performance is excellent for year round wear. As a piece of vintage art, it's a love for me, and a must try for lovers of vintage white-florals. 8/10. Enjoy!

I found this scent to be quite overbearing and it smells a bit like sherbet..

I adore fracas. I adore Robert Piguet. Every fragrance I've tried, even those I'm not all too fond of, are masterfully blended. They smell mostly of natural, quality ingredients, are not headache inducing, and feel almost like aromatherapy while still remaining long lasting.
After a sample and a mini bottle of the parfum, and trying several other tuberose fragrances, I've finally bought a full bottle from the Piguet website. Not only is it a stunning fragrance, but the bottle is excellent as well. While it's not housed in the opulent baccarat bottle of yore, it is instead housed in a lovely, black art deco glass bottle of great quality with an absolutely perfect atomiser. It's very controlled and easy to spray just a little at a time.
Fracas is an indulgence for all seasons, but it's my favorite for summer. A delectable, creamy, lush, realistic floral and the only tuberose I've tried that I really love. It's not too sweet, not too green or bitter, not too sharp. It's just right. It is also one of those rare creatures that is completely timeless.
This is an experience of absolute glamour and sensuality. As such, for my upcoming burlesque performance, I will be adorned in pink rhinestones, black chiffon, plenty of red lipstick, and Fracas.

I wonder if the modern reformulation is better than the vintage.

Interesting… definitely unique. Has a purple vibe and reminds me of a carwash waiting room. slightly urinal cake scent. I’m getting a spearmint now after a few moments. If it had been spearmint right away I wouldn’t have been so thrown off but the initial scent was quite bad. Now that it’s mainly a spearmint scent I find it 1 dimensional which is disappointing. I can’t find a good reason to wear this.

The dry down is a banal sickly floral that leaves a lot to be desired. Yikes. I hope my sample was off or something because ->

1/10

Fracas by Robert Piguet stands as a pioneering tuberose fragrance, setting a benchmark in the industry for its novel interpretation of this captivating flower. It's recognized for its groundbreaking role in shaping modern tuberose scents, making it an essential study for enthusiasts of this olfactory genre. It has a complex, well-blended composition that exudes layers of comfort, danger, and sensuality. However its lactonic quality is not so appealing for me.

This... is... incredible.
I am actually tearing up right now. :')

At first, it can be an intense (almost even repellant) old, vintage-y type of smell that is not like modern perfumes AT ALL. It took a couple of minutes for me to enter into and accept this new olfactory world. Once getting my bearings, I realize I am existing in a warm, golden and green aura of vibrant flowers, fruit, and musk. The green note here is really interesting--makes the scent super unique [I think the green note is the main factor in making Fracas have that antique feeling] and adds a wonderful level of sophistication.

I love florals. They are my soul, as a very feminine woman. This is the ultimate deep floral scent for me.

It's perfect.

I blind bought Fracas. This is my first "sophisticated/niche" perfume. When I opened the bottle, I knew we will be together for long. I love it and this is my signature perfume so far. It is mature and is good for transferring into the more womanly feminine (opposed to girly) perfumes. But it is not for everyone, so I would recommend getting a sample first.

This perfume does not remind me of any other. It is complicated, mysterious and sophisticated. It smells like the good old perfumes, but with modern touch. It is so complex- it has light and green citrusy notes and at the same time it has heavy white creamy florals with animalic touch. After this perfume I cannot buy any other white floral-based perfumes, as this one stands out. Moreover I gave away many perfumes as I was not using anything other than Fracas.

A gorgeous, mature, powdery tuberose scent, I only have the sample of it though because the full size is pricey

It’s a horrible perfume. I get none of the notes listed. Just a nasty sweet synthetic smell. I don’t like this one at all. I regret buying a full bottle.

Banana bubblegum. This isn't my perfect tuberose, but I certainly appreciate why it spoke to a generation of fragrance lovers.

I've just bought it even if I don't know it. It's a blind buy but I took the risk since I love tuberose perfumes in general. Fracas smells of very cosmetic and powdery airy tuberose, sweet like blush. It reminds me of a boudoir filled with vintage makeup. There is a resemblance to Burberry London (2006 version) for the sweet floral aspect.
I can smell colors in this fragrance. Top notes smells pink, Heart notes smells red and green and Base notes smells crimson shade (deep red purple).
It's a vintage smell but youthful at the same time. Usually vintage perfumes evoke old ladies because they contain aldehydes. Here none of that because there are no aldehydes. It smells a powdery jasmine with a ripe peach and coconut-style tuberose, green gardenia and in the evolution a green note of woody grass softened by subtle and velvet sandalwood. After hours, it reminds me base notes Jasmin Rouge by Tom Ford. I imagine it worn by a sexy young woman from the 60s wearing a tweed mini skirt and high boots.
If this fragrance was a music it would be "Femme Fatale" by Velvet Underground and if it was an object, it would be pink blush with gold mirror in a burgundy pouch. Wearing it today is very nice, it gives an anachronistic aura.

Picture it …. Lady Godzilla with a pink bow in her head!!!
I love it!

When I first got a travel sprayer of this from fragnet, I was certain I was going to love it. But after wearing it a day I couldn't wait to get it off. The butteriness of the florals was just too much. I know tuberose can smell many different ways - mentholated, indolic, bubblegummy, nutty, and buttery. Unfortunately, my least favorite is the buttery kind with the mentholated type running a close second. After that first spray I put it aside to try again at a later time.
I recently wore it again and it is still a big, buttery tuberose on me. I really don't mind that butter aspect as much as I used to thanks to being converted by the buttery tuberose in Versace's Blonde. I thought, having come to love that effect there, I might now love it in this fragrance too. But here the tuberose is drowning in butter, blanketing the other florals and not allowing them to shine. I also had the same issue with Michael Kors signature fragrance, which is another big buttery floral I really wanted to love. For that buttery floral effect, I prefer Versace's Blonde, as it more complex and has a little extra sparkle that I find missing here. Looking at the list of fragrances in the This Reminds me section, I didn't see Kor's listed which is a surprise, because this reminds me of that more than any of the other fragrances listed there.
Despite everything, I still don't hate this fragrance, but I don't particularly like it either. I'm sure with the right chemistry this smells wonderful; it just doesn't smell wonderful on me. That's too bad because I was hoping for something more readily available, fresher, and longer lasting than the discontinued Blonde, and this certainly is all that. It just doesn't smell as good to me. Looks like I'll have to stick with Blonde, which will become harder and harder to find in the future. Fortunately, I am in no immediate danger of running out anytime soon.

when i first sniffed this,the one word that came to my mind is MILK, i don’t know why, i tried to understand the smell my mind couldn’t understand what’s going on, it’s really unique.

after a while i smell a creamy white flowers with a hint of fruit,it’s very strong perfume the projection is unbelievable.
overall it’s really unique.

Im gonna sound crazy but pink bubblegum opening to then screechy white flowers with spice. I wanted to love this

How is everyone getting tuberose..? All I smell is gardenia…and that’s it.

She's the Cleopatra of tuberose fragrances, announcing her entrance with white flowers and peach fireworks. This femme fatale is not for the faint-hearted. As Chandler Burr once said, "There are perfume legends, there are perfumer legends, and then there are perfumes that become obsessions. Fracas is all three," she is more than worthy of attention even if you dislike tuberose. Go on, take a sniff.

I got a 10ml decant of Fracas last year, and I have now tested it in winter, spring, and summer. So, I can firmly say that I dislike this perfume. A lot. I'm actually surprised by how much I dislike this perfume, because I LOVE white florals. I love big, loud, perfumy perfumes. It smells so bad on me that I not only don't want to smell like this, I can't imagine anyone else wanting to smell like this.

My favorite floral notes are all here. I like powder and musk. I like sandalwood. But something smells off here. It's chokingly fuzzy, like mothballs and chalk dust. The sheer volume of this fragrance is overwhelming, and the elements that lift and radiate off of my skin aren't floral, musky, woody, or powdery--it's an aldehydic mist of chemical cat pee.

I've never been more disappointed by a fragrance in my life. This is THE perfume for floral lovers, but it simply smells horrible on my skin. Great projection and longevity, though. The floral notes that I can detect behind the mothball, chalk dust, and cat pee haze are realistic and dewy.

Maybe I got a bad batch?

A classic for a reason. A big bouquet of flowers--I really get the peach and orange blossom at the opening before the tuberose comes in, balanced by lily of the valley to keep things fresh. Elegant and sophisticated, vintage but not old-fashioned; just classic, timeless elegance. Beverly Hills lunch at the Ivy glam, Paris nightclub sexy, white sundress sweet, all at once.

I smelled this when my friend brought her bottle out and I was extremely happy because I had been looking for a suitable tuberose scent. It lasted on my arm throughout the night. I got on Fragrance.net the next day to order a full bottle and hair mist. Unfortunately, the bottle I received has weak longevity. Not sure why there was a difference but it makes me really sad. I still love it, but at this price, I won't be able to spray it as often as I will need to to keep smelling it on me. I love this scent and am grateful that the tuberose is dominant.

I'm happy, I'm a man and I wear Fracas with great pleasure, so I'm a prostitute 😂😂😂

With all the beautiful notes that are apparently in this perfume, ALL I get is tuberose. It smells cheap and over the top sweet. It’s what a hooker would smell like, imho. I have Fracas, blind bought. But I don’t like it.

I'm starting to get used to tuberose, already present in Poison and very accessible, even if this perfume is only a shadow of its past.
I had approached Serge Lutens with Tubéreuse Criminelle, but too hard for me; I discovered Giorgio Beverly Hills not long ago, who seduced me despite his flashy aura that I find softened.
Today I finally got my hands on Fracas, this mythical creation created in 1948 by Germaine Celier.
I expected a punch, well no, on the contrary, the fruity dimension reinforced by the pear and the peach, gives the tuberose a creamy and tender accord.
It's not the ideal season to take full advantage of it,
I think that the colder periods will reinforce the character of this perfume, with in the background the memory of Poison.
To wear Fracas is to return to the time when perfumery was confidential and conservative, a return to the era of fine perfumery.
A cult perfume to have in your collection.
This is male opinion.

If you're looking for a beautiful bubblegum tuberose then look no further! This definitely checked all my boxes for a heavy white floral, but importantly I don't find this cloying in any way.

This fragrance lasts quite a while, if you were to spray this in the evening you will notice you still smell like a tuberose princess the next morning. However, I find this perfume turns into a skin scent on me about ~2 hours in and it doesn't project too much.

As everyone before me has already mentioned, this is a predominantly tuberose scent, but it opens up and welcomes you with a lovely ripe and dare I say mouthwatering peach. The bubblegum quality fades in the dry down and a classy, slightly green tuberose reveals itself as the day (or evening) progresses but this remains an intoxicating feminine scent all throughout. As it settled unto my skin I noticed the powdery iris and musk peak through which made it a more comforting scent.

I find this to be appropriate for both cold and warm weather, though I will be wearing this predominantly during the warmer months, you see turning into a living and breathing white flower under the scorching summer sun has been a dream of mine.

If you're searching for a feminine white floral, I think this is the winner. Some will recommend Carnal Flower instead, however I found it leaned more into the green, aquatic qualities of the flower, making it a true unisex scent in my opinion.

This was everything I was hoping it would be and more. I’ve read about this iconic scent over and over and I’ve seen it on countless vanities in movies. On initial spray it exudes old Hollywood but it doesn’t smell dated like other “classic” scents (think Arpege). It’s very wearable and maintains an elevated, put together vibe. I blind bought it and was not disappointed. I’ve tried all the current jasmine and tuberose scents but this takes the cake.

If you’re a tuberose lover this is the blueprint being nearly 100 years old. I have a love hate relationship with tuberose. I usually love parfums with tuberose at first sniff and then later on become repulsed at the smell of tuberose and regret buying the fragrance. This happened with both Fracas and Kayali Deja Vu. If you love this then you’ll also love Nasamatto Narcotic V & Kayali Deja Vu. I like this but can only wear it once in a blue as it can become overwhelming to my nose.

Her majesty the tuberose. Robert Piguet's iconic fragrance created in 1948 by Germaine Cellier. Floral fragrance with the tuberose as the absolute protagonist, the most representative in the history of world perfumery. Wonderful, hyper-feminine, an amazing floral cornucopia of masterful beauty. White floral bouquet immersed in green and citrus notes that leave a gentle caress on the skin. Fracas is a thunderous tumult that catapults the viewer into an immense flower garden dominated by: tuberose, gardenia, lily of the valley, jasmine, osmanthus, narcissus, carnation, white iris, rose with an enchanting and reassuring base: amber, woody and musky. Fracas masterpiece.

Creamy tuberose and gardenia bonanza complimented by peach pulp. Becomes a touch muskier as it dries down, but not by much.
Very intense and heady, this persists eternally.
Love in warmer weather, it needs heat to truly shine and capture its intended effect.

I’ve been unknowingly hunting down the perfect tuberose fragrance and like a ding dong I’ve owned this before. This is the ultimate, like they say, in tuberose. It's perfection, INcredible. Someone said this is not bubble gummy, on me it totally is. This reminds me of the powder that covers the old Bazooka chewing gum. Just, delightful. It seems to cater or call out to that childhood innocence of, ooouuu this is yummy! I want to pop it in my mouth! The florals are to die for, orange blossom, tuberose and jasmine melding together make my heart flutter. It’s definitely sexy and I don’t say that often if ever, only one other I can think of. The florals are gorgeous, heady, sweet and only slightly indolic which if not tempered can date a good white floral. This is not at all dated but unique for our times. Unique and gorgeous.

You know you have a fracas addiction when it’s no longer strong. It’s not strong enough and I keep sniffing my hand because I can’t get enough of it. No other perfume does that to my brain and dopamine receptors ( well tuberose tends to do that, no wonder they call it narcotic). I want my life to smell of Fracas, my house, my clothes, etc…. They need to make Fracas candles and house scented atomizers and diffusers. Some very fancy tropical resort have this scent in their lobby. Funny story, a friend of mine broke my Fracas bottle by accident in my bathroom while he was washing his hands and I was very upset. But my bathroom smelled narcotic and beautiful for nearly a year. It was lovely

Fracas is very complex. It reminds me of Robert's Douglas Hannant as it also contains a fruity and somewhat sweet tuberose. However, here tuberose comes out as slightly more dark and more complex. It has a way deeper and more musky base. Fracas is very elegant, alluring, intoxicating and sexy.

The first time a man ever smelled this perfume on me he said, "Man you smell delicious" and very soon after "What is that?..."
Fracas is hard to describe unless you've actually smelled it and experienced it. Less is more with this one. I best enjoy it when I use as little as possible, and allow the scent to come to me. I want to thank Germaine Cellier for creating this dangerously beautiful piece of fragrant art.

One of the most beautiful perfume creation. Fracas is the epitome of class and elegance. Tuberose at dusk in rustic rattan fruit basket. Simple almost soliflore but yet complex in such alluring way.

Fracas is obscenely beautiful. I get a little peach in the opening — more of a subdued, peaches-and-cream concoction than a realistic juicy fruit — and a bit of musk and sandalwood in the drydown, but the absolute standout along the whole journey is the bouquet of white flowers. The tuberose, which pulls as sweet, smooth, lush, and creamy, is what dominates. You can also detect the gardenia and jasmine, but they're playing a supporting role.

This smells like sex. Not in the same way as over-the-top "sexy" perfumes that try to evoke that moment with musk and animalic notes. The white florals here aren't very indolic. What it smells like, almost entirely through the unique nature of this particular tuberose, is the scent and sensation of your skin heating up upon arousal. I haven't been able to find any other tuberose fragrance that achieves this same effect. It's magic in a bottle.

Through Fracas, Germaine Cellier captured sensuality in a distinctly vintage, French way. You will not smell delicious and edible while wearing this, but intoxicating. An absolute masterpiece.

This is one of my favorite tuberose and gardenia fragrance. I keep my bottle stored in the closet and have often forgotten about it. I pulled it out and sprayed a spritz today. It's such a lovely pick me up on a cloudy dreary day.

It's like sitting in your favorite outdoor space enjoying a peach tea on a bright sunny day near a beautiful flower garden filled with many flowers, but the tuberose and gardenia are the most prominent.

First time I tried it I remembered it as a nuclear tuberose and white floral scent, but over time my perception has changed. A note of peach enhanced by orange and osmanthus definitely dominates here. A slightly sour fragrant and ripen peach is juxtaposed with creamy tuberose and gardenia. It is very feminine and to my nose not as retro as some other perfumes by Piguet.

$20 for a nearly full bottle with box at my local thrift store; I knew about Fracas from this site and couldn’t turn that deal down, even though I can’t say it had been on my “want list.” I like the tuberose in the original Chloe, but more modern tuberose like Truth or Dare I found to be very sweet and fruity.

I spritzed Fracas on my midsection (my strategy got an unknown scent with a likelihood of being strong); it is a cold, damp January day. It was not nearly as bold and blousy as I’d feared. Definitely tuberose - spicy (almost cinnamon), intense, lush. I did not find it developed much in the cold weather; it was fairly linear, but I wouldn’t call it simple. Longevity was 4-6 hours at arms length, with a hint on my clothes 8+ hours. I think it will be a completely different scent in the spring, and can’t wait to explore further.

This is a very heavy and complex white floral perfume. It is a very loud tuberose with monster projection. You can tell from heaviness of it all, that it’s a vintage French perfume. I can close my eyes and dream about Paris in 1950s. While I admire the composition and I love white florals, I would be hesitant to wear this perfume nowadays in public.
When people say they don’t like white floral perfumes, I think their experience must be based on perfumes like this.

What a lovely perfume! I can imagine a female lovely singer from the 1950s with an upswept blonde chignon and wearing a stunning black Balenciaga gown and long black satin gloves when I smell this fragrance. It is old world and refined but not at all stuffy. It brings me back to a time of the haute couture, Lisa Fonssagrives and Richard Avedon. Very Funny Face!

The fragrance comes out in a gentle mist that starts off with a touch of peach and orange blossom for bubblegum sweetness, with a touch of cool iris-like hyacinth. You then get a huge and vibrant swirl of tuberose and jasmine, with a touch of lily of the valley to prevent it from being too cloyingly sweet and a bit more fresh. And finally, it has a nice touch of cedar wood in the base. I mainly think of this as a tuberose heavy fragrance, what with its bubblegum sweetness, ladylike smell and indolic and animalic qualities. It is very vintage smelling and grown up, but in the best possible way!

I couldn't imagine a woman younger than 25 wearing this, not that I think it smells old lady like Chanel N°5, for instance. The sillage and longevity is quite good too and I feel this perfume is value for money. It isn't too expensive and the bottle is quite big!

Smells crisp

Everyone else, particularly @Enrium have reviewed this perfume far more eloquently than I could ever do so, so I won’t attempt to do this myself.

I was drawn to Fracas after the discontinuation of Truth or Dare, which is probably one of my all time favourite perfumes. Fracas is similar, and I can see the inspiration it provided but Fracas is sweeter and creamier. A very creamy, peachy, white bouquet. Very sexy but classic too. Truth or Date is a greener, more modern take on Fracas and the wood notes in that are more detectable. It also has bigger sillage and longevity.

I adore this, and will happily substitute Truth or Dare for it as I cannot be faffed to pay upwards of £70 for a bottle of Truth or Dare when you can get this for the same price. I found it too strong at first but to be honest it mellowed down quick quickly on me to something wearable. I’m a tiny bit disappointed this isn’t the beast mode, mega sillage perfume I was led to believe it was but floral perfumes don’t really last too long on me anyway, unless they are rose and oud combinations. However, the fact it isn’t too strong on me means I can wear this perfectly well during the day and if lightly sprayed, for work too. No compliments so far but when I used to wear Truth or Dare on the daily people always commented on it favourably, and to a casual nose they probably smell the same on me.

I would argue that along with Carnal Flower and Truth or Dare this is the ultimate tuberose, a flower I am obsessed with it would seem!

I intend on enjoying every drop of this and not “saving it for best”. Would work well in all seasons except very hot weather, which is when I wear Carnal Flower anyway. May get the hair mist for extra oomph.

I also have a strange olfactory memory reason for loving this perfume; this fragrance is identical to the smell of the scented notebooks myself and my classmates all had in junior school. You could get these from the local £1 shop, and they smelled exactly like this. Imagine, Fracas-scented notepaper for £1, we never knew how good we had it!

@dawnyerb mentions below that this and Gucci Rush are the only two perfumes she has paid full price for and funnily enough I layered this with a little Gucci Rush sprayed on clothes and they work really well together. I guess the peach, coriander and rose in both of these really complement each other. Gucci Rush almost seems to have that plastic-y decadence that Fracas has without the sweetness and tuberose, I can definitely see similarities anyway (they are by no means dupes though!).

Can see why it is the signature scent of some iconic ladies like Madonna, Courtney Love and Iman, it’s incredible and truly deserves its place in the perfume canon.

[500] As a lover of white floral perfumes, I have long wanted to try the grande dame of tuberose scents – Piguet’s Fracas. Germaine Cellier, a legendary name among perfumers, was the nose behind the original Fracas. She was also known for her renowned Balmain creations - Vent Vert and Jolie Madame. I have very old miniatures of both, and they are truly something special. In Fracas’ case, tuberose was considered to be notoriously difficult to work with, but Mme. Cellier, a trailblazing chemist with an artistic soul, was perhaps the first to succeed. She took the infamously intense white flower and rendered it wearable and well-rounded, showing off its multifaceted nature without sacrificing its polarising narcotic headiness. Today, it is one of the most frequently-used floral notes in perfume, populating perfumes ranging from the bombastic Dior Poison to muted designer gem Gucci Bloom, but Fracas is the original and perhaps the most famous.

I have a small sample of current Fracas, which was reformulated in the 1990s. It is considered to be a competent reformulation that is similar in spirit to the original, despite the unavailability of original ingredients, much like Calice Becker’s 1990s reinterpretation of the aforementioned Vent Vert. I am also looking to obtain a sample of Mme. Cellier’s original formula for comparison.

Fracas is a white floral scent from initial spray – smooth, creamy and lush. Tuberose is king throughout, present from the very beginning, but bolstered nicely by the other notes. There is a green tinge to the white florals initially, adding a nice realistic freshness to the bouquet. Some lily-of-the-valley is detectable here. As it develops a little, a nice fruity edge emerges; subtle, but enhancing the sweet component of the tuberose nicely. Peach and orange are evident, developed by the osmanthus and orange blossom notes, and the bouquet is rounded out by clean, powdery jasmine, adding body, creamy gardenia and heady hyacinth. Rich and high-quality, the floral accord here is top-notch, ruled by tuberose. The tuberose is intense and increasingly narcotic as it develops. The white florals remain smooth, creamy and well-rounded however - high-quality and addictive.

Some yellow florals add a polleny edge as it begins to dry down, with the florals becoming wonderfully powdery as it dries down. I get iris here. There is a rich woodiness to the base at the later stages, providing a nice counterpoint to the bouquet, grounding it nicely. It becomes slightly mossy and musky as it fades, with a hint of sweet amber emerging as it becomes a skin scent. Sillage is strong and longevity is long-lasting – a little goes a long way.

The best white floral of them all (and that is only the reformulation!), Fracas showcases the carnal tuberose note in all its glory while rendering it wearable. Beautifully smooth and just the right amount of sweet, this feminine classic is French in style, utterly chic yet daring. La crème de la crème. 5/5.

Ok, Fracas! I'm updating you. It's cold AF here in the Pacific Northwest, and I've pulled out Fracas. It's great. 40 degrees out (F) and it's not too much. Not too cloying, not too sweet, not too big. I adore big, bombastic florals in the cold weather, it tames them utterly and makes them so wearable.

Fracas in 40 degrees is still Fracas, but it's not shouting, I'm not sneezing, it's not too oily or too sweet-tart. It's just right. Stays on all day, lasts until I wash it off 12 hours later because I need to shower before bed.

I smell the green, the pink, the voices.

Consider... Fracas really is a cacophony. But in the cool weather, it's dialed way down. It becomes baseball on the radio in the summertime.

Try it. Like it!

I am a white floral lover and this was one of my first white florals I tested and it blew me away .

However , the yester years were all about heavy formulations , amber coloured , thick , syrupy white florals.

I loved the actual fragrance but this has explosive projection which seems to last for over 8 hours from one spray .

I found my bottle sat there for years as I found it difficult to wear . The Tuberose was just too heavy and loud and syrup cloying on my skin but also borderline offensive to others . I wore it once to my office and everyone complained ! It’s not a day scent . Definitely a special events scent .

My favourite perfume in my early twenties was Joy by Jean Patou and wearing both now , on each arm , it is very similar . Fracas being sweeter on my skin .

However , I do agree that Fracas is more similar to Madonna’s Truth or Dare which I actually prefer .

I now steer clear away of vintage perfumes as I find the numerous notes that created the perfume do not sit well with me . I prefer fresh, lighter , gentler scents .

A very diffusive, old-school white floral.
If you are a fan of old-fashioned tuberose fragrances, you will like this one.
Very tuberose heavy, with what seems like every other white flower added into the mix, to create a very heady floral.
Quite strong.
Smells like something you would wear to the grand ball.

I just LOVE this.. I am no perfume expert.. but this one stood out for me as one I would set aside for special occasions.. I treasured every spray. I am a perfume/fragrance collector.. yard sales, etc. I have hundreds. I enjoy every fragrance I have. The only two I have paid “full price” for .. are this, & Gucci Rush. We love what we love! I love Fracas. Xo

Genuinely, this changes my mood and makes me more confident and charming even on video calls where no-one can smell me. Every time I wear it I notice at the end of the day I’ve been a total badass.

Iconic scent and a floral masterpiece.

This is the most interesting and complex floral fragrance I've ever encountered. I have an old batch which smells purely divine. A fascinating bouquet of the most exquisite flowers, very feminine and rich. The tuberose and peach notes are predominant. It transposes elegancy, grandeur and puissance. Germaine Cellier entered in history with this cult beauty! Chapeau!

beautiful tuberose perfume... got mine at nordstrom but still very hard to find despite my purchase. Gorgeous and yes a little vintage- classy and classic but sadly doesn't smell the best on me. very similar to Blond by Versace and Carolina Herrera though not as sharp.













l

I’m surprised people are having performance issues. I bought my bottle from Nordstrom 3 years ago. Two sprays and I’m still in a cloud of peachy tuberose the next day! This is especially true when some gets on fabric.

has anyone here tried the extrait version in the pretty bottle? i really would like to know if that’s a bit closer to the original formula from the 1940s or if it’s still too cleaner-y. i really want to try this bc i heard courtney love wore it in the 90s but i dont want a soft basic floral, i want something that smells a little vintage.

@lucyk try Carthusia Tuberosa

Has this been reformulated? I am sorry, I haven't read other reviews yet, but it seems it's not the fracas I remember. It's much more diluted. At the first phase I feel the green notes and the orange blossom, tuberose is very mellow, but it turns more creamy and noticeable during the hours. Currently it smells sort of similar to Do Son EDT, just a tad softer and more complex, as I can feel there are much more notes supporting the tuberose. It smells bearable, it's now a tuberose even non-tuberose-lovers can enjoy. I don't know if it is such a good thing, but even me - a person not too big on tuberoses - loves this. +
By the way, I think Fragrantica should add fracas before and after to distinguish reformulated perfumes since fracas before and fracas after are just too different perfumes. This page now stands for a perfume that was reissued in 1998. That seems completely crazy as there is fracas of 1948, fracas of 1998 and fracas of 2021/2022.

@wondervalley666 as you haven't smelled the previous version, don't bother understanding the previous reviews as they were on pre-reformulation version.

Fracas, are you okay? Do you know what day it is? How many fingers am I holding up? Do you need some water? Who did this to you?

When I think of all we have lost in the past few years, the magic of a fragrance is one of the least concerns. Fracas is still here, a mere shadow of her former self. I still love her. Her multilayered, unctuous bed of tuberose and jasmine petals have dried and are replaced by a fuzzy afterglow of tuberose and wet hair after swimming.

For a multilayered, complex sweet white floral fix I’ll have to rely on 24 Faubourg by Hermès.

Fracas, the floors and the boards
Recalling your scent
And I remember too
All the pictures are fading
And shaded in gray
But I still leave a place
On my counter for you
And I’m leaving a light on the stairs
No, I’m not scared
I wait for you
Hey Fracas, I’m lonely
Come home

I never smelled the original so this is going off the new formulation only-

A nice, soft, simple, sweet white floral. I hoped for tuberose but it’s barely in there. I mostly get lily of the valley, which is a bit too “basic” for my tastes (I’m the type who wishes carnal flower was 4x stronger).

This actually REALLY reminds me of Gucci Bloom, which I recently blind bought on a tuberose kick. Unfortunately, I parted with Bloom because it was too soft and also, mostly lily/honeysuckle smelling, and I wanted a knockout tuberose beast mode scent. I’d recommend Fracas for any Bloom lover whose looking for a fragrance that smells more unique, rich, complex, and sexy while still maintaining the same vibe. Fracas actually reminds me a bit more of one of the Bloom flankers, I think maybe the Profumo flanker? One with a wider variety of notes. They share similar DNA - gentle florals that almost seem dusted with powdered sugar. Light, sweet, clean, fresh.

It’s a lovely fragrance, but I’m glad I stuck with a travel size as it doesn’t have the OOOMPH I’m looking for. If you’re on a tuberose kick as well and looking for a strong clean tuberose that really shines, isn’t cut with other softer sweeter flowers, and projects well, I’d have to recommend either Carnal Flower or Lys 41 by Le Labo. Carnal flower is a work of art, a fresh green tuberose plant in a bottle. Lys 41 is narcotic sexy seductive tuberose with a bit of an animalic musk without any of that bubblegum vanilla powder nonsense. But overall, both are quite different scents than Fracas.

I don’t understand how anyone can call this a mature scent. To me, it smells like a nice expensive version of what every teen and 20 something wore up until they all decided they wanted to smell like sickeningly sweet vanilla marshmallows about 5 years ago. I’d consider Fracas a clean, pretty, youthful scent, simple, actually quite a perfect scent for teens and 20somethings as it’s tough to overspray this to the point where it’s cloying/nauseating. I'd recommend this for people who love the Bloom line and other powdered sugar soft florals like Amouage Love Tuberose. I would not recommend this for people who dislike the softer scents and prefer more traditional strong rich perfume formulations. Even though this is a soft scent, it does seem to last much longer than I'd expect. I had to reapply Amouage and the original Bloom every 2-3 hrs to keep the scent going. This performs more similar to the Bloom Profumo & Ambrosia flankers, which seem to last a good 4-6+ hrs with moderate silage on me. Scents don't seem to last as long on me as others, so I'd say add another 2 hrs to the longevity if you don't have scent-eating skin.

Fracas 2022
Current formulation reviewed
Its thinner, less body and pretty linear than years past. Is it still Fracas? Yes but the tour de force it was is very diminished. Its still a clean wear calibrated for the times we are in. The orig fracas had an animalic component. If you wanted to capture that, try layering ontop of Bal a Versailles cologne.

yikes, I'm sorry, but this is so not for me. something about it makes me think only of that industrial hand soap at highway rest stops. I'd truly be curious to smell this on someone else, and I'd also be curious to know what the original vintage formulation was like, because whew

I get compliments when I wear this perfume, from young adults, teenagers, which has taken me back a bit as it us an old fashioned fragrance . However, growing Tuberose for myself, I now see how close Fracas has come to emulating the real thing. A therapeutic fragrance, rich and heady. An extreme
beauty and Tuberose masterpiece and will take you back to a different time in history when thing were simpler, purer. People love it , and I am growing to love this blind buy, and enjoying the unexpected attention it attracts, so very unique is Fracas. and lasts and lasts.

HO-LEE SHIET! I am almost at a loss for words. I’ve been on the search for the *perfect* Jasmine & Tuberose perfume for YEARS if not DECADES. I could never find one well blended to my liking. The Tuberose always ended up taking over. But not with this one. She is so perfectly blended and the addition of all those other additional flowers just makes it so much better. I plan on buying more than one bottle as soon as I get paid. This 100% will be my new signature. Just…wow!

wow. “bombshell” doesn’t even begin to approach coming close. of all the “not me” perfumes i’ve ever smelled, this is the one i most wish was. i bow down; i’m not worthy, my queen.

she’s pretty linear these days, but still a force to be reckoned with.

/current edp

I'm right between "like" and "ok," or "meh." I do like tuberose. It's not my favorite flower, though, and I was looking forward to the lily-of-the-valley, the violet, the old-fashioned flowers we don't see enough of anymore. What I got was an initial blast soooo strong that I couldn't tell what the heck it smelled of, and then tuberose. Tuberose. More tuberose. I don't know why they wasted so much money on all those other essences - they could have called it Tuberose Fracas.

I'm not a wimp about perfume. The original Opium is my all-time favorite. I love powerful perfume. I fear that this may even be headache inducing.

Fracas did not smell like I was expecting. I was expecting a larger than life powerhouse of a white floral perfume. Something that I would only wear at home. I decided to blind buy this because I got a great deal on Parfums de France w/ coupon. I love most white florals so it was a pretty safe bet. What I found Fracas to be was something completely unexpected. Most white floral perfumes try to capture a garden or at least a huge bouquet of gardenias, jasmine, tuberose etc.... Fracas captures a single living tuberose in a vase. This perfume actually gives you the chance to explore the flower in it simplicity, elegance and beauty. There is a Zen like quality to this perfume. Every detail of the single flower has been captured in this scent. The animalic qualities hum around the edges, creamy, soft like flesh. Fracas just became my new skin scent, petals dance on skin. Beautiful, and meditative.

Just gorgeous. It’s quite old school in a vintage floral sort of way but it’s so unmistakable and inimitable. A sweet, overripe, rich tuberose. Like sticking your nose into a bunch of the stuff on a hot, humid summer’s day. It’s pretty magical.

Love this during the summer when it is really humid (Michigan). I tried it during the winter and absolutely hated it - couldn't scrub it off fast enough. Same bottle, two entirely different fragrances to my nose. Crazy..

Sadly, it has been reformulated like many other gems and has lost its depth. Regardless, just ordered a bottle. But I miss the old formula.

Somehow smelled this out of no where. I gifted my travel size away, so I'm puzzled. Lovely whaffs from somewhere lol.

I think I am slowly discovering that I just don't like tuberose. Fracas is iconic and instantly recognisable but I wouldn't be caught dead wearing it

I hasn’t touched my bottle in a year. In defiance of the freezing temperatures where I am, I spritzed my chest before bed.

I had forgotten that this is one of the most strange and wonderful fragrances of all time. I slept like a baby and every time I stirred and moved around and got aware of that rich fruity almost leathery decadent buttery floral, I smiled and went back into an even deeper sleep.

This was decades ahead of its time as what you could call a buttery fruity floral but it’s far more complex than that. Sometimes I smell peach marmalade, other times I smell intense pink bubblegum, and other times I smell a spicy rich almost leathery floral oriental. Some fragrances are just beautiful and that’s Fracas.

Fracas is my queen. I bow down to her.

Made an account just to review this perfume. So happy I didn't blind buy and just got a sample. I have no idea what the good reviews are about. This perfume smells like peach candy, it's so strongly sweet. The opening is this almost like cheap body spray scent and over time it develops into its animalic notes and just smells sweaty. I really love white flower scents and I can hardly smell it over the sugary fruity notes.
To me, it smells like how victoria's secret body sprays smell after the gym.
Maybe it's just on me because people seem to love it but I would definitely recommend testing it out before purchasing.

Tuberose is by far my favourite floral, that perfect combo of creamy sophistication and carnivorous edginess. I dabbled in the original Juicy Couture for years, longing for something a little more profound.

At 21 I entered Saks on a whim, and asked the most beautiful employee I could find if she could suggest anything with tuberose in it. She decided to wreck me forever by having me smell Fracas, Carnal Flower and Beyond Love in quick succession. I exited the shop in a daze, wondering if I'd ever be the same.

At home Fracas bloomed at me from across the room. It was wild, airy, sweet, bitter, creamy, sexy, bitchy. An insane cloud of flowers and bubblegum, with strange lashings of ink and metal.

I wondered If I'd ever be woman enough to wear it. I'm not Maria Callas, right? I don't deserve it.

And then yesterday, almost 6 years later, I walked right up to that same Piguet counter at Saks, grabbed my very own Fracas, and left the store with a realisation: if a perfume makes you doubt yourself that hard, it's probably the only fragrance you'll ever need.

THE ULTIMATE x_x

When your female partner wears this fragrance, she suddenly becomes even more desirable. I discovered Fracas when I was searching for a fragrance that could replace Mahora, a discontinued gem from Guerlain, and my wifes' previous favorite. Via fragrantica.com, I found out that tuberose was the main component of Mahora, and this led me to Fracas, the number one tuberose fragrance. This is as of now my wifes' signature scent, which means that she will wear it on all special occasions. You can not see through the black glass bottle, so you have no idea how far it is, but whenever the bottle becomes empty, it will immediately be replaced...

This is the most beautiful fragrance I've ever come across. It's been my signature for over 30 years. I'm not great at sniffing out notes, can only guess with the help of reading the note's profiles (push icon).
I discovered Fracas while browsing Etoile, the perfume store in Houston's Galleria Mall when I was in late 20's looking for a "Big Girl" fragrance to wear on special occasions. My go to was Coty Wild Musk. I fell in love with Fracas. It's not for younger women, I don't think most would appreciate it yet. You know how T.F. Black Orchid had a deep, scent, how Fracas is/was but where B.O. is dark flowers, Fracas is white. It was reformulated in 1998 and anyone who wore the original can most definitely tell the difference. When I find an authentic vintage I'll get it over the new formula. I always have both and wear the original on special occasions. The difference I've noticed comes with first spray. Original is the wet flowers where that's lost in the new one which has a flat note, almost synthetic. The dry down is similar, I can catch the cedar (which I love) and maybe the oakmoss? It's lovely. I think Germaine Cellier is rolling over in her grave at the new one). I will still purchase and wear the reformulated but obviously prefer the original. If you do wear the new formula, highly recommend NEVER tempting yourself with the original, it could ruin your love for this and it's still beautiful. This is very strong. Very long lasting. I'd recommend applying an hour or so before leaving home. I was running late and applied right before I got into car with one of my best girlfriends visiting from Houston. Very overwhelming. I live in Colorado now which is much drier than Houston but I think the humidity, in cooler months brings out the lovely dewy notes. Don't wear much on hot days. I'm sure you all know DO NOT rub wrists together when applying any great perfume, it will mess up the order of notes, composition.

Sometimes I am amazed at not having tried certain masterpieces in my 43 years and who knows how many I still miss ...
fracas is one of them.
please don't talk to me if it's a feminine or masculine perfume and these things here.
such a masterpiece has no sexual identity.
tuberose, peach and jasmine.
this is the magic formula for this masterpiece that in my opinion should not be missing in any collection.
10/10
performance 11/10

I wore many a white floral during the '80s & '90s. This was supposedly "the" floral bomb frag of its day for the well-to-do ladies who lunch coterie. I would never fit in such a group, but one can appreciate their Chanel suits and the unmistakable surrounding cloud of jasmine and white blossoms. I thought I would love it but I preferred then, and prefer now, the original Carolina Herrera and Bvlgari Pour Femme (sadly gone) for some mega bloom action enhanced by fruit, jasmine and musk & wood base. Those two seem more subtle for my personality. Fracas had to be a masterwork of blending based on the number of notes. Such a formulation would never go further than the perfumer's imagination in this day and age of ingredient restrictions. All the $ would go to the "face" and marketing, not the development. Germaine Cellier, as a woman in the mid 20th century, was apparently an innovator of frags, a very small (by numbers) legacy left. I've never sampled Bandit, I will have to try it.

So, when I first tried this, I had ordered a sample of the modern EDP from Notino. I thought it was okay, but a bit underwhelming. It smelled nice, but didn't last and didn't have much projection. Well on my recent trip back home to the states, I came across a small 5 ml bottle of the parfum. I think it's vintage, but I'm not entirely sure. It's a square transparent bottle with a black lid and the name is etched into the glass in black. This is incredible. I love this. Maybe it's due to aging. Maybe it's due to it being the parfum. Perhaps it's a superior, older formulation. Whatever the case, this is lush and sexy. Unapologetically Floral and the civet stands out and makes it a bit dirty, but in the most elegant way. This is a being of elegance who is not ashamed of their sexuality. Though it's great during the colder weather we're having right now, I can't wait to see how this blooms during the spring and summer. I don't have anything that smells like this and I truly, truly love it.

I am wearing a sample from a current formulation. I find that I would rather just use Giorgio Beverly Hills for this mood. Fracas seems to sit rather flat. I felt the same way about the current Bandit vs. Cabochard. Cabochard is everything I want it to be; Bandit ends too gummy or resinous, but not in a good way, on my skin. The Fracas has that same flat gumminess for me.

After reading so much about the “monster tuberose” that is Fracas, I was giddy to try it. Sadly, I was disappointed by the timid fragrance and weak performance. I’m using the EDP and I purchased it from a major luxury department store so I’m not sure what’s up — but the beastly fragrance I was promised just isn’t here.

Being a white floral lover , I had to try the much talked about Fracas .

Wow! A little spray goes a long way cause this is in your face , loud performer !

Looking at the notes you can see what a well made fragrance this is but I think I would offend too many people and myself if I ventured out in the public with this scent on me .

Maybe the EDT would be better .

I agree it smells a lot like Madonna’s truth or dare which isn’t as loud .

Look, I do love this tuberose scent , enough to get a bottle , however it’s a mature scent to me and I only wear this when I’m alone so it’s rarely used .

I love tuberose and I don't smell any of it here. The peach just overwhelms everything. The first thing that wafts up is a blast of grape-flavored children's medicine, and that chills down a little in favor of sour peach candy with maybe a hint of unspecified florals and that's where it stays. I really hope a shower takes this off.

I don't get any of the heady, carnal fleshiness that so many people attribute to Fracas. For me, it opens with a shocking pink blast of viscous public bathroom hand soap, bubble gum, and Sweet Tarts, like a more tolerable, well-blended VS Love Spell. There is a brightness that reminds me of spring and summer, though I imagine its strength would make it overwhelming in the heat. After the opening, the peach note really takes over on my skin and it becomes a fairly linear fruity floral fragrance. I actually like this a lot, but it's much more youthful and sweet than its reputation led me to believe.

I heard such great things about Fracas. I’m disappointed but glad I only bought a sample. Tuberose, well ok that’s nice but it overwhelms everything and I’m left with bubblegum and possibly lemon sherbert. I feel guilty now

lace garter clinging to thigh; ivory tracery mimicking glass filigree. matrimonial kiss, pert wedding vows. white gown stained with peachpit pulp, sprawled supine on connubial coverlet. tresses tangled in ornate coronet.

fracas is every bit as buxom as it is delicate. a recommendation from someone, he said that fracas was somehow innocent to him despite its reputation for being a va-va-voom scent. at first, i understood his assessment: bubblegum-sweet tuberose, fruity pebble orange blossom, syrupy peach, dewy leaves.. yet the longer it warms up to my skin, and the more i wear it, the animalic, sensual underbelly of the fragrance grows stronger.

tuberose lies at the heart of the scent, subtly tutti frutti like bubblegum yet with an air of maturity. buttery and creamy like a good tuberose should be, but still sensually basalmic and heady, not sickeningly sweet or synthetic. in cooler temperatures, fracas is deceptively frigid, with sour tinges from the green notes and bergamot present; but in heat, i am blessed with a rush of fatty tuberose, succulent nectarine, and humid leaves from the get-go—viscid and eager. complementing the tuberose, there is an osmanthus accord which leans towards tangy apricot, coupled with lactonic peach, suggesting sweet sweat on sheets, even a bit of spit.. overripe and fleshy, bright peaches drip juices all over and stain the once-clean white petals. milky facets combined with narcissus lend towards hot silken skin and oil paintings of daffodils and buttercups. orange blossom provides a direct stream of bright floral sweetness, reinforcing the pre-existing bubblegum accord from the tuberose. grapey jasmine winks beneath the surface. the hotter it gets, the fuller fracas becomes. innocent at first; eager to reveal seductively saccharine stained flowers and bodily warmth, i'm in love.

songs for fracas: lilies on a g-string by garden of delight, new bride by mystery plane, afterglow by glamor cult.

I have a sample.

---

Thick white floral, strong and unexpectedly sweet. As expected, very strong and heady, but there's an unmistakeable sweetness of white flowers reaching the end of their life, under the warm sun, surrounded by bees, some of them already starting to get wilted and brownish. And something syrupy which may be the peach, but it is not a photorealistic fresh peach. For me it's just an abstract sense of fuzzy sweetness.

To be honest, in a warm day it makes me sleepy and wanting to relax, which is nice but not great for a work day! Must try either in a cooler day or when I don't have work, or at night!

I like it.

I have heard so much about this perfume that I think I built it up too much in my head. I finally snagged a 2ml sample. I loved the beginning, but it was gone in under 2 hours and wasn't the sillage bomb I was expecting. An hour and a half after spraying 5 sprays my husband came home and I asked if he could smell me when he came in and he could not, only if I put my wrist directly up to his nose, and even then he said it was faint. I just expected more from this perfume after all the hype. I don't think this will be my tuberose. I will keep looking. :(

I received it in the mail on Friday, July 2. I also purchased Petit Fracas, which I received on Saturday, July 3. I opened Fracas on Sunday night, July 4, and tested it on a paper towel along with two other perfumes that shall remain nameless. Let me tell you something… This stuff is pOtEnT…! When I walk into my master bath, I can still smell it… It gives me such a heady, joyful feeling, which I am sure that it was not intended to inspire such feelings. It really is a mankiller, for sure. I think that Petit Fracas will be my anytime fragrance while Fracas will be a date night with the Mr./come hither fragrance. It can also be a power fragrance, as I see it to be very dominating I don’t get “hot flesh after sex” from this; I do get the buttery, heady Tuberose, sensual floral garden from this. Very lady-like and sexy; a bombshell for your inner bombshell. It’s not dark, but rather interesting. Diptyque Do Son is my everyday Tuberose fragrance; Fracas will be for when I want to step it up.

Heavy floral and unusual frag that will kill all the newest fragrances released for women. This frag is a killer by all means. Use with caution. Love it.

Ten hours later and Fracas is still with me even after a shower. Tuberose bomb and a legend, sweet, playful, wild but so sexy. The first blast take your breath, powerful and so strong but in few hours it becomes serious, a bigger sister of Orchid Soleil from Tom Ford. Fracas is sweeter, better blended and more realistic. It is a must for tuberose lovers

She is Fracas. She makes no apology for who or how she is. Hate her or love her, she stands tall. She is head strong, elegant, classy, and speaks with authority. She is not be silent. When she enters the room, you take mote. You fight the crowd of those who try to imitate her. After all, imitation is a form of flattery. Try as they may, she is the one and only real thing.

I couldn't resist doing a comparison between modern Fracas and vintage Fracas. I pleasantly surprised to find that they were indeed very close. Actually, I found the newer one to be a bit punchier in the opening notes. Something a bit, more peppery. Though I am not such that I could identify just what. It could even have been the difference between one being a splash and the other being pushed through an atomizer. But, overall, they are very similar. They are both magnificent and deserving of the Fracas reputation.

I’m a huge Courtney Love fan and read this was her favourite perfume so wanted to try it. I ordered a sample online and the projection & lasting power was awful!

Additionally it doesn’t smell complex or “special” as I expected with the huge list of notes just straight up tuberose. Very similar to Tubereuse Noir which is part of the Zara Emotions range which is a fraction of the cost. The performance of that fragrance is no better but understandable for the price.

Wondering if I had a dodgy sample or people reported massive performance have vintage formulas?! Will try this in store next time, also keen to try Petit Fracas as that’s supposed to be sweeter!

There is life before and after Fracas, the one perfume I would not have missed for the world! Petit Fracas is milder and conventionally sweeter. Recommend trying a sample first of either.

If heaven has a scent it would have to be Fracas. I used to spray it all around my apartment just to luxuriate in the aroma. Now I wish I still had that bottle. It was a flawless ambrosia.

My God I love this fragrance! There is something so very different about it, and yet is shares so much DNA with Creed's Fleurissimo, another classically epic perfume from a similar era. When I grow up, I want to have a bottle of both!

Fracas to me is “the” Flowerbomb. Meaning that is in no way similar to Viktor & Rolf’s but meaning that this is truly a flower explosion. And its blast spare no one. Intense, “in your face” and here to stay tuberose and white flowers, waxy and succulent white flowers. I had a 30ml bottle around 15 years ago that got swapped and I couldn’t help but purchase a vintage bottle, now 100ml that I know it will never run dry, as 1 spray is PLENTY to fill a room. And I mean a Versailles room, no joke. If I could do half a spray, I would. This is a masterpiece that I thread carefully - easy to go overboard and ignite a heavy headache. Not for everyday, not for everyone and mos def NOT an office safe frag. Worth a try? Heck yah!

Hmmm

If you spend some time reading all the reviews you will notice there’s some contrasting opinions (and some flat out incorrect information)

Incorrect info:
Unfortunately Fragrantica only has this one page that appears to be covering the vintage parfum, the current parfum, the vintage EDT and the current EDP so there’s reviews and comments for different versions all tumbled up


I own the current parfum, a parfum purser from the early aughts, a sample of the “vintage” parfum from StC, a sample of the early 90s EDT, the current EDP and a sample of Truth or Dare (the tuberose used here is indeed very similar, T&D has more base note sweetness and smells less vintage).

Note my purser was purchased sealed but has definitely gone off. There are no top or mid notes, it smells of waxy crayons and stale narcissus. The EDT (in the easy to find rectangular bottles) does not smell off; but has a hairspray cheap element I don’t enjoy. This element is somewhat still there in the current EDP sample I have.

My current parfum smells very similar to whatever “vintage” my sample from StC was. The vintage was a BUTTERY fatty fat fat wax tuberose, a touch of indolic camphor, and a beautiful light and airy fruity floral open. The open faded a bit, but remains in surprising little snippets during the whole wear. The current parfum is very similar, but a little softer and less buttery.

On that, NONE of these are a bubblegum tuberose on me?!?! Fracas is an example of the waxy tuberose…the narcissus fleshy one on my skin. Like Tenebra or the Roja. Bubblegum tuberose on me is Marfa/Tuberosa/Vamp/Orchid Soleil/Malachite…commonly mixed with orange blossom. The sweetness in any of the fracas was from the top and mid notes, an etc floral/fruity sweetness; the tuberose is waxy, buttery and not sweet~

I have not (and have no interest in doing lol) conducted a scientific study on this…but I’m suspecting 90’s and up Fracas top and mid notes require more “stringent” storage techniques than some other perfume types, and there are more bottles than just my purser out there without their top and mid notes!

(Also, both the vintage and the current wear very close to the skin, which honestly IMO is as expected for extraits)

Wow pretty masterful scent! Super white floral without being soapy. Like a big tuberose with fatter jasmine and gardenia (I at least get lots of that) - dried down more mossy - like I've traveled down a vine onto the earth itself.. It's hard not to love this

I love this out of all the fragrance samples I've tested since my fragrance/ youtuber review haul. I don't even think I saw this one from YouTube I was google for a good bubblegum. Heard this beat the madonna one also read about bel rebel bubblegum scent very real take on the candy. Love this last long haven't tested on skin though.

Bought fracas 10+ years ago. I always wanted to try it after reading the Jackie Collins books. Always remember the line... she walked into the room and the unmistakable smell of fracas followed her. I thought wow this must be good stuff, I hadn’t heard of it before. I was only young😁years later I bought myself a bottle and was eager to try it. I was soo disappointed it wasn’t really my style, I love heavy orientals and this was so floral, I tried several times to like it but couldn’t so I put it away and forgot about it until a year ago. Well guess what I love love love it, my tastes have changed over the years, I still love the Smokey woody heavy stuff but more and more I’m turning to the flowers, particularly tuberose and jasmine.

What’s all the Fracas about Fracas? Well, It’s THE classic white floral, grandmama of them all. The age of this scent alone is impressive. It definitely smells like a vintage, even the current formula holds true. That’s also impressive. Fracas is all bubblegum tuberose with some back up florals and a very strong underlying punch of musk. It’s the musk and moss that really show her age, she has a character that modern white florals just don’t have. That vintage skank if you will. @ Zhenka it is this vintage musk that is giving you that animalic vibe ;) Fracas has gracefully withstood the test of time while many other classics have suffered from terrible reformulations. She’s a beauty, a must have if you love white florals. Smells nothing like Truth or Dare to me, TorD is sweeter, and doesn’t come close to the class and character of Fracas. Now that the Madonna bottles are getting so pricy you are better off just getting Fracas or if you are really strapped for cash getting a bottle of De Varens Varensia White.

What a classic gem. A friend of mine awhile ago told me to try the pure parfum version of this. So I've been waiting to try it for awhile and I finally got some and crazy thing is it reminded me of none other than my favorite perfume of all time. Espirit de parfum Poison. With Poison being the more complex version. So of course I love this. The current pure parfum is very short lived though. I would have rather have gotten the edp because for the price it just doesn't project or last and I hear there were reformulations with Fracas and I believe it because I know this is suppose to be the beast of Tuberose perfumes. I would say that Vintage Poison is still way more complex than this but I would of loved to have tried the vintage version of Fracas. Yes I can agree with a review below that Poison has way more of the plum grapey accord and this Fracas is all about the sweetened white flowers but it has that vintage touch like Poison has that you know it was from another time. If you love Poison you will easily love Fracas because its all tuberose and gardenia. If you didn't like the grape accord in Poison you could easily go for this because of the white florals alone. I think I will eventually get a edp version of this because I need more projection but it's a lovely white floral perfume. Hopefully I can eventually get a vintage bottle that hasn't been reformulated.

If you are a lover of tuberose I think this scent is nearly a perfect 10. It starts out a bit sharp with a green note but the drydown is gorgeous. It also lasts forever and the sillage is excellent.
What more could be said about a timeless classic?
Elegant and great for early spring thru summer

big ol' bomb of gardenia + tuberose and not much else, at least on me. pretty and feminine, especially in springtime, but its lack of complexity gets old kinda fast. this is like a perfume you wear on easter, or to visit your grandmother (or to share with your grandmother), or maybe to an event where you eat tea sandwiches and wear an ostentatious hat. perfectly lovely, if that's yer thing!

I bought this in 2014 on a discount e-shop- knowing that I wanted a tuberose perfume. At first, some green-resinous notes made me reject the perfume- but after that it was great: I wore it in public ( me being a man, this being theoretically for women). Being a fan of Tubereuse Criminelle- another tuberose masterpiece- I was shocked not to find many similarities. Briefly, this smells like your suntan-floral-coconut scent but high- class, spring-florals- vanilla- or tuberose in its bloom. Really similar to Madonna- Truth or dare ( sadly discontinued- don't know why), Nicolai Number One ( that one is more minimalistic), Poison-Dior without the grape accord. Excellent release that should be found on every dresser. The history it has is also impressive.

Fracas is like Cher. Love her or hate her -- she's still here and has her own personality - and does not care about what people think. I'd like to give HUGE bonus points as far as I know-- this has not be destroyed by reformulations as of YET, but who knows. Vintage bottles can be had for the cost of new ones. Win/win for all of us fans !

Ok I love white florals and I own many...I love Micheal Kors Micheal perfume and Gucci blooms. I can’t find a sample in Canada. Can anyone tell me if this is worth a full bottle worthy and what is it similar to? Is it very indolic? Thanks for getting back to me 🙏🏻

I have a difficult relationship with tuberose and all of it rather recent. Or so I thought. I have a small bottle of Fracas EDP more to set my nose on it as reference than to wear (and even this happened almost never) but today the most intriguing thing happened. Trying to compare with Tuberosa by Santa Maria Novella which I really like (more creamy and soliflore) I tried Fracas and out of the blue the clear memory of another perfume came up like sometimes it happens from very deep olfactory memory. The “I know this” feeling but not for Fracas. It was Versace Blond. Which now I recall with surprise that I wore back in time. Nice trip on perfume memory lane. And discovering that maybe I do like tuberoses in the end.

If you hate dominant tuberose, gardenia and greenery, stay well away from Fracas, as, Fracas is all of those things and more in one very elegant and simple bottle.
I first became aware of Fracas when I was browsing around looking for a creamy, "banana-y" tuberose/gardeina white floral scent, tuberose (and orange blossom, since the two are both so often paired together) seems to be one of those notes that, seems to be in a fair few of my favourite scents, its one of a few notes that I gravitate towards and seems to work well on my skin. I never wanted to buy Fracas simply due to the fact I could not go and sample it since, Robert Piguet has a very small presence in the UK and only seems to be available from Selfridges, Harrods, etc, after doing more reading recently and catching a 50ml of Fracas for a good price on Notino I decided to splurge on it, I did kind of think "Oh what the hell have I done?" after confirming my order, but, you know what? screw it!

Fracas opens up with a dewy but also powdery/dusty blast of florals and greens, once its settled onto my skin the powdery/dusty notes vanish and a very warm, creamy and slightly bubblegummy tuberose bursts out, after 10 minutes, the tuberose softens up slightly and some cool, milky gardenia comes out stems and all, its sort of like sticking your face into a vase thats full of cold water with freshly picked tuberose and gardenias plunged into it, after a good 3 hours, and, believe me, even after 3 hours the creamy florals never really let up, a soft musky trail begins to emerge and thats how Fracas smells on my skin for the entireity of its life (which, might I add is excellent!)

Now, Fracas on me is very soft, its not the monsterous room filler I thought it would be BUT, I only need 3 sprays for it to firmly anchor itself onto my skin, I also dont find it to be a sexy, carnal scent in the usual way that some scents are, I find it to be sexy but in a "second skin" musk kind of way, thats not to say you can't wear this during the day however because you totally can, but be light with the sprayer and I also think it could be worn year round, its warm but it also contradicts itself by being cold and dewy at the same time. Silage is soft with longevity lasting 10+ hours, easily.

Interesting Fact: Lauren Graham who plays Lorelai Gilmore in Gilmore Girls is a big fan of Fracas, I didnt know this until I'd recently ordered my bottle!

Repurchase? I probably would!

I totally agree w/the reviewer below who said if you are a fan of stong, heady florals, this is a must-sample and, while not for everyone, I think for the right floral-obsessed person I do think it could be a safe blind buy or gift.

This is a weird one for me! I find it's frequently quite challenging for me to find the right words or comparisons to appropriately describe fragrances from the first half of the 20th century or earlier.

This smells NOTHING like a Patou fragrance but as far as florals go, I couldn't help but be reminded of how I felt the first time I smelled Joy when spraying Fracas for the first time due to the quality, complexity and sheer NUMBER of floral notes involved and how well balanced and blended they are here. Fracas feels much more night-time than Joy of course, and far more fruity and synthetic-leaning. It's weird but just smelling the nozzle before spraying, I personally get grape popsicle/lollipop? This still sticks around for me even after spraying but transforms into a strong + constant jasmine accord. For me this is note that hits most prominently - I do feel like if I hated Jasmine or was going through a particularly anti-jasmine phase, that would be the one factor that could be a potentially huge turnoff w/Fracas.

That said, if you love Alien, I feel like you'd surely adore Fracas. Especially if you're searching for something more unique, vintage, classic, sophisticated.

While I feel like the great majority of Patou's florals are for women at least in their 20s (there is just this untouchable level of elegance and self-determination to Joy, 1000, etc) and Alien is kind of inherently sexy + adult - I could see even very young girls loving/wearing Fracas. Especially today amidst all the fruity/gourmand fragrances out there! I really feel this could be an appropriate first-special-fragrance gift for someone in their early- to mid-teens. It's really impossible for me to imagine *any* age where Fracas would feel odd or inappropriate (gives me Guerlain vibes in that regard)

Honestly going to need to try this in all kinds of weather before I can really wrap my head around it I think!

When I was in my early 20's, I read a Cosmo article by the glamorous Helen Gurley Brown herself. The article was something about what a women needs in her jewelry wardrobe, her clothing wardrobe and her fragrance wardrobe. The interviewer couldn't believe that she would put fragrance above clothing and jewelry (gasp, I'm clutching my pearls). She was insistent because she said fragrance should always be chosen first and then build everything else around it. Fragrance was how we felt that particular day. How we were going to express our self, because no fragrance ever smelled the same on a woman, therefore we start there and build out. She was careful to point out that perfume should be sprayed last, but to pick out which one first.
She had a list of 4. Four pieces of clothing that every woman should own, 4 pieces of jewelry that should be owned and
4 fragrances. Clothing ~ A very good pant suit (with matching skirt, navy or black, no pattern)preferably Chanel. An excellent quality white poplin cotton shirt and if we were American, the best quality jeans that we could afford. If we were French, a cotton lawn sundress is a shade that "popped" against our skin tone. And of course the ubiquitous little black dress. Here, there could be a little more leeway, red was permitted if it was of a timeless design. Heavy silk only, because of wear, but raw silk was acceptable because of the interest it added in texture, but shine was never a girls friend. The rest could be accessories such as scarves, a timeless purse (again Chanel, again black or taupe) a shawl of good silk, colored stockings and good foundation garments. Shoes should be ballet flats in black, heels in black and taupe and tennis shoes. But never let anyone see you in tennis shoes. They were the necessary evil to maintain our sylph like figure.
Jewelry was much more simple. Pearls, of good quality only, so that meant if you couldn't afford a necklace strand or a bracelet then pearl ear studs were fine. Hoops, of one inch or less, yellow gold. Necklace chain (she preferred an oval link, herself) in yellow gold, again the highest karat you could afford. The pièce de rèsistance was a diamond. Either in a ring setting or in a basket setting for your necklace. A good watch was considered something you would would have anyway, so no proclamations there.
Now, on to what she considered the most important part of dressing; Fragrance, Chanel No. 5 "because well, did she really have to spell that out?" Jean Patou's Joy ~ ageless and oh so very sophisticated. Guerlains Shalimar ~To show that a woman could still be a woman and bring home the bacon. Her words. And last but not least, to go with that little black dress was Robert Piguet's Fracas "was there ever a fragrance that said to your date that he might just get lucky tonight?" And she tittered. Tittered!!! Fracas, she said was the "little black dress of perfumes. Don't overthink it girls, life really is that simple. It's us throwing all our neurosis around that makes it hard."

I always remember that, even 20 years later. I still have a bottle of Fracas, usually stored in the fridge bc I like it cold before it blooms. My husband is like Pavlovs dog now when he smells it, bc I took her advice to heart. 🙃


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Vintage Fracas is sublime! I am not a tuberose fan, but this is perfection. Voluptuous, sultry white floral vanilla. The perfumes they used to make...

Can you, please, help me with a personal curiosity? Did you smell the new Fracas Extrait? I saw it on Robert Piguet's website and I really wonder if it's worth the money (300 euros). I have edp and I love it. Thank you!

One of the first vintage perfumes I have actually liked. The opening is a bit strong but the heart and drydown are spectacular.
I totally get that this perfume will not be for everyone but for me, I like strong, heady florals and this delivers.

Pulled this out after reading Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith, in which Fracas gets a couple of mentions. Perfume in a detective novel, fun!!
The first spray is always very strong, as is when I sniff the nozzle. That's not a great representation of the experience of wearing it though. There's a lot of stems-in-vase-water green when I put my nose to my arm, where I sprayed. The floral part is an intense/sharp/high pitched synthetically sweet-sharp (I know I said sharp twice, it is!) experience. Not like real tuberose. Like an aisle of really overpoweringly sweet candies on display, maybe Shock Tarts or Sour Patch Kids. I don't smell any of the other notes listed in the pyramid, At All.
I think this is an all-seasons, any reasons perfume. I've never understood what the fuss over this and Carnal Flower and Jungle Gardenia is... they're just floral perfumes, and not ones that are particularly nuanced. Do I enjoy it, and them? Yes, I do. Is it worth writing more than 150 words over? Not really.
Solid like, not a love. Happy to have it in my collection, and will try to wear it more often, but I don't know that I'd repurchase it. I like other things better.

BTW: for what it's worth, I wrote this review before reading any others. It's interesting to see that my thoughts echo those of the other reviewers. Also, it's maybe giving me a headache.

It smells like the sweet breath someone has when suffering from diabetes - a sour sweet smell of saliva of those suffering with illness. Afterwards it dries down into a lemon cleaner Lysol smell. There is no semblance of photorealistic flowers. It just smells like an artificial smell manufactured in a lab like they do with REALLY CHEAP unpalattable hard candy. This is horrible... The cult status of this scent is mind boggling! 😬

Ick... Even gag...

Here's the thing about Fracas: there's a lot of hyperbole surrounding this perfume that scares people off or makes it seem like a monster fragrance. It really isn't. This is not your typical modern tuberose, like Do Son, or Carnal Flower. It doesn't smell like a lot of tuberose perfumes today and I hate that it gets typcasted as one. It also isn't as loud as people have a tendency to claim that it is - I mean, I guess it's loud compared to a delicate Chanel eau de toilette, but there are some vintage perfumes that come bursting into your room, like that one aunt you had from New York, the one with the crazy hair and long red nails who talked about all her boyfriends while clutching her micro Yorkie dog. Fracas is a little more demure and glamorous, like a princess having a quiet dinner in some hidden hotel's garden in Paris.

This scent starts off with a nice bubblegum like sweetness (not candied!) that gradually becomes more of a green hyacinth, gardenlike freshness. The bubblegum quality remains throughout the majority of this fragrance, and it continues to smell fresh and green throughout wear. It never becomes nauseatingly sweet or floral, like some tuberose fragrances do when you wear them too long lol. It's hard to really pinpoint a particular note because everything is seamlessly blended together to create "that" smell. I do find it kind of humorous how a lot of bloggers describe this scent as a "diva"; Angel by Mugler is a definite diva, but Fracas is more regal in comparison. Like one of these ladies is going to the Opera to see La Bayadere, while the other probably went to some underground club in London.

I have a lot of fond memories attached to Fracas as it was my grandmother's favorite perfume, so much so I ended up associating it with her natural scent because she wore it so often. I remember her showing me a tiny bottle of this perfume that she got from Fred Segal's when it was still in Santa Monica - Fracas always seemed to surround her like a cloud and even after she died, her clothes still smelt of it. Unfortunately, I was never able to find any of her original bottles when she died a few years ago, so I have been buying the new versions whenever I can and they smell exactly like what she had, just less tart/herbaceous. I remember the hyacinth note being way more aggressive, like fresh grass clippings, that just wasn't my thing as a child. Now I am older and I enjoy Fracas both as a memory and as a part of my own life.

Rockin' a 30 year old bottle from eBay today ! The waxy butter is way more prominent ! So worth the vintage investment . !

Girlie, I bought a bottle about 2 months ago at and the batch code is 9F1 (purchased at Neimans)

@Jacobean Lily Thank you for your answer. I checked check fresh but unfortunately they don't have any information on Robert Piguet

Hi, I'm about to purchase a bottle of Fracs and the batch code is 8J1. Can anyone please confirm if it's an original? Thank you

I don't know where to begin with this one. This one was actually recommended to me by my fiance's ex-girlfriend for our wedding day as it's what she wore on hers a few years back. I was a little skeptical at first, but man oh man, this one is a treasure. She is bold, mature, rich, bubblegum, beautiful tuberose. I LOVE this perfume. I have gone through two bigger sample sizes now and I'm going to have to splurge on the real thing. CAN'T GO WRONG!

Big bang bubblegum, for adults only.
Drunk peach and vampy tuberose that bursts loud and proud and marvelous.
A twist of orange for zing, carnation for spice, roses to flirt, and a woody base for backbone.

This girl does what and whom she pleases, tuberoses untethered, with a wink and a pop and a smile.

it reminds me of Jasmin Rouge by Tom Ford, this is a bit more sweet, Jasmin Rouge is a bit more bitter

WELL. There's a first time for everything I suppose. I ordered a 10ml sample of the infamous Fracas since I'd heard so much about it, and it's sadly not sold in my country. I have never come across a tuberose-centered fragrance I didn't enjoy, if not loved (I get the big ol' hearteyes for Carnal Flower, Lou Lou, Do Son, Orchid Soleil etc.), so of COURSE I had to try it on for size.

Well, the little vial came in the mail today. I wanted to go easy, just a little spritz on my wrist. Girl, when I tell you: Fracas has been the first perfume in my 25 years of existence that has managed to give me a headache *cries*. I wanted SO badly to love this! The Grande Dame, for God's sake! Now, my disappointment is two-fold (and Fracas does NOT bear the blame for any of these, mind you): first off, she just doesn't agree with my chemistry - instead of the tuberose I had hoped for, all I got was peach - and a very overwhelming one, at that. Now onto the headache: I'm not knocking Fracas at all, I have so much respect for the artistry Cellier poured into this perfume, and it DOES deserve its legendary status. It's not even that I think it smells bad on me, on a purely intellectual level I actually quite appreciate it, even though it turned into something different than I had hoped for. The nausea and headache I got from sniffing my wrist was more of a... visceral reaction, you could say. Even though I don't hate it, my nervous system begs to differ.

Mind you, I'm no stranger to big perfumes: I rotated between two bottles when I was 18, both gifted to me by my beloved grandmother, taken from her personal cabinet, totally unopened: a vintage Poison and vintage Miss Dior. I still love those to this day. I adore Shalimar and Black Orchid, and really enjoy Mitsouko and L'heure Bleue. However, sadly Fracas just doesn't agree with my chemistry. Ah well, can't win everytime. I've given my sample to my sweet mother who really enjoys it, and it smells lovely on her - much more balanced and rounded, not headache-inducing at all. She really has the chemistry to wear it. So, not a total loss, I can still enjoy Fracas at a distance :)

EDIT: Y'all. I have to eat my words. On the command of my mother, I gave Fracas another shot (momma always knows best, after all), and my eyes nearly fell out of their sockets. No headache, no nausea, just a pretty and peachy tuberose. It's beautiful! I don't know what the hell went wrong on the first try, but I'm glad I gave it another shot. I still prefer Carnal Flower to this by a smidge though, but I'm happy she decided to give me a second chance.

FOREVER FRACAS!

My once upon a time gateway into tuberose and gardenia and my first white floral "great love", Fracas still makes me feel happy and beautiful. It's been many, many years since I first smelled it, and over time, I've fallen in love with many other perfumes with different notes and structures. There are even a couple of white florals I now love more, but Fracas will always be a sentimental favorite. Buttery? Yes. Creamy? Yes. Sweet? Yes, but not too sweet. It satisfies me in so many ways. I have nothing else to add in terms of description, but I couldn't allow myself to not sing her praises!

Long live the Queen!

It smells like Easter. After the almost obnoxious bubble gum opening it settles down and becomes quite charming. Dors it make me feel beautiful? No. Does it make me feel sexy? No does it make me feel sophisticated. No. Glamorous? No. However, it is very intimately charming and delightful. It makes me feel happy.

I smell the tuberose under everything. But, the peach-stone note and the other white florals drown it out on my skin. This is a lovely powerhouse of white florals and peach on me. Lasts for hours upon hours. It definitely is reminiscent of a greenhouse where you grow white flowers, and maybe eating a peach in the middle of it.

I think I was expecting the tuberose to be stronger than the other florals. But, on me, it's simply somewhere in the midst of all the other florals. I'm pretty sure this won't happen to you. But, I'm a little disappointed. I really had this built up in my mind. It is a good fragrance though.

Elegant and understated.

I hadn't smelled Fracas in years and recently bought a bottle. For whatever reason I had it in my head that it's sort of a ladies who lunch classic, albeit a big white floral, but it's just the opposite of proper or restrained, and man – where have I been?! I haven't been living, that's where!

Instant hardcore love, like top 5 for sure. It's especially spectacular in the heat of summer and blossoms into the most heady sugared gardenia petals and drunken tuberose...I swoon all day. It makes me soo happy! The drydown is out of this world and lasts for hours...smells like sparkling floral vanilla fizz kisses planted by pixies in Candyland.

Lush, sweet, narcotic and slightly indolic – I want to swim in it and never get out.
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

P.S. I know the vintage/original formula was in another league altogether, but in this case I count myself lucky to have never smelled it; I get to love the current incarnation for what it is.

Received a roll-on mini of FRACAS today, the Piguet label stamped on the vial, in what I'm pretty sure is the modern EDP. A deep orange jus within.

A brief takeoff of powdery aldehyde quickly moves into the scent's signature tuberose, inflected with jasmine and gardenia. While I don't specifically detect peach, the floralcy nonetheless seems to have a juicy/fruity tinge. Later the hyacinth and orange blossom qualities emerge.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not getting the complex cavalcade of notes listed above; no sooner has the narcotic white floralcy bloomed, the whole thing settles down into a pleasant, if rather shampoo-ey, soapy tropical floral. I'm not picking up on the delicate notes of coconut, banana, bubblegum, santal, cedar, vetiver or even musk, necessarily.

It smells concentrated, and intensely feminine. Seems to me too "pretty" to really amount to a bombshell, va-va-voom number? I'd picture a bride wearing this, not a starlet or slattern. Similarly, there is nothing in this scent-- at least my version of it-- that necessarily says "vintage" or "Midcentury".

It's a gorgeous smell, to me probably best worn in summery weather, loose clothes, lots of skin showing, when the white flowers can really "bloom".

There are, to my nose, definitely some artificial/synthetic floral qualities present, to give the scent a "cosmetic" wearability, and a winsome girlishness. Still, the floral mélange here smells more natural than, say, the more drugstore-tier number, WHITE SHOULDERS.

Vintage formula - Indolic tuberose. The end. You will love it and hate it simultaneously.

If I rolled out of bed after hours of mind blowing sex, only to be buried naked under a million gardenia heads, I think it would smell like this. I am not usually a big fan of tuberose, but Fracas is all gardenia to me.


It’s real gardenia, not perfume gardenia, live, dirty gardenias, covered with ants that crawl onto your hands when you touch them. Gardenias for hours and hours, then trails off to jasmine and honey. It's spicy and indolic and gorgeous; a silver tightrope over a headache.

Tuberose and musk are all that I smell and since I don't like musk this is not a win for me.

Had this in the 80's/early 90's. It was (is?) the benchmark tuberose. Massively indolic and powerful.

Fracas is famous, and I love Piguet (Hello BANDIT!) so Summer 2019 I finally found a blind-buy bottle to add to my collection.

When it first arrived from shipping/mail, I was extremely disappointed. I sent a decant to my Fragrantica Bestie and we both agreed... DAMN, FRACAS, WHAT HAPPENED?! My first test of Fracas smelled exactly like I remember 90s Sand and Sable to smell. I thought to myself-- this is Fracas?! Light potency, sillage, etc... and just so very.... blah? (I had Madonna's Truth or Dare and I hated it, sold it, too strong and too white floral-- well that was when I was heavy into my gourmands, now I would prob appreciate TorD more)

Today... March (winter) after my Fracas bottle has sat in a closed dark cabinet for 6 months... This IS special after all! I'm loving it! Either it needed the cold, or needed to settle after being shaken in shipping.

Creamy, soft (TorD was a sillage monster IIRC) white florals in a serene, feminine way. It's not weird or dated, just very very very nice. Up close I get something a bit dirty/earthy/indolic which IMO-- makes the scent. I'm extremely happy with Fracas for what it is now. I get a slighly white floral/tropical vibe, but not so much that I can't wear in winter. :)

The reviewer right before me said that this is pure tuberose to them and they don't get any bubblegum at all. I purchased a travel sprayer from fragrancenet to do a test drive before committing to a bottle and bubblegum is exactly what I smelled on initial spray. Funny how people can perceive the same fragrance so differently. I also thought it bore a strong resemblance to Truth or Dare but when I did a side by side can see that they are not the same, though they both start out with bubblegum tuberose on me. I have an organic tuberose extract I purchased from a health food store and it doesn't smell like bubblegum at all to me. It's very heady, creamy, and naturally sweet. It's smells the same as what I smell in Elie Saab's Tuberose perfume.

After a while the bubblegum note in Fracas calms down, as does the silage (this starts out like a beast), and it becomes a very elegant, though still on the loud side, scent. I appreciate that it's not heavy on the gardenia, which can make it excessively buttery. I'm not picking up anything more other than that this is a white floral bomb. While I think it's nice I'm still undecided whether I'll purchase a fb yet. As it is now I will continue to test out my sample sprayer until it is finished. This is a like but not a love -yet.

Edited to add that reading through the reviews I see complaints that this has been reformulated and it's not the same. Since I purchased a sample from fragnet I can assume that I have the reformulated and not the original scent. If that is the case then it might explain why this scent is not bowling me over.

A friendly swapper was kind enough to give me Fracas, that classic frag I'd read so much about. Tuberose is one of my very favorite scents,I plant the corms whenever they are available. People in frost free areas get huge clumps of the beautiful flowers - how I envy them!
Anyways, what I'm trying to say is that I know tuberose. So many perfumes claim to have tuberose notes but my nose disagrees. Fracas is a photo realistic tuberose. Smelling this perfume is like having a freshly cut tuberose in the house. I don't get bubblegum, or anything else for that matter.
Fracas has surprisingly weak sillage, lasting power is somewhat better. I'd expected an overwhelming blast of tuberose and incredible lasting power, but Fracas is the type of perfume that stays close to the wearer. This is a feminine perfume, classy and well bred.

This is not a perfume for me. It is very strong... Not sure if I would classify it as feminine or unisex. The start of the perfume was almost suffocating to me...later the perfume stabilized in softer and more femjnine notes.

However, I do not like a perfume that does not make me instantly believe that I smell good and I have to wait for it to prove itself later. I think that a perfume is good on someone when it smells good on them from start to finish. And that condition is not met by this perfume on me.

Editor: PLEASE fix photo to current bottles. This is an old limited edition bottle. This is not what FRACAS looks like TODAY.

Before I review the fragrance I just want to say that I got the bottle (30ml parfum) in the main illustration from a mainstream online retailer less than five years ago, so it is not a 35 year old vintage bottle as was claimed in an earlier review.

On me this is pure bubblegum. As a child, I noticed a bush with summer-blooming white flowers that smelled of the forbidden chewy treat. I sniffed it on my way home from school and was intrigued by the sweet intoxicating scent. Years later I learned of the tuberose shrub that grew in tropical climes and never made the connection between these fabled flora and the lonely bush of my childhood that somehow managed to grow in the wet and windy coldness of an Irish garden.

This perfume brings me right back to those days and the beginning of a lifelong infatuation with the mystery of scent. The parfum wears close to the skin and unfortunately doesn't have huge staying power but I crave the immediate application anyhow. I find it quite linear and so I don't ever wear it for longer than a day or two.

The bubblegum bush. That it.

I just recently bought a tiny parfum splash of this. After hearing my beloved Truth or Dare was discontinued, I sought this out, as this was the inspiration for that fragrance. When finally locating an eau de parfum version of this at a boujee department store, I sprayed it, and thought it smelled kind of synthetic compared to Truth or Dare. This actually reminds me more of a very good dollar store impression of Truth or Dare I bought, which smells much more similar to this. However, even that was a limited edition! This is far more floral and "green" smelling than Truth or Dare. The genius of Truth or Dare is it's intoxicating blend of gardenia and tuberose with sweet, caramelized vanilla. It's classic yet modern at the same time. It's a one of a kind fragrance. I so wish this smelled more familiar and not quite so different from Truth or Dare. The sweet accord just isn't here. This also is pretty expensive, just 0.14 ounces of this parfum was $11. A full ounce (of the parfum) is somewhere around the $300-$600 range on the brands website, and the EDP is also in the hundreds. If you're looking to replace Truth or Dare like I was, sadly this doesn't do it for me. I definitely would not suggest blind buying this as it's so expensive. I guess I will just have to seek out more bottles of Truth or Dare!

Now Now Now

The official bottle has come in the male, I mean mail.......

Now in my previous review I was speaking on the more vintage formula of fracas.... what I received today is the modern formulation

Top Notes: Mandarin Orange and Bergamot

Heart: Jasmine, Gardenia and Tuberose

Base: Vetiver, Sandalwood and Orange Blossom

Initially I smell Orange Blossom and Vetiver which lasts a good 30 minutes to an hour before turning into a gardenia bomb and this last for about 2 more hours before becoming a fleshy Tuberose for the remainder of the fragrance which lasts forever

Being honest this formulation is safe enough for even a lumberjack to wear!!! The Orange Blossom replaces the acrylic jasmine, the hyacinth, peach and rose are gone it’s just white florals and woods with the citruses accenting the orange blossom..... Fracas went from Madame to Stud over the years

I was nervous to do a review on a classic monarch fragrance but feel a lot more in tune with it now!!!!

Fracas, the name alone means to make an entrance, to illuminate your surroundings and it does just that

This fragrance is an emotional journey opposed to being a mere scent. Fracas stands for strength & power for its wearer..... rather it’s audience is male or female, it’s statement is for all to experience and learn

Fracas was made during a time where war had become to an end and many women felt their voice was silenced once more and men were in control of everything

A fragrance for the silent, it’s loud floral nature of unapologetic and intense flowers of Tuberose (soul), Gardenia (body) and jasmine (mind) are blended in an almost melancholy accord that is both romantic yet saddened by the fear of being a forgotten presence....

Fracas to me is a scent that is the epitome of “DON’T JUDGE A BOOK BY IT’S COVER” it may be classic with a classic made formula but Fracas was and is ahead of its time with a modern class that is timeless and has inspired many white floral fragrances after it honouring it’s legendary status next to other monarch fragrances like the one and only Chanel N°5

I feel this is a fragrance for all and will forever be remembered

I rate it honestly a 10000000000000/10

Note to Fragrentica editors: The above photo is NOT the current picture of what Fracas looks like. What you have uploaded here is either a "limited edition" or "vintage" bottle from 35 years ago. PLEASE update the photo as not to confuse your members / readers. Thanks!

P.S. Fracas is a safe "blind buy" if you like that creamy-bubble-gummy tuberose smell. Truth or Dare is harsher, less nuanced and linear compared to Fracas. So there's that.

After hearing so much chatter and reading all the reviews, I had ordered several samples. Well, after applying...I inhaled a strong dose of one of my earliest childhood memories (I was legally blind most of my childhood eyesite is -6.75 both eyes) Grape Suckers from the bank. Then a strong dose of my middle school and high school days Hubba Bubba bubble gum. The scent didn’t last but a couple of hours on my skin...so I place some on the neckband of my cotton T-Shirt; lasted for 24 hours and still going. The reason I placed on my T-shirt neckband is hopefully I could distinguish the different notes and perhaps throughout the hours catch the top/middle/end notes. Still getting the strong grape lollipop smell and eventually a powdery smell (guessing this is the Amber?) I’m not really too sure about this fragrance, I’m still going to try in the following days/weeks to catch all the notes. I’m a HUGE tuberose fan (grow them in my garden; retired horticulturist) and kinda disappointed. My usual fragrances are Private Collection Gardenia Tuberose EDP, Tom Ford Black Orchid EDP, I mix essential oils of Bulgarian Rose Otto and Sambuc Jasmine with a carrier oil, Marc Jacobs for Women, etc perhaps I just love the direct/single flowersd fragrances? Idk I had so much hope and excitement for this parfum; hate that I was disappointed. Apparently this is the “Newer Formula” well the chemists needs to change it back.

In the current formula, I can’t encourage anyone to spend money on this . The longevity is criminal for the price. Do these houses think we will buy poor products because of the esteem the house once held years back ? It appears they think we will not notice the difference if the bottle looks classy and familiar .

I’ve got a new version of Fracas EDP as my birthday present. I never tested it before, but knowing it is a luxury brand I was expecting a certain level of quality. Unfortunately, the expectations didn't make it through a reality check.
The projection is very weak: during the first hour, I can feel it on my wrist when holding my arm close to the nose; after two hours the scent completely disappears.
I suppose it will perform better during colder seasons, but summer kills the scent.
Regarding the notes: bubble gum, soap, very silent flowers, and powder.
Will I recommend it to my friends? I'm afraid I'll not. Considering its price, I think one can easily find more interesting fragrances and better value for the money. Maybe it will have a less legendary name.

I come back to my previous review because I m more and more amazed by the poor quality of this perfume compared to previous years. I even layered with molecule 01 hopping for a greater projection and longevity and still nothing! Nothing at all! I can still smel molecule 01 even after 8 h but Fracas nothing zero zero! In spite of reaplying during the day many times! Sorry Piguet but not worth the money for such a poor quality. There are on the market absolutely very inexpensive perfumes that have much more longevity and projection than Fracas. It used to be my signature scent for many years but now with this poor quality I must find another tuberose and break up with Fracas for good! Pity because the scent itself it s amazing! But for this poor performance not worth more than 30 euros and definitely will not pay so mo much money for something that last only one hour and has zero projection/sillage.

Loud bubblegum floral that has been copied so many times over the years that this reformulation (I've never smelled the original) smells like other white florals.

This perfume is heady and a little screechy. It smells like a powerful woman who wants to be remembered by the trail of her powerful, fruity white florals. Extra lovely! I definitely like fracas. The drydown smells like Island Gardenia to me. -

I first bought it 4 or 5 yeras ago blindly. At a first sniff it was wow! I had never smelled such an intriguing and yet magnificent scent! Since that moment became my signature but unfortunately I don’t know what’s happening but in the last 2 years became very watered-down. In don’t know if it’s me becoming anosmic or Piguet diminished the quality but I was so dissapointed whent I realised it that I even cried! I askek some other people if they smel something on me and their answer was “a very vague perfume”. I would really love to know if somebody else experienced the same within last 2 years with Fracas.
For me:
Smell 10/10
Logevity about 3 hours max
Sillage only in the first 2 hours after that becomes a very vague skin scent :(

Fragrentica: PLEASE fix the photo ! This is an antique bottle of Fracas. PLEASE put the current bottle here. Thanks

This is my first time to review. Although I have been wearing and collecting a vast menagerie of parfumes for 30 years, I never really put much analysis into the artistry and notes that drew me in or repelled me from certain scents. I have historically categorized my collection into 5 categories: 1) I love it and must never run out. 2) Good but not as good as... 3) Pleasantly tolerable, I smell clean, office safe but probably my first and last bottle 4) Omg that smells like dead rats and arsenic 5) Wtf is this schizophrenic cocktail of olfactory overload.

I tend to gravitate towards the heavier winter scents, orientals, vanilla, amber, floral but not overly sweet, woodsy but not to green, anamalic, balsamic, tobacco, and nutty. Among my category 1 parfumes are the classic Chanel No 5, Christian Dior Addict, Lancome Tresor and Chanel Coco Mademoiselle.

Having not been very impressed with the new offerings of spring/summer parfumes the past few years, I have amassed far too many category 3 and 4 parfumes that eventually sour unused in my collection. I have been looking for another decent spring and summer floral to wear that can stand up in the Texas heat and with longevity greater than 30 minutes to a couple of hours. Tried the Gucci Blossom and while it's pleasantly tolerable, it's really a giant flower bomb that lasted about 30 minutes on me, it's only a category 3 with the lifespan of a fruitfly. So I came here to learn, read the reviews and find my new signature summer scent. In comes Fracas. It was a blind purchase, but a heavily researched one based on the reviews and accords listed among the ingredients. I wanted a classic, relatively obscure, floral scent that didn't smell like everyone at Ulta that would get me through the workday without knocking out my coworkers.

Back to the review...My bottle came yesterday. I hurried home, ripped open the package, 3 spritzes, wrists and neck. It was a total category 5 WTF floral olfactory overload reminiscent of my Mugler Alien moment, although not so much in the smell but the WTFickness, but in a less pleasant and confusing way. I got lots of lilies, tuberose, grape jolly ranchers and latex paint. I woke up this morning smelling like wilted flowers, spilled welches grape juice and 409. I'm not getting the animalic notes and the woody notes seems to be manifesting into a chemically paint/cleaning smell. I tried it again after my morning shower, same 3 spritzes, the longevity seems less today, maybe I am numbed to it, I don't know. I hope it grows on me, maybe after a few more days. For the price, I would like to get over the WTFery and move it further away from the Alien bottle abd closer to the pleasantly tolerable but confusing section of my collection.

Smells dirty, but in a good way . It smells earthy of great gardenia essence, I read Marilyn Monroe wore this also Madonna and Kim basinger so this is for the bombshell I want to make a powerful statement kind of fragrance. It’s not frilly or dainty it’s I’m here and I commanded your attention, it’s attractive in a grrrr anamalic kind of way that screams night life glamorous, I actually heard it’s genderless and I think that’s fabulous so woman or man give it a try if you like bold rich florals and aren’t afraid of attention

It's incredible how after wearing something for a length of time, certain notes seem to mystically reveal themselves, almost as if one has earned the right to savor the more subtle attributes. I've been enjoying this one now for some months, as something to enjoy for myself while home alone. It's a dramatic change from the heavy drama of all my 80's and 90's rose fragrances with big sillage that trail around in my wake when I go out. I keep a vintage Fracas on the nightstand and dab the tiniest bit on my wrist on a whim. This morning, I did so first thing. Under all those intensely sweet white flowers I detected the animalic accord, clear as the spring sky this very day. I've done a complete 180 degree turnaround from my initial disdainful impression of this fragrance some years ago. Fracas has converted me to a great appreciation of tuberose fragrances. If you like Fracas, also try Blu perfume oil by Bruno Acampora.

I’m a male with a manual labor job and wearing fracas for the work day gives me such a boost of energy and power. It’s just those strong meaty white florals, and it seems they are real natural absolutes and oils. This is very bubblegum-y tuberose and I can smell a beautiful iris root in the mid

After many try-ons, I finally decided that Fracas is my favorite floral scent. Although I love orange blossom, I wanted a fragrance that would last and project, and Fracas is it. I was initially leery that the scent would be too feminine, but to me, it just smells like a big white flower--which is what I wanted to smell like. Most reviews suggest that Carnal Flower is more wearable and unisex. Perhaps it is, but I wanted to smell the blossom of the flower, and to my nose, Carnal Flower smell more like the stem--more green and almost icy. I like the warm buttery scent of Fracas and it's boldness.

Detmar Blow wrote that his late wife, fashion icon Isabella Blow, asked Stella Tennant to send a bottle of her favorite perfume if she made Stella become famous after casting her in a fashion shoot, and a bottle of Fracas duly arrived...
Tried years ago and was overwhelmed by the creamy sweet white florals, an impetuous youth attributing the scent of tuberose to frivolous old ladies. Today I dabbed this on my wrist and pressed it to my nose while picturing Isabella in one of her fantastical ensembles, and after the heady gardenia tuberose and jasmine opening subsided and turned green; it suddenly made sense. It surpasses deep white floral into something grand. There's something avant garde about the drydown.
The Puredistance green floral perfumes I love seem to begin and take departure from somewhere near where Fracas is located. I'm so pleased I've come around to enjoy Fracas. I'll wear it from time to time and think of Isabella.

Fracas smells exactly like Pixy Stix or SweeTarts candy. I don't get any floral, sexiness, elegance, glamour, intimidation, evil, show-stopper, hot, sumptuousness, powerful, or any of the other things people have described. If I didn't know it was the famous Fracas I would have though it was a pre-teen candy perfume sold at Claire's or Forever 21.

one of my favourites even if it doesnt last long.smells heavenly.blonde by versace is closer to this than truth or dare to my nose.both nice but fracas is a winner.one of the three florals i like

I think this is a case of modern formulations being somewhat neutered versions of the original. The modern lasts on me, but not too strongly.

Really does remind me of Truth or Dare. A truly apt comparison. ToD is definitely stronger, though.

Smells Exactly like BOND 9. Central Park West !!!!!!! Lots of Gardenia and Jasmine

As my interest in fragrance grew and I began to read about and sample the various treasures of the perfumery world one name kept popping up; Fracas by Robert Piguet. For a perfume that isn't all that well known it was being referenced by lots of glamorous types as being their signature and it was clear that there was a lot of loyalty to this perfume. And, most interestingly to me at least, the association that people seen to have with the fragrance is that it is very, very sexy.

So, I had to smell it for myself. Off I went to Selfridge's in London to the busy, boutique counter in the middle of their beauty department. And it was here that a stunning Spanish counter girl made me fall in love. It was busy. I had to wait my turn and when I got to the counter she looked me up and down and, unsmilingly tossed her head back and said "yes"? " I'd like to smell Fracas please,"I requested confidently (Selfridge's counter girls are good but they'll walk all over you if you let them).

"OK", she replied. She picked up a bottle and a scent stick, applied about 10 sprays of the stuff and then did that thing where the girls put one hand on their hip, and shake the scent stick with the other in a completely alluring, Mediterranean way. Then followed a bit of pouting. I clearly didn't look like her normal clientele because she looked me up and down and asked me, "how did you hear about it? Did you read about it"? After confirming to her that, yes, I had indeed read about it she decided that she would grant me my wish and handed me the scent stick.

"So, zis is ze famous Fracas". "It is very beautiful and smells of the tuberose", she informed me. Now, I have only a vague idea of what a tuberose is. Should I know this stuff, being interested in fragrance? I'm not sure I'd know a tuberose if one bit me on the arse but, my dear friends, I have to tell you that they must smell simply wonderful. Fracas has become legendary in my eyes (or nose). My favourite fragrance (not for me of course, I'm a man and Fracas is just about the most feminine fragrance out there).

I spent a bit more time with my disinterred Spanish friend during which I went through the whole Piguet range (including Bandit, which is another story). We parted and I'll be forever grateful for her part in the story.

Is it for everyone? No. Is it loud and extrovert? Yes. Is it modern? No, of course not and thank goodness for that. Is it sexy like they said? Yes, yes, oh yes!

I stumbled upon Fracas through this and many other websites, while searching for a sexual, carnal, irresistible fragrance. I literally wanted to smell a perfume that was, without a doubt, the sexiest perfume in all of history. In every search I did, Fracas kept coming up as the frontrunner. All I read. Fracas Fracas Fracas. So I did some research and read some reviews on here. All of the analyses were so resoundingly positive, with such tempting descriptors as: creamy, buttery white, bursting with tuberose, indolic, timeless, iconic, mentholated, passionate. All of that, coupled with the gorgeous bottle (I'm a sucker for white floral, especially when advertised in deep purple and black the way Piguet has done), left my mouth watering to try it. So, I went ahead and purchased a decant via Surrender to Chance.

Wow. I just do not get it yet. It's not sitting right with me. It has made me sneeze more times than I can count. I so badly want to understand where this Fracas love is coming from, but it simply smells to me like I'm sitting in a hospital waiting room, and a very inconsiderate old lady, with no regard for the "this is a fragrance-free facility" signs up on the walls, has doused herself in a soliflore....think violet or gardenia....and is stinking up the entire room. Or like someone's stuffy pantyhose drawer. Intensely powdery, antique, monotonously floral, and lacking anything I would ever consider "sexual" or "indolic". I can appreciate the passion in its fan base. I certainly appreciate the boldness. But I wanted something deeper, darker. It's so cloying up on the top notes for me, that I am not getting any of that base muskiness. It smells to me like cheap violet perfume. Is that horrible to say of such a lauded and apparently genius creation? To me it verges on repulsive.

I've kept trying and trying to let it speak to me over the last few days, spritzing on different points, wearing through a workout, wearing through a shower, etc. I just find myself embarrassed of the scent and wanting so badly to come home and scrub it off. The one time I've managed to warm up to it was after I showered with a very fruity and creamy body wash, and then spritzed on the skin after drying. I think the notes of mango and coconut helped balance the fragrance for me.

It's interesting because I really do love a white floral above any other. Michael Kors Michael, Cartier's Baisé Volé, Mugler's Alien. Those are my top three holy grail fragrances. In the past I was also an addicted user of J. Lo's Glow. So I had extremely high hopes that Fracas, for me, would be the most sophisticated and grown-up white floral I'd ever encounter. But it lacks the creaminess of Michael. It lacks the divine sensitivity of Baisé Volé. It definitely lacks the danger and sex appeal of Alien. It's just a monotonous cheap floral. At least on my skin.

I will continue trying. I will see if I fall for Fracas. I bet that one day, I'll catch a whiff of it from some piece of clothing I've desperately sprayed it on in my closet, and fall madly in love. Until then....

Since acquiring the current edp several months ago.. I find myself lusting after the parfum...

Any comments on current formulation?

I couldn't tear myself away from this for about a decade and kept coming back. The formula really was more intense initially, though. I don't understand why they reformulate these gems (sometimes this is due to change in regulations, however). On me, this is a whirlwind of jasmine and tuberose; dynamic, robust and very sexy. In the wintertime, its underlying base is mysterious but clean, in the summertime it's more animalic. It works fabulously in both circumstances- probably the reason you don't get bored with it easily. Some consider this a night-time scent, but I find it works anytime, anywhere. It is very distinct, a signature scent that cannot be confused with another; you'll know Fracas when you smell it on the street. You get a lot of compliments with this, it's a head-turner.

Wearing a vintage sample of this today. I forgot I put it on, and as I was sitting and enjoying breakfast, I caught wafts of something salty and a little oily that really reminded me of Tiki Tahiti Monoi Oil and Jovan's Island Gardenia. Fracas isn't as heady as either of those fragrances as it isn't an in-your-face gardenia soliflore. It starts green and leans tuberose/banana-like set atop a sexy musk base. Surprisingly restrained, but very luxe smelling and wonderful. I don't think I'd purchase just because I'm satisfied with Island Gardenia and feel this would be a redundant expense.

Freaking ambrosial. I have tons of tuberose scents but really, this is the Queen. Stop wasting time reading the reviews and buy a bottle! Fresh, carnal, sweet, menthol, indolic, buttery, it is all of these and more, with glamour.

After wanting this for years, a Bloody Mary at Harvey Nichols convinced me to purchase!

I accept that the current formulation has been blunted by regulations etc so long lasting and moderate sillage is to be expected.

This stuff is wonderful! The Jasmine and Gardenia remind me of my back garden in Australia (32 years ago) and running in the British countryside during a hot and humid evening.

I can rarely detect Jasmine in fragrances and this one is buttery and animalic.

Beautiful!

A great perfume. In my opinion Fracas EDP IS GORGEOUS. Fracas, Pure Parfum is not always so pleasant. This is in reference to the current formulation. received compliments when wearing edp. Tried and tested at home and public, parfum extrait was exact opposite. I also found it less appealing. A good example is a perfect recipe. If you were to prepare it heavy handed its not the same taste.

The formula is different and seems less is more on this. Edp Amazing! Surely worth buying. Edp is great timeless, attractive. Parfum is the richer sister without the beauty. The have same dna but one is chased and the elder ( pure parfum) the chaser.

Very nice to see the less expensive being so amazing and attractive.

I agree with user "Malegria" below; Fracas (1998 version) is a beautiful but rather unidimensional tuberose soliflore that smells rich, lush, fresh, and unremittingly feminine. There are definite green, woody nuances that bolster the headiness and underscore the indoles, and Fracas is anything but trite. I imagine there are ravishingly gorgeous raven-haired businesswomen in Paris who still wear this. I can't imagine anyone else pulling it off. Ingredient quality, blending, and note fidelity are top notch, but one could argue dynamism is somewhat lacking.

It is, and will always be, the benchmark against which all future Tuberose heavy scents will be set. It has earned that right and deserves it. It turns out I loved Fracas 20 years before I had even sniffed it. Versace Blonde and Truth or Dare, both which I adore and have worn for years both shared something in common that I was head over heels in love with. That something was their closeness to Fracas. Truth or Dare is my daytime fun and flirty Tuberose. Versace Blonde a vintage treasure which helps me relive my youth. Fracas is the grand old lady that is saved for best when I want to be surrounded by and enjoy a classic, sophisticated icon. I find it such a timeless and alluring scent. A kick in the teeth to the weak sugary, fruity concoctions which seem to define out current era (some of which are, admittedly, lovely on their own merit). Fracas feels rebellious in today's world. Then again Blonde felt rebellious in the 1990s. Where I live in Northern England I very rarely, if ever, smell Tuberose on people. Good. I want to own this one. It's mine!

0/10

A very very interesting fragrance, one that I would put on occasionally, probably a few times a year.

Edgy, wild and dark. I imagine black flowers smell like this, I see black flowerslike Calla Lily. The more I wear it, the more I wanna wear it, there is hypnotic for ya. :) When I got my decant, I was like what`s the hype, I would not invest in a bottle. Now I wore it a few times, and I truly enjoy the flowers that are accompaying me. Also I can see myself wearing this all year round, can`t put a season on it.

Funny thing is I used to have a very cheap cream perfume that smelled exactly like this, so to me however unique, this scent is not new under the Sun.

About the sillage....maybe the decant I've got is from an old bottle, but the sillage is very far from enormous, not even heavy. To me heavy or enourmous starts where I spray twice and it`s already heavy, like Chanel Coco. One puff on the neck, one on the wrist, share, and go. Now that is heavy.

If I have to spray 4-5-6 puffs, to me that is not heavy, I just used a lot. Of course if you use a lot, it will be heavy. I need 4 puffs of this to smell it, but I would not call it sillage. True sillage would start at 6 sprays, and with an expensive perfume like this, that is way more than I want to use.

For that reason this perfume is 8/10.

Fracas has a certain reputation as the queen of tuberose fragrances, and in my opinion that's justified. It's not as loud as I would have imagined it to be, and not old-fashioned like I feared it could be. I even find it a bit girly, but not in a bad way. This is just perfectly balanced sensual, sexy tuberose.

It's not too retro and indolic, but not clean and boring either. Creamy to powdery, very hypnotic and narcotic, without any discturbing green or campherous notes, just the velvety petals, no stems, slightly sweet but not bubblegum-like.
This is really very tuberose-centered, I get a hint of gardenia, but not a real bouquet of flowers.
The peach note is very present to me, especially in the opening, and I like its fruity freshness. The base, mainly musk and sandalwood on my skin, is beautiful, too. It warms the fragrance, but isn't too sweet or spicy, it just lets the beautiful tuberose shine.
Fracas is also very long-lasting.

Really, a must-try for anyone who likes white florals and a must-have to me.

I don't know why, but every time I wear this perfume I think of Marilyn Monroe. Somehow it seems to embody everything that was beautiful and tragic about the famous actress.

I blind bought this (which I wouldn't recommend!). Usually, I'm not a fan of tuberose because I find it too sweet and cloying. But all the other beautiful notes in this temper the tuberose and yet still leave it the star of the show.

It does smell very much like Hawaii - gardenia & tuberose & other exotic flowers. For me, the smell can be overpowering in the heat. I love the powdery note at the the base that is so common in older perfumes. Perhaps it depends on your chemistry, but I find it inoffensive enough to wear at the office, as long as you don't spray too much.

For me, this is a beautiful and classic perfume.

This is the first time I have smelled Fracas and I highly doubt it that someone around me wears this, but I find this fragrance totally iconic. Don't know why.

In my opinion, it is definitely unisex, but you should know that woody notes always dominate on my skin and the florals are usually not that heavy.

However, tuberose in Fracas is too heavy on me. Even though it is a marvellous perfume, with so many notes and such an interesting development, it is too sharp. It is realistic, for sure. My roommate, who has strong pollen allergy and is basically allergic to everything that blooms, is sneezing since I've sprayed it this morning.

Also, the thing I don't know how to feel about it yet, is that I find this perfume rather tropical (which I don't like that much). And there is no pink involved here, this is pure orange, maybe with some black stripes, if you ask me.

This won't be my favourite white floral (because nothing beats Serge Lutens's Fleurs d'Oranger), but I am in love with it, for sure. Something is still a bit weird about Fracas and I cannot tell what it is yet. This is keeping me intrigued and I already know that we're going to have something, Fracas and me. Just don't know what exactly just yet.

EDIT: don't know if anyone is reading this anymore, but after almost three years, I finally know what we're having, Fracas and me. I have fallen in love in the meantime, with Fracas first and with an actual man after awhile. And he loves it. We love it. It is our signature.

To the poster who said the Fracas image above needs to be updated, I went to their website and what is shown above is accurate for the perfume.

I used to think that I wasn’t a fan of florals and that I hated Tuberose. Fracas is changing my mind. The bombastic peach mixed with florals and backed by luscious jasmine in the beginning is intoxicating. I swear there is a spice behind the sweetness reigning it in. The Tuberose in the dry down is tropical and lovely instead of stale

I don't smell all that femininity, sexuality or pinkiness in this.

For me this is a dreamy garden on a sunny, carefree spring day. Much like an impressionist painting.
Totally androgynous / unisex in my opinion, but according to all the other reviews and marketing theme, I reckon I'm the oddball.

Superb longevity and sillage.

I had the newer version of Fracas, and found that I really enjoyed the creamy bubblegummy tuberose scent. This is a very pleasant, happy-feeling perfume until the dry down which smells way too synthetic for me to enjoy. On my skin it goes all plastic-y unfortunately. I suspect that the original version would be more to my taste. I gave mine away to a nose who can appreciate it more than I could. The good thing about it is that it lasts a good while on the skin!

Milky tuberose, and punch of white floral.

buttery milky, yet mildly greeny with huge doses of white floral mix. Tuberose, magnolia, lily of the valley, & gardenia, then comes the peaches, musk, vetiver, sandalwood, oakmoss, cedar, & milk.

It does give that vintage vibes with that milky like blend, as i believe it was ahead of it's time cause it does present the innocent delicate girl of the 80s in a world full of crazy animalic blends.

The main idea of sniffing this was the number of votes that compares it to Madonna's "Truth Or Dare" and i realized that it does smell quite like truth or dare if not identical.

FRAGRENTICA: please update photo. This is an antique bottle and not what is currently on the market.
Thanks

Whoa! I just received a sample of Fracas and wearing it for the first time. That is some serious gardenia right there. Fracas is causing a literal fracas in my smell/taste receptors --- it feels like I am EATING the fragrance.

To me this is: expensive hair salons and the way adult women wearing sequined dresses smelled in the 80's.

I give this a like -- not because I want to wear it but because I respect Fracas and I'm glad it exists.

I love Fracas. It is NOT a daily wear. To me it says feminine, but not at all shy and demure. It is feminine in an in your face, powerful, Femme Fatale way. This is a show stopper perfume. I wear it to a Gala or a Mardi Gras Ball if I am wearing a killer red dress! I also own Madonna Truth or Dare that is very similar but adds notes of musk and vanilla to the dominant rich warm white flowers scent.

Well shoot. I love big, buxom florals. Hermes 24 is one of my favorites. This however, is not. On my skin it isn't lush, or creamy, or really even that floral. It is incredibly sharp instead. Piercing even, perhaps it's the sandalwood which doesn't always behave on my skin.

After about 30 minutes I finally scrubbed it off, it just kept stabbing at me. : I'll try it again but I suspect this one just won't work on me.

I’ve just tested Fracas on my left wrist, confronting with her daughter Petit Fracas.
It’s a tribute to femininity: it’s heavy, creamous and voluptuous. The essence of seduction.

I personally find it a gorgeous pefume, a work of art, though I prefer wearing the lighter Petit version.

Tuberose, painted on buttery yellow and pink silk.

There are other flowers, but they are only masterfully supporting and complimenting the richest, creamiest, fluffiest tuberose in the universe.

It clouds around beautifully, harmonizes beautifully on the skin.

Not everyone likes the enveloping, sometimes overwhelming experience of tuberose, but I sure do. Especially as it exists in this fragrance.

A masterpiece of a floral.

Let me preface this review by saying that I have only worn Fracas for one night. I bought a coffret of Fracas 3.4oz perfume with body lotion from Neiman Marcus for $150 dollars. I read at least 20 reviews on this fragrance before purchasing. I sprayed three sprays onto clean freshly showered skin and then layered one additional spray on my shirt and jacket. I did not receieve any comments on this perfume at all for a full 12 hours. No one was appalled or captivated by it. It was soft and almost lingered like a sheer veil. I do not wear perfume to draw attention from others: I wear it for my own enjoyment. I enjoyed it! This scent I can describe as creamy and buttery as the reviews below have stated. It is floral with tuberose prominence and settles down to gardenia. I did not find three liberal sprays heavy handed and neither did a coworker with allergies. She could barely smell it. Maybe it was my chemistry or the location of spray, but this was not heavy at all. Very soft and delicate. I imagine this one has been watered down through the years and was once a powerhouse of a frag. I found it beautiful and very feminine. But not mysterious or seductive with this wear. I hope to experience all the wonderful facets of beauty other reviewers have mentioned with continued use. If you love tuberose and creamy florals, you will enjoy Fracas. I will use the whole bottle and review at the end. It is only fair to such a beloved fragrance.

Edit 3/25/18: Creamy, buttery, white silk bed sheets on a daybed in the tropics. Warm breezes caressing your skin with the smell of tuberose and gardenias in the background. Amazing Fracas! One of my favorites. THE tuberose queen in my opinion.

I recently blind-bought the parfum because this is such an iconic fragrance, I knew I needed to have it in my fragrance wardrobe. The best way I can describe this fragrance is "buttery white flowers." And I do mean literal butter, which is a really odd thing to say but it's really true. This is indeed very, very beautiful. I'm glad I got the parfum so I'm only dabbing it not over-spraying it. This is like being surrounded by millions of white flower petals and basking in all their glory. Some of the petals are slightly woody or spicy, but ever so much. The buttery-ness is ever-present, but not too much. Depending on where you first smelled this, you could technically think of it as old lady-ish, but that would be dependent on your own experience and scent memory. I'm wearing this today as a test and just going about my errands/business as usual, and I feel a little out of place...it's like wearing a ballgown to the grocery store. So yeah, this is for sure a "special event" perfume. Wear it on romantic dates.

I can only say: this isn't a perfume, it is a cloud that floated over Heaven' Garden and got somehow caught in this bottle.
Almost all my other scents seem childish compared to this.
One spray is enough! The silage is intoxicating otherwise.

I have found myself feeling bored with the mass market perfumes lately, everything has felt so flat and boring, so I have started seeking out vintage perfumes. I got my hands on some vintage Fracas in the black bottle. It's the most beautiful perfume I have ever smelled. It's a big tuberose with an almost minty feeling behind it. It's creamy and bright and just perfect. I have heard that the current version is close and not ruined so I believe I know what I will be asking for this Christmas. I want the whole world to smell of this.