Grace Elizabeth Arnone Hummel
Perfume Historian | Independent Researcher | Writer | Antique Dealer & Collector
Welcome to My World of Houbigant
Welcome, and thank you for visiting!
My name is Grace Elizabeth Arnone Hummel, although many in the fragrance community know me as Cleopatra, the founder and author of Cleopatra's Boudoir. I am an independent perfume historian, researcher, writer, antique dealer, and longtime collector with more than twenty-five years of experience studying and documenting the history of perfumery, antique perfume bottles, and the decorative arts associated with fragrance and beauty.
Since establishing Cleopatra's Boudoir in 1999, I have devoted much of my work to researching, documenting, and preserving the histories of perfume houses, discontinued fragrances, rare bottles, and forgotten creations. What began as a personal fascination with antique scent bottles has developed into an extensive historical research project encompassing thousands of fragrances, manufacturers, advertisements, and related artifacts.
Today, my research extends across several specialized perfume history websites, each devoted to preserving a different chapter of the fragrance industry's extraordinary past.
This website is dedicated to the history and heritage of Houbigant, one of the oldest and most historically significant names in French perfumery. Established in Paris in 1775 by Jean-François Houbigant, the house witnessed extraordinary changes in European society, fashion, commerce, and the art of fragrance creation.
From its eighteenth-century beginnings as a fashionable perfumery and toiletry establishment to its influential role in the development of modern fragrance composition, Houbigant's history spans more than two centuries of artistic achievement and commercial innovation.
My purpose is to explore and preserve this remarkable legacy, documenting the house's celebrated perfumes, forgotten creations, historic advertisements, elegant bottles, and the perfumers, artists, and entrepreneurs who contributed to its development.
Documenting the Fragrance Legacy of Houbigant
The history of Houbigant represents an extraordinary journey through the evolution of European perfumery. Few perfume houses offer such a fascinating perspective on the changing tastes, customs, and technological developments that transformed fragrance from a fashionable luxury into a modern international industry.
Houbigant's story begins in the refined world of eighteenth-century Paris, when perfumers supplied scented waters, powders, pomades, soaps, and other fragrant preparations to an increasingly sophisticated clientele.
Over the generations, the house adapted to changing fashions while helping shape new directions in perfume creation.
Among its most celebrated achievements are Fougère Royale (1882), widely recognized as a landmark in the development of modern perfumery and the fougère fragrance family, and Quelques Fleurs (1912), an influential early example of the modern multifloral bouquet.
Other memorable creations, including Le Parfum Idéal, La Rose France, Chantilly, and numerous lesser-known fragrances, demonstrate the breadth and diversity of Houbigant's historical catalog.
I am particularly interested in documenting the perfumes that have disappeared from contemporary references, including obscure nineteenth-century preparations, discontinued twentieth-century fragrances, and products whose existence is now recorded primarily through surviving advertisements, catalogs, bottles, and commercial documents.
My research also examines the house's powders, soaps, cosmetics, toiletries, gift sets, and luxury presentations, all of which played important roles in establishing Houbigant's identity.
The artistry of Houbigant's perfume bottles and packaging is another subject of special interest. From elegant nineteenth-century flacons to decorative Belle Époque and Art Deco presentations, these objects reveal the relationship between perfumery, glassmaking, graphic design, and the changing aesthetics of luxury.
Through this website, I hope to document not only individual fragrances but also the broader historical circumstances that shaped their creation, manufacture, advertising, and distribution.
My Research and Historical Approach
I often describe myself as a perfume historian and detective, because much of my work involves uncovering forgotten information and reconstructing histories from scattered pieces of evidence.
My research draws upon original perfume advertisements, vintage newspapers, trade journals, manufacturers' catalogs, department-store publications, patents, trademarks, business directories, archival photographs, museum collections, and surviving examples of antique perfume bottles and packaging.
I devote particular attention to establishing accurate introduction dates, identifying original bottle designs, documenting historical fragrance descriptions, and tracing changes in perfume presentations over time.
Whenever possible, I rely upon contemporary documentation rather than repeating information that has circulated without a verifiable historical source.
This approach is particularly important when studying Houbigant, whose exceptionally long history encompasses changes in ownership, management, manufacturing, distribution, and product development.
Fragrances may have appeared under different names, in varying concentrations, or in presentations designed for particular markets. Historical advertising can also reveal products that are absent from modern perfume databases and reference books.
When researching fragrance compositions, I distinguish between descriptions published by the original manufacturer, contemporary advertising language, later interpretations, and my own observations of surviving vintage perfumes.
I also recognize that perfumes change with age. Evaporation, oxidation, storage conditions, and the deterioration of certain ingredients can significantly alter the aroma of an old fragrance. Surviving samples may provide valuable historical clues, but they do not necessarily represent precisely how a perfume smelled when originally manufactured.
My goal is to present historically grounded research that allows readers to understand Houbigant's perfumes within the context of the periods in which they were created, marketed, and enjoyed.
A Historical Resource for Houbigant Collectors and Researchers
I created this website for anyone who shares an interest in Houbigant's extraordinary perfume heritage, whether they are dedicated collectors, fragrance enthusiasts, antique dealers, writers, or researchers investigating the history of French perfumery.
Visitors may use my articles to identify and date vintage Houbigant perfume bottles, compare historical labels and packaging, research discontinued fragrances, locate original advertisements, and learn more about the perfumers, designers, and business figures associated with the house.
I am particularly interested in documenting details that are frequently overlooked in modern fragrance references, including obscure product variations, original prices, early advertising descriptions, rare bottle presentations, and fragrances or toiletries that have disappeared from the marketplace.
Because Houbigant's history extends from the eighteenth century into the present, its products provide an especially valuable opportunity to study the evolution of perfume manufacturing, retailing, and advertising across successive generations.
For collectors, historical details can help establish the approximate age, origin, and significance of a particular bottle or presentation.
For researchers, these discoveries may illuminate broader developments in perfumery, including the introduction of new aromatic materials, changing consumer preferences, advances in fragrance chemistry, and the growing international influence of French perfume houses.
I hope this website serves as an accessible historical archive, bringing together information that might otherwise remain scattered among old publications, private collections, institutional archives, and difficult-to-find documents.
My Work Within the Perfume Community
Over the years, I have been fortunate to have my historical perfume research referenced, acknowledged, and appreciated by fellow collectors, authors, journalists, and institutions.
My writing has appeared on Fragrantica and in The Perfume Magazine, and I have previously served on Sniffapalooza's Fragrance Advisory Board and participated in Allure magazine's Beauty Panel. I have also been associated with the International Perfume Bottle Association (IPBA) and authored more than two hundred educational guides devoted to vintage perfumes and collecting.
My research has been cited or acknowledged in books and publications, including Lizzie Ostrom's Perfume: A Century of Scents, as well as historical and academic works examining perfume, decorative arts, and material culture.
One particularly meaningful acknowledgment came from Amelia of The Vintage Perfume Vault, who praised my historical research on Houbigant and described my catalog of the house's fragrances as exceptionally comprehensive and accurate.
She generously wrote:
"...but my favorite Houbigant catalog (the most historically complete and accurate to this point) has been published online at Fragrantica by member Grace E. Hummel. Many of you may know her also as Cleopatra of Cleopatra's Boudoir— to me she is a hero of the free information movement on the Internet and especially in the area of vintage perfume, without parallel."
This recognition has remained especially meaningful to me because researching Houbigant's extensive historical catalog required considerable time, patience, and the careful examination of original documentary sources.
Cleopatra's Boudoir has also received recognition from other fragrance writers and collectors who have found its historical information useful.
The Beauty Bible blog affectionately described Cleopatra's Boudoir as a "Temple to Ancient Perfumes", recommending it to fellow fragrance enthusiasts, while Scent Grail characterized my research as a "gold mine about dating vintage perfumery."
I am sincerely grateful for these acknowledgments. My work has always been independently undertaken, motivated by curiosity, a love of history, and the belief that valuable historical information should be preserved and shared.
It is especially rewarding to know that research originally undertaken out of personal interest has become useful to collectors, authors, historians, and fellow enthusiasts seeking information about vintage perfumery.
Why Houbigant's History Matters to Me
Among the great French perfume houses, Houbigant holds a particularly special place in my historical research.
Its extraordinary longevity offers a rare opportunity to trace the evolution of perfumery across several distinct eras, from the elaborate scented preparations of the eighteenth century to the revolutionary fragrance compositions of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Houbigant's history encompasses the fashionable world of pre-Revolutionary France, the elegance of the nineteenth century, the artistic flourishing of the Belle Époque, the innovations of the Art Deco period, and the changing tastes of modern perfume consumers.
What fascinates me most is the enormous number of fragrances and products that have existed under the Houbigant name.
While creations such as Fougère Royale and Quelques Fleurs remain internationally recognized, many other Houbigant perfumes have slipped into obscurity. Some are known today only through a single advertisement, an old catalog entry, or a surviving bottle bearing a nearly forgotten name.
I find these forgotten creations just as compelling as the house's celebrated masterpieces.
A nineteenth-century advertisement may reveal the existence of an unfamiliar perfume. A surviving department-store catalog can help establish when a fragrance was available. A trademark registration may provide evidence of a product's development, while an antique bottle can reveal previously undocumented variations in packaging or presentation.
Each discovery contributes another small piece to our understanding of Houbigant's remarkable history.
I am particularly interested in reconstructing the house's extensive historical perfume catalog, documenting fragrance names, introduction dates, original descriptions, bottle designs, and other details that help restore forgotten products to the historical record.
Every rediscovered fragrance represents another chapter in Houbigant's story, and every surviving advertisement, bottle, or document offers an opportunity to preserve that history for future generations.
Preserving Perfume History for Future Generations
Historical perfume research is an ongoing process. New documents emerge, previously unknown advertisements are discovered, and surviving objects sometimes challenge long-accepted information.
For that reason, I regard my websites as evolving archives rather than finished histories. I continually seek additional evidence, revisit earlier findings, and expand articles as new information becomes available.
My intention is not to speak on behalf of Houbigant or to present this website as an official company archive.
This is an independent historical research project, created out of a longstanding appreciation for the artistry of perfumery and a desire to make its history more accessible to collectors, researchers, and fragrance enthusiasts.
I hope readers will find the information useful, whether they are identifying an inherited perfume bottle, investigating a discontinued Houbigant fragrance, studying historical advertising, or simply enjoying a journey through the house's remarkable past.
Above all, I believe that perfume deserves to be studied not merely as a luxury product, but as an important part of artistic, commercial, and cultural history.
A Personal Thank You
I am deeply grateful to the readers, collectors, historians, and fellow fragrance enthusiasts who have supported my work throughout the years.
Your questions, discoveries, contributions, and encouragement continue to inspire my research. Some of my most rewarding experiences have come from helping someone identify a treasured vintage perfume, rediscover a fragrance associated with a cherished memory, or uncover an overlooked detail about a historic perfume house.
I am especially appreciative of those who generously share photographs, advertisements, catalogs, personal recollections, and other historical materials that contribute to a fuller understanding of vintage perfumery.
My greatest hope is that the information preserved here will remain a useful reference for today's Houbigant enthusiasts and for the perfume historians and collectors of tomorrow.
Thank you for visiting and joining me in exploring the extraordinary fragrance heritage of Houbigant.
Happy collecting!
Grace Elizabeth Arnone Hummel
Cleopatra
Founder of Cleopatra's Boudoir
Independent Perfume Historian, Researcher & Writer
Southern New Jersey, USA
Contact: reinedeparfum@gmail.com
Preserving the past, one perfume at a time.
This website is an independent historical and educational resource. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or officially associated with Houbigant or its corporate entities. All trademarks and brand names remain the property of their respective owners.
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