Clive Christian — E for Women Green Fougere With Aromatic Lavender
Essence
E for Women Green Fougere With Aromatic Lavender is one of those feminine-labeled perfumes that enthusiasts keep describing in almost anti-feminine terms: wet woodland, lavender field, narcissus bite, green shadow, personal scent, quietly unisex. Its distinctiveness lies in that mismatch.
Scent Profile
The core accord seems to be lavender, fern, narcissus, and green notes rather than a conventionally elaborate floral pyramid. Reviewers describe a dank wet-woodland effect, a “witch in a forest” smell, a milky smooth fougere texture, and a narcotic green quality with herbal, mossy, almost hoppy undertones. Complicates the label further: one statement says the fougere facet only becomes obvious after several hours because the scent opens under a denser floral sweetness, while another flatly argues that “green fougere” is misleading and that the actual character is sweet-floral. Read together, those remarks suggest a fragrance that opens greener and sweeter than the name implies, stays fairly linear, and then reveals more obviously aromatic-fougere contours in the later wear. This is not a bright green galbanum style; it is a darker, damp, textural green built around narcissus and lavender with a substantial floral haze over the top.
Performance
The performance picture is relatively consistent. Ratings place longevity and sillage in the good-but-not-huge range, and the main detailed review says projection becomes merely average after the first hour while longevity is easily over eight hours on skin. Another reviewer calls it a subtle but constant punch and more of a personal scent than an attention-seeker. So the broad expectation should be steady wear time with moderate projection, not loud room-filling throw.
Wearing Context
This feels most at home in cool weather and restrained settings. “Autumn walk through woodland at dusk after heavy rain” image is unusually apt because so many of wearers descriptors point in the same direction: rainy-green, somber, professional, calm, and slightly austere. Several reviewers also stress its unisex or even masculine lean, which makes it more plausible as business wear, personal evening scent, or contemplative cool-weather use than as a conventionally pretty floral for festive occasions. If it misses, it seems to miss by feeling heavy, weird, or not special enough for the price.
Comparisons & DNA
The clearest named comparison is Tom Ford Vert de Fleur, with the Clive Christian described as conceptually close but more incomplete and linear. Beyond that, the most accurate DNA description is “dark green aromatic floral with fougere shading,” and not many mainstream women’s perfumes sit there cleanly. That is why reviews keep drifting into imagery rather than neat perfume twins: forest witch, lavender field, narcissus wetness, hoppy woodlands. There is enough evidence to say it belongs more to a niche green-unisex conversation than to a standard designer feminine floral one.
Reception
Reception is favorable among the small group predisposed to the style, but not broad. And both rate it respectably, and the positive case emphasizes originality, quality, tranquility, and a sophisticated unisex profile. The negative case is equally clear: the fragrance can feel heavy, odd, misleadingly named, overly floral relative to its title, or simply not worth Clive Christian money. The strongest consensus point is probably that this is not a mass-appealing crowd-pleaser. As a blind buy, it reads risky even by niche standards.
Versions & Reformulation
Single composition, no known reformulations; the relevant versioning wrinkle is nomenclature, because shortens the name to E: Green Fougere and identifies it as part of Clive Christian’s Private Collection, while uses the longer “Green Fougere With Aromatic Lavender” form.
Acquisition Notes
This is one of the clearer cases where documented acquisition advice is basically value advice. A reviewer explicitly says it is not worth full retail and only becomes recommendable below about £100, which lines up with the broader reception pattern: admired by some, but too strange and too understated to justify luxury-house pricing for many others. I did not find reliable documented information on current bottle sizes, counterfeit risk, or batch-code decoding.
Notable Facts & Lore
- Places the fragrance in Clive Christian’s Private Collection, and credits Tim Gage as the perfumer. Beyond that, the most notable lore is internal to the reception itself: the title “Green Fougere” is repeatedly treated by reviewers as a misdirection, with some wearers insisting the fragrance is only belatedly fougere and others arguing that it is really a sweet-floral in green clothing.