The mid-aughts were a great time for Amber fragrances, and I ran through my share of them: celeb cheapies like Baby Phat Golden Goddess; trendy releases by classic French firms trying to get up to speed, like Givenchy’s Ange ou Demon; designer powerhouses like YSL Cinema and all its flankers. I was deeply in love with this category for a time and still enjoy it, and Ambers are a category for which solid fragrances are widely available and generally work well. I was confident enough in my love of Ambers to blind buy a Boucheron Trouble solid fragrance when I stumbled upon it at a Marshall’s in Omaha back in 2009. As a result, I experienced the Trouble solid (and also a lotion, sold separately and which I opted not to buy that day) before I had a chance to try it in a liquid format, and I’m actually glad it happened this way.
Labeled “Secret de Séduction” (and everyone knows perfumes are not a secret of seduction, but whatever) on the box, my Trouble solid is housed in a hefty square brass mirrored compact that fills the palm of my hand. It came with a small black velvet pouch for travel. Trouble in the solid format does a sexy slow burn that lasts a good six hours. Its sillage is arm’s length and excellent for the first two to three hours, never failing to bring a compliment or query from my husband. The fragrance’s main notes blend harmoniously into a woody-amber effect, with a little bit of jasmine in the mix. The lemon and herbal notes are not really distinguishable, though I suspect they serve to temper the sweetness and steer this one out of Gourmand range.
I’ve now had this solid for more than a decade. I will entertain arguments that it’s well past its shelf life and might even pose safety concerns at this point, but I’ll counter with arguments that I bought it new and sealed, that mine are the only fingers to ever have touched it, that the compact shuts tightly and has preserved the fragrance’s integrity, that the solid perfume is the same creamy texture and soft beige color as when I first bought it…. My main argument is that it’s also a discontinued scent that doesn’t turn up often in this solid format. (And even less frequently in an unused condition that I might actually buy! Ew!) If it ever irritates my skin, I will stop wearing it, though I may still hold on to the compact and keep sniffing it every now and then. I love it that much.
My final argument is that Trouble is also a fragrance I tried later in liquid format, when I found a bottle at that same retailer a couple years later, and I did not care for it in the alcohol base. The Trouble EDP has more pronounced lemon, which seemed a little discordant with the warm and sweet base, and there was an unpleasant “halitosis” note (though not usually a problem for me, perhaps the indolic jasmine? or my known troublemaker cedar?) that I couldn’t get past. I quickly swapped away the liquid and ever after have snuggled the Trouble solid close to my heart.
I won’t write a full review of this discontinued and hard-to-find solid, but I wanted to share my experience of Trouble because it underscores an important point: all of the fragrance mediums have their merits and are worthy of consideration. Trouble is not the first solid scent I’ve encountered that I liked better than the liquid, and I’m certain it won’t be the last. I’ve also had the opposite experience, in which a solid underwhelmed and the EDP or EDT was the winner. If you’re lucky enough to find a scent that is available in multiple formats, a “like” (or even a “dislike”) in one can still be a “love” in another.
All photos kinda crappy and by me. 🙂
Solidly Scented 
You must be logged in to post a comment.