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I’m very excited about this! My friend, Sissy, posted the picture on the left on my Facebook page earlier today. I looked closer and found that it was linked to The Ritz-Carolton in Buckhead (the wealthy area of Atlanta) and the caption read:

Liberte, egalite, fraternite–and fragrance! The storied House of Lubin, Paris revived Black Jade, a lush floral perfume originally created for Marie Antoinette. Find it in Georgia only in our Boutique, located just off the lobby in our hotel.

Naturally, I flipped my lid at the opportunity to own a perfume based on one that my favorite Queen favored in her lifetime. This is not the first time a product has been made based on things historical figures have used, of course. You can still bathe in the very same soap that Queen Victoria loved the best in her lifetime, for example, and I do believe another perfume manufacturer has attempted to recreate Marie-Antoinette’s scents in the past.

I did a little digging to see if I could find some confirmation about the origins of Black Jade before I took a hammer to my ceramic duck that holds my spare change. According to what I found, the original perfume was created by Jean-Louis Fargeon for the Queen based on her beloved Petit Trianon, a smaller estate that she used as her retreat at Versailles. The Queen’s perfume contained three main ingredients – rose, jasmine and bergamot. I discovered that Black Jade in its present incarnation has been updated by perfumer, Olivia Giacobetti, to include galbanum, cardamom, incense, cinnamon, Indian sandalwood, patchouli, vanilla, tonka bean, and amber notes, in addition to the original three ingredients worn by the Queen. It has been described as smelling like a spicy rose incense.

It was not called Black Jade in the Queen’s time. The name was inspired by the story that she carried this fragrance everywhere with her in a bottle made of black jade. She even carried it with her when she and the royal family were imprisoned in the French Revolution. The story goes that before she went off to her execution, the former Queen gave the black jade bottle to the Marquise de Tourzel, who was the last governess to care for the royal children. It is said that her descendants are still in possession of the black jade bottle today.

If you would like to smell like Queen Marie-Antoinette, you can go to The Ritz in Buckhead if you live here locally. Otherwise, I found it on www.luckyscent.com in two sizes – 50 ml for $130, or 100 ml for $160. Click here to purchase Black Jade from Lucky Scent.

Vive la France!