I was updating our Verbena collection recently when I realised just how many different interpretations we now stock. There are now well over fifty products altogether, from traditional Marseille soap and Aleppo soap to liquid soaps, candles, reed diffusers, room sprays and even traditional soap flakes. They all carry the same fragrance name, yet very few of them smell alike.
It made me wonder how many people expect Verbena to be a single fragrance. That's an easy assumption to make. If you buy a lavender soap, a rose soap or an orange blossom soap, you broadly know what you're expecting. Every French soap maker will have their own interpretation, but they're recognisably the same fragrance. The same is true of Verbena.
The difference is that I think Verbena makes those interpretations easier to notice. The longer I've worked with French soaps, the more obvious those differences have become, admittedly it took me quite a while to notice! They don't simply make soap; they commission fragrances that reflect their own identity. The same Verbena can therefore become brighter, greener, softer, warmer or more botanical depending on the perfumer behind it.
When customers ask me which is the "best" Verbena, I genuinely can't answer the question. I can tell you which one I happen to prefer, or which I'd recommend if you enjoy fresh citrus, greener botanical fragrances or something that smells closest to rubbing the leaves between your fingers. But there isn't one definitive Verbena. There are simply lots of wonderfully different interpretations.
So what actually is Verbena?
One thing I didn't appreciate when I first started buying French soaps was that "Verbena" isn't actually one plant.
The fragrance we associate with French soap is almost always Lemon Verbena (Aloysia citrodora), although there are well over a hundred species within the wider Verbena family. Some are grown for their colourful flowers, others have long histories in herbal medicine, while the wonderfully fresh citrus fragrance we associate with Provence comes from a plant that didn't even originate in Europe.
Like lavender, I'd always assumed Verbena had simply "always been French". It hasn't.
Lemon Verbena is native to Argentina and Chile. It arrived in Europe during the eighteenth century and quickly found a home in southern France, where the warm Mediterranean climate suited it perfectly. It soon became part of everyday Provençal life, appearing not only in gardens but in herbal teas, perfumes, soaps and linen cupboards.
I enjoy that little piece of history because it reminds us that traditions aren't always quite as ancient as we imagine. Marseille soap may have centuries of history behind it, but one of its best-known fragrances is actually a comparatively recent arrival.
Verbena or Lemon Verbena?
One question we hear quite regularly has nothing to do with fragrance at all. It's simply the name.
Some French soap makers describe the fragrance as Verbena, while others prefer Lemon Verbena. At French Soaps we always follow whatever the individual savonnerie has chosen to call it, so you'll find both across our collections. In practical terms they're referring to the same fragrance family. The more interesting differences don't come from the wording on the wrapper but from from the fragrance itself.
The perfumer matters as much as the plant
I can still remember the first time I put several Verbena soaps next to each other. I expected tiny differences that most people would probably never notice. Instead they smelled completely different. That was the moment everything clicked. I had always thought I was comparing different soap makers. In reality, I was comparing different perfumers as well. Every savonnerie had commissioned a fragrance that reflected its own style, and suddenly it made perfect sense why none of them smelled alike.
Every savonnerie develops relationships with fragrance houses whose style reflects their own identity. Once you've handled enough soaps, you begin to recognise those house styles just as you might recognise different vineyards or olive growers.
That's why we can happily stock several Verbenas without feeling we're duplicating the same product.
Fer à Cheval's interpretation feels classic and beautifully restrained.
La Maison du Savon de Marseille heads towards a brighter, warmer citrus that immediately reminds me of Mediterranean sunshine.
Bleu Jaune's fragrances always feel beautifully balanced, while Mas du Roseau naturally leans towards greener, more botanical compositions.
Maison Berthe Guilhem takes a rather different approach again, using pure Verbena essential oil and producing perhaps the closest experience to crushing fresh leaves between your fingers.
Then the variations begin.
Verbena Leaf.
Crushed Verbena.
Oriental Verbena.
Verbena & Mandarin.
Verbena & Green Tea.
They all begin with the same inspiration before taking completely different paths. None is more authentic than another, they're simply different interpretations from different perfumers.
I think that's what makes French fragrance so enjoyable. Once you stop searching for the "correct" Verbena and start appreciating each maker's interpretation, you begin to understand why our collection has grown to more than fifty products.
What should a good Verbena smell like?
Despite all those differences, the finest Verbenas still share a common thread: They're fresh without becoming sharp, citrus-led without smelling simply of lemon, and usually carry a gentle green freshness that keeps them feeling natural rather than sweet. It's that balance that makes Verbena so distinctive.
Ironically, fragrances that appear simple are often among the hardest to perfect. Fresh citrus is something we all recognise instinctively, so perfumers have remarkably little room for compromise. Every French fragrance house solves that challenge in its own way, and I suspect that's one of the reasons no two Verbenas ever smell quite alike.
Did you know?
Verbena isn't really grown for its flowers.
When most people think of scented plants they naturally imagine the flowers. Lemon Verbena is different. The flowers are tiny, white and rather insignificant. It's the long, narrow leaves that perfumers are interested in. Rub one gently between your fingers and the fresh citrus fragrance is released almost instantly.
Fresh sheets once smelled of herbs rather than fabric conditioner.
Long before wardrobe fresheners and scented fabric conditioners became commonplace, dried Verbena was often tucked into linen cupboards to perfume freshly laundered sheets and towels. Unlike lavender, it leaves a lighter, cleaner fragrance that many people still prefer for bed linen today.
You can grow Lemon Verbena in Britain.
It grows surprisingly well in a sunny, sheltered spot or in a large patio pot. It's deciduous, so don't panic if every leaf disappears in autumn. By late spring it bursts back into life with wonderfully fragrant new growth that can be used for herbal teas, cooking or simply enjoyed by rubbing the leaves between your fingers.
It's just as popular in the kitchen as the bathroom.
Although we naturally associate Verbena with soap, in France it's just as likely to appear in a teapot. Verbena herbal tea remains one of the country's favourite infusions, particularly after dinner, and its fresh citrus fragrance has become as much a part of Provençal kitchens as bathrooms.
There is no single "French Verbena".
Perhaps that's the biggest surprise of all. Every French soap maker commissions its own interpretation, and after comparing them for many years I wouldn't want it any other way.
More than fifty Verbenas... and counting
Looking back at our Verbena collection now, I'm no longer surprised there are so many products carrying the same fragrance name. If they all smelled alike there would be very little point in stocking them.
Instead, every French soap maker has created its own interpretation, and that's exactly what makes Verbena such a rewarding fragrance to explore.
So if you're choosing your first Verbena, don't worry too much about finding the "right" one. Choose the one that sounds most like you. After all, that's exactly what I've been doing for the last fourteen years, and I still haven't settled on a favourite.
You may discover, as I have over the years, that the real pleasure isn't finding the perfect Verbena. It's discovering just how many different ways one fragrance can be interpreted.
If you'd like help choosing the right Verbena fragrance, or have a question about any of the products mentioned in this article, we'd be delighted to help. After all, comparing French soap makers is exactly what we spend our days doing.