Fragrance house

Agustín Reyes

Agustín Reyes was founded by Agustín Francisco Reyes in Havana, Cuba, on December 6, 1927. After studying perfumery in Grasse, France, Reyes created fragrances with botanical materials cultivated and studied in Havana; the early collection included Agua de Colonia de Agustin Reyes and Loción Violetas Rusas. Political upheaval led the Reyes family to leave Cuba in 1960, and production there ended about 18 months later when the remaining raw materials were exhausted. The family restarted the business in Miami, bringing the original formulary with them. Its stewardship continued across generations: Reyes’s son restarted the Miami operation, while his grandson began training in the business in 1981 after earning a master’s degree in organic chemistry. Agustin Reyes, Inc. was incorporated in Florida on October 1, 1981, and remains listed as active. The brand’s signature fragrance, Loción Violetas Rusas, was relaunched in the United States as Royal Violets Eau de Cologne. Royal Violets became associated with Cuban and wider Hispanic communities, and descendants of Reyes continued producing it in Miami nine decades after its creation.