I can't comment to how one would use that phrase in French, but in English it does seem to be a correct synonym of the French loan-phrase [0][1] - especially in British English.

Looking on n-grams it seems to have been used since the mid 19th century. Interestingly in en-GB it was even more popular than bon vivant in the 70s and 80s[2].

I have no opinion on the GP's original use of the phrase, but I don't think noting that a phrase which evolved in a different language to its origin is now different to the original shows too much.

[0] https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bon%20viveur

[1] https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/bon-viv...

[2] https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=bon+viveur%2Cb...