hermes: 48 posts

One autumn afternoon as I was walking home through a park and wading slowly through the piles of golden leaves, I wondered if there is a perfume in my collection that could match this serene and yet exhilarating atmosphere. Of course, I have my beloved Guerlain Mitsouko and Chanel Bois des Iles, which are some of the most quintessentially autumnal scents, but Mitsouko is too damp and plush, while Bois des Iles is too austere and cool. I wanted a perfume that smelled sunlit and bright, warm and bracing, with a hint of nutty sweetness from burnished leaves.

When I smelled Hermès L’Ambre des Merveilles after one such walk, I discovered with a surprise that it captured part of my golden autumnal fantasy. It’s a fragrance of woods, amber and vanilla, but L’Ambre des Merveilles avoids heavy sweetness and instead has plenty of luminosity. You can almost see the sun glittering on the crimson maple leaves as you smell it.

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Hermès is launching a new interpretation of Eau des Merveilles, a blend of amber and woods developed in 2004 by perfumers Ralf Schwieger and Nathalie Feisthauer. L’Ambre des Merveilles is created by Hermès in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. Ellena already reinterpreted Eau des Merveilles as the gourmand L’Elixir des Merveilles and mossy Eau Claire des Merveilles. 

L’Ambre des Merveilles includes notes of amber, vanilla, labdanum, and patchouli. It is described as sensual, mysterious and “almost aphrodisiac.”  Available starting August at Hermès boutiques and department store counters. Via abc-luxe (thank you to Nicolette for alerting me to it!)

Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

“There are linear, vertical woods like cedar, and others that are horizontal, round, supple and velvet-smooth, such as sandalwood and massoia. With this understanding in mind, I composed this enigmatic, inviting yet distant perfume of milky woods, with its unusual, pungent hints of resin and dried fruit, and familiar smells of dulce de leche and flowers.” This description by Jean-Claude Ellena, the creator behind the newest launch from the Hermès’s Hermessence line, Santal Massoïa, captures the idea of this creamy woody composition. It is unusual and surprising in its treatment of sandalwood, the impression of which oscillates between the characteristic milky rose and sweet fig. At the same time, Santal Massoïa also smells hauntingly familiar and intimate: a mélange of warm skin, cold cream and green tea.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

There is a very distinctive scent to blooming lavender that becomes obvious only when the sun is at its peak—dry, heady, reminiscent of caramel and toasted almonds. Once you smell it, it is impossible to forget. Its vivid sharpness becomes as indelibly imprinted in one’s memory as the expanse of hazy purple of lavender fields and the cobalt blue skies encompassing it all. When I first smelled Brin de Réglisse, a fragrance created for Hermès by Jean-Claude Ellena, I found myself astonished at the precision with which Ellena recreated the experience for me. Of course, it is the lavender of Ellena’s imagination as much as of my own, but I nevertheless enjoy the fragrance for its interesting juxtaposition of spicy lavender and the burnt sugar darkness of immortelle.

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Star rating: 5 stars–outstanding/potential classic, 4 stars–very good, 3 stars–adequate, 2 stars–disappointing, 1 star–poor.

With Un Jardin sur le Toit, Hermès in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena recreates not just the scent of wet soil, green leaves and flower buds, but the joyful atmosphere of a garden party. There is something joyful and vivacious about this newest fragrance from Hermès which is inspired by roof top gardens. While the composition plays with some interesting green apple and mossy-woody ideas, it essentially reads as a crisp, sheer rose on the skin.

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