Hermes Eau d'Hermes: fragrance review

The official site introduces Eau d'Hermès as "For me. For you. His and hers" and if an androgynous sensibility is already simpatico to you, the special Eau has the potential to surprise in other ways. Notoriously refered to as "that stinky Hermès" among perfume aficionados, this cologne has had a somewhat dimmed profile for many years, ever since its introduction in 1951 by renowned perfumer Edmond Roudnitska and still to this day enjoys a rather underground cult status.



The ~originally proficient in saddlery and leather goods~ luxury house has some of the most interesting Eaux around anyway, with the latest Eau de Pamplemousse Rose and Eau de Gentiane Blanche having me rave recently for their unassuming spontaneity and unassuming intellectualism, with the ultra-popular Eau de Merveilles with its saline note of ambergris and the mouthwatering Eau d'Orange Verte rounding out the edges. But the original Eau from 1951 is still a small marvel because it manages to recalibrate the Eau formula (a traditional recipe of herbs and hesperidia) into a dazzling kaleidoscope combining frank animal notes, spices, and the illusion of tobacco, a mirage that’s at once textured, elegant and "skanky". In some ways there is a bond with the famous fougère by Guerlain, Jicky: The proper lavender touch, the unabashed sexiness of civet, the contrast of old money and an almost cubist outlook. Only the sequence in Eau d'Hermès is in reverse ~first the objectionable part, then the sumptuous, dignified drydown! There is also kinship with some of the older lovely masculines in the line-up: Équipage and Bel Ami, which I also like very much.

Frankly I don't get much of the "dirty" vibe for which Eau d'Hermès is referenced myself, meaning it doesn't smell either really sweaty (rich though it is in cumin, the usual culprit as per received wisdom) or diaper-like/fecal (copious amounts of civet tend to do that). I get a finely tuned citrus-leather violin and piano duet with some white flowers peeking underneath discreetly. This might have to do with either my skank-eating skin or my seriously wrapped-up perception of what "dirty" really is (Apparently my threshold is rather raised in comparison to the average WASP sensibility, I've been told.) My money is on the second hypothesis, at any rate, and most Roudnitska creations with their improper parts always peeking through the layers seem to perform well. But as usual, try before you buy, because perception is everything when it comes to perfume appreciation and what's fine with me might be unbearable bathroom ambience to you. And cumino-phobiacs*, please beware!

The first bottle of Eau d'Hermès in my life was a gift from an artist friend who has a high brow in art issues and a low brow in matters of everyday commodities; which even now befundles me as to which end of the intellectual and aesthetic spectrum predominated when the choice for this gift was made! Eau d'Hermès is perfectly legible as a composition that doesn't trumpet its credentials in your face (there are luxury ingredients in it, but they never show off the bill, if you know what I mean), it nevertheless has some unusual streak which reminds me of another friend, a writer who hails from an old family tracing roots in the Byzantine Empire, and who likes to wear little hats cocked off-kilter and combine odd socks with her evening outfits. Bottom line, it conjures images of non-prim respectability, like an old, faded aristocrat who has the pissoir jugs displayed alongside the family china.

Notes for Eau d'Hermes: citrus, cumin, birchwood, moss, cedar, sandalwood, vanilla

Please take care not to confuse Eau d'Hermès with the semi-oriental Parfum d'Hermès from 1984 (in the round disk bottle) which is a completely different fragrance. The newest version rerworked by in-house perfumer Jean Claude Ellena is a bit more refined, a little more brainy and airy than the vintage, but still fantastically marvellous and arresting in the most incospicuous way. It is sold in all Hermes boutiques at an Eau de Toilette concentration, just ask for it.

Three different commemorative limited editions of Eau d'Hermès have circulated over the years, highly collectible and beautiful to look at. One is from 1993, depicted above, showing a rider upon a horse. Another is from 1994 with an etched Pegasus on the bottle depicted on the left, the other depicting the sun-carriage of Phaethon also etched on the crystal from 2001 depicted on the right. They're both available on Ebay right now for ridiculous amounts of money (A lesson for us all to stock up on rare limited editions instead of bonds, I guess).




















*Some of the other cumin/sweat-infested fragrances include: Kingdom (McQueen), L'Autre (Diptyque), Santal Blanc , Fleurs d'Oranger, Muscs Kublai Khan (Lutens), Declaration (Cartier), Timbuktu (L'Artisan), Gucci Eau de Parfum, Black Tourmaline (Olivier Dubrano), Rochas Femme (1984 reissue).

Paintings by the Spanish artist Juan Gris with music by Barry Mitchell performed by the Locrian Ensemble

The Basenotes Project: Work with Perfumers to Create a Winning Fragrance

Grant Osborne, the creative force behind Basenotes.net, one of the top perfume sites celebrating its 10th year this year, had a fabulous breakthrough idea in which you're all invited: Can 35,000 Fragrance Connoisseurs Collectively Create a Winning Fragrance? To that end they organised the Basenotes Venture.

Basenotes.net have joined forces with internationally renowned fragrance house, CPL Aromas, and introduced a unique new project allowing members of the public, as well as registered users, to collectively submit fragrance briefs and work alongside three highly respected perfumers in the creation of three new fragrances. Offering various levels of interaction, this project provides a rare insight behind the scenes into the way the industry creates and produces fragrances. For full details of how to sample, evaluate and direct the three fragrances, as well as a booking page for an exclusive interactive teach-in at CPL's incredible facility on February 4th 2010 visit http://www.basenotes.net/content/12

If you're not a Basenotes member, I strongly advise to become one, it's absolutely free.

info via press release

L'Arte di Gucci: fragrance review

The era of tailored chypres has come and gone and the new genre taking their place is smoothing the contours out into woodier and muskier avenues; yet every so often the perfume enthusiast gets a hankering for something that would be akin to grabbing someone by the (leather) lapels and kissing them square on the lips with gusto. L'Arte di Gucci is such a potent, slightly daring, borderline fearsome composition that would have you questioning your sense of appropriateness or fashionable compatibilty possibly (you might as well wear rugby-player's size shoulder-pads, this smells so out of place today), but enjoying every minute of it, nonetheless.

One MakeupAlley member notes: "If Divine's L' Inspiratrice is the good girl who always wears slips beneath her dresses, pearls and heels out to dinner no matter where she goes, and finds red nail polish too garish, L' Arte wears short skirts with heels, winks at all the boys, and never has to buy her own drinks".
By the minute you open up that vicious-looking box (all black opaqueness and glossy finish) and hold the funnily, yet friendly-shaped bottle you realise just what we lost by abandoning the powerhouses of the 1980s for ever; several nose-tingling masterpieces, that's what!

L'Arte is certainly one of the best releases from the Italian house, past and present, coming out rather late, in 1991, so it's probably natural it's tracing its roots in elements already featured in Paloma Picasso Mon parfum (the intensity of leather and the spiced oakmoss and patchouli blend), Niki de Saint Phalle (the herbal accents, starkly green) and most of all Diva by Ungaro (the astoundingly chypre tonality of its lush rose and the powdery clout). No perfumer is known, alas, so if you have this info, fill me in, I'm intrigued.
If you like your roses shaded, dark, thorny and abstractly woody-powdery (nay, "perfume-y" and very expensive smelling!) and if Guerlain's Rose Barbare, Lady Vengeance by Juliette has a Gun, Sisley's Soir de Lune, Rose de Nuit by Lutens and even Voleur de Roses by L'Artisan have hinted at delights which you always meant to further explore, look no further than the Gucci portfolio and this inexplicably underrated gem. Brassier than the above, L'Arte's prolonged dryout of mossy, powdered leatheriness is enigmatic and full of tawny smoothness.

L'Arte di Gucci wraps its intensely rosy heart garlanded with hypnotic, greenish narcissus into a luminous, characteristic aldehyde burst (evoking half part soap and the other part slightly overripe fruit) like a whirlwind into one of my favourite 80s pop tunes, Kim Carne's Betty Davis Eyes; hysky-voiced, with a swagger in her stride, dressing to impress. Yet the astounding thing is those were more innocent times than today, "pure New York snow" and all notwithstanding. I guess this fangled vampire with "lips sweet surprise" and luminous, deeply honeyed eyes which reminds me of tailored curvaceous suits that yes, Betty Davies might wear, preferably after a manipulation or two, is more girly and good than taken credit for.
"And she'll tease you, She'll unease you, All the better just to please you..."

Long discontinued, it can still be found sometimes online (there is a 1oz bottle available at Amazon right now) and on Ebay,although for alarmingly increasing prices.
The unusual bottle was designed by Serge Mansau and is presented in opaque black in the miniatures circulating.

Notes for L'Arte di Gucci: Bergamot, fruits, coriander, aldehydes, greens, rose, jasmine, lily of the valley, mimosa, tuberose, narcissus, geranium, orris, amber, musk, oakmoss, patchouli, leather, vetiver.

Related reading on Perfume Shrine: Chypres series


Evelyn Tripp by William Klein, photo Smoke & Veil from 1958 Vogue via Loose Leaf Tigers.
Bottle pic via Ebay

Couture Couture by Juicy Couture: new fragrance

The brand responsible for velour tracksuits decorating the behinds of It Girls across the USA is coming out with their third scent, after Juicy Couture and Viva La Juicy.

According to Thread.co.nz Megan Robinson: " 'New York, New York, so good they named it twice...' Perfume companies seem to be taking this advice to heart with the recent release of Ricci Ricci by Nina Ricci, and now, Couture Couture by Juicy Couture". The fact that it is a misnomer needs little pointing out, but the term couture has been used very loosely for a long time now. Perhaps Rachel Joe, celebrities' and celebrity stylist on whom the newest fragrance has been based on picks up some couture designs for her wealthy clients for formal affairs, but other than that, let's not reference the glory days of Balenciaga and Givenchy, now shall we?


Perfumer Honorine Blanc from Firmenich composed Couture squared with top notes of pink grape, orange flower and mandarin, a heart comprised of plum, honeysuckle and star jasmine, and base notes of sandalwood, amber and rich vanilla. Sounds perfectly predictable! (yet potentially pretty).

Eau de Parfum Spray 30ml $99.00 / 50ml $138.00 / 100ml $184.00 / Body Lotion 200ml $79.00 / Shower Gel 200ml $69.00. Official launch is predicted for 12 February 2010.

Valentino Perfumes Bought Out by Puig

Nina Ricci, Carolina Herrera, Paco Rabanne, Lowe, Massimo Dutti, and Prada perfume sectors will be joined by Valentino perfumes under the umbrella of Spanish Fashion & Beauty Group Puig starting 1st of February 2011. The news of the international fragrance licence obtained (which will span many years) has been just announced right when the Wall Street Journal publishes an article about Procter&Gamble putting an end to their collaboration with the Italian brand named after the famous designer.

According to the WSJ the reason has been underachievement. "P&G produces a number of fragrances for Valentino, which is owned by U.K. based private-equity fund Permira. But sales never reached the heights of P&G's other fragrance licenses, including those with Gucci Group and Dolce & Gabbana, which last year launched a makeup line.[..]P&G wants to weed out underperforming brands to focus on its more competitive products. The company has been moving into luxury beauty products, including the expansion of skin care line SK-II and its acquisition of high-end men's grooming lines such as The Art of Shaving".

Created in 1960 by Valentino Garavani, the firm operates in 70 countries through a network of 1250 points of sale, of which 66 are stand-alone boutiques. Puig is no stranger to an illustrious past either tracing their history to 1914 when they began their operations in Barcelona and currently employiong 3500 employees turning out an impressive 1000 millions of euros in 2009.

Although at the moment of the WSJ announcement there was no official statement from either the P&G or the Puig side, we have just heard from both this very morning: According to Stefano Sassi, general director at Valentino, the choice to work with Puig had to do with "their experience on the luxe sector and their attachment to quality". Mr.Sassi went on to emphasize how important he considers not only Puig's prospective aid to reach the house's goals commercially, but also to cement the notoriety of Valentino fragrances on the market's consciousness. The move aims to extend the potential of Valentino products for long-time objectives and to consolidate its brand name, while Marc Puig, CEO of the group Puig adds that the acquisition of Valentino will enrich their portfolio with "an image that communicates a fantastic potential".
The crux of the matter is that Puig is much better to Valentino than P&G, due to their more glamorous and more beauty-oriented approach. The fragrances produced are not bad either, while there have been some concerns from perfumephiles over the treatment that P&G has reserved for some of their own brands, such as Jean Patou and their diminishing line of fragrances.

This latest move can only be indicative of a greater shift happening at the luxury market right now, as we had tentatively mentioned about the commotion at LVMH the other day, what with their perfumers talking up about perfumery restrictions at last and Tony Blair posing as a strong candidate for business counseling services to them in order to open up new markets. Which those markets will be and how sustainable the luxury sector will be in them is matter for discourse.

pic of Stefano Sassi of Valentino via fashiontimes.it