Hermès will launch Voyage d'Hermès, a new unisex fragrance, this coming April.
The fragrance was developed by Hermès house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, and is reportedly a fresh musky woods. I will update with notes when I can find them; meantime, here's a link to the promotional video (link no longer working, sorry).
Hermès Voyage d'Hermès will be available in 35 and 100 ml refillable Eau de Toilette spray and in 125 ml refills.
(via jebe.de, osmoz.fr, hechoeneuropa, with many thanks to Jacob for the tip!)
Update: I have replaced the images at the top, and here are some details from the press release; first, on Jean-Claude Ellena: ~
He wanted the most beautiful of journeys, the one not yet undertaken. He hoped that people would smell the perfume and say, not: “It reminds me…” but: “It’s calling to me.” Going on a journey means going to another place. Wherever the wind leads us, where our heart takes us, where those we meet captivate and liberate us. Not knowing in advance.
He had to avoid outlining a portrait of a man or a woman, of a town or a nature spot, of a moment or an era. But to create abstract art. A play on paradoxes. Complementary elements. No, this perfume would not smell of a kind of wood, a flower, a particular raw material, but of the unknown in all its glory. To express its nuances and unexpected pairings. Familiar, surprising. Energy, comfort. Masculine, feminine. An infectious mixing of genres. A woody fresh, musky fragrance.
What is left of you when you are gone? What do you give off when you are here? That is what this perfume is. The mystery and the trace left behind.
And on the bottle designer, Philippe Mouquet:
He would combine self-assurance with vivacity. This would be to the classic perfume bottle what the pocket magnifying glass was to the solid sort that lives in a desk, what a wristwatch is to a clock. It would open out at the touch of a finger, like pushing a door. It would turn on itself without going round. Not content with being merely mobile, it would be the incarnation of movement itself. Its material and colour would be aluminium, a material that reflects all others. Its contours would be those of a stirrup. Its axis a saddle tack.
It would blend seamlessly with the hand. Would not be thrown away but kept. Refilled. And filled again. It would go away and stay on. Living a long time.
Another update: see a review of Voyage d'Hermès.
Can’t seem to load the video link.
I think I fixed it…can you try again?
Good to go Robin! Very nice video BTW.
I like it too…the symbolism is maybe a bit heavy handed, but whatever — it’s pretty!
How exciting!!!! I cant wait!!! Its gonna b great!!! Thanks for the tip!!! : )
This has shot to the top of my “get some” list!
So whos the bird and whos the horse? LOL!!
They did the naked man interspersed with the horse so was waiting for a naked woman with the bird, but I guess they figured enough was enough!
Ooh, I didn’t spot the naked man – I had to go back and watch it more carefully! I thought the hand/arm shot was probably a woman? Nice ad. Salivating for the scent.
Oh, maybe I need to go watch it again too then! There was a man’s back, then they switched to the horse’s side.
On my computer, it skips, sort of like a record. I had to watch it twice to see all the nuance. My favorite part is at the very end when the horse on the logo kicks out of its traces and goes running off with the bird. Nice touch! I hope the “musky” is something else besides that cantaloupe note that he dragged through Mousson. I’m still cranky about that. But, sigh, anything that JCE makes I have to seriously sniff.
Oh, gosh — no reason for cantaloupe here!
Actually there’s a quick shot of a woman’s pale white hands, arranged like wings, so they did do bird=woman to match horse=man, they just did it subtly.
Thanks!
I cannot wait to here about the notes!! Im loving the bottle 2! Totally Hermes w/ a modern twist! I sure hope its released in department stores & not just their boutiques like the Hermessence! Then Ill never get to try it!! : (
And I am hoping that isn’t an outer leather sheath that costs a fortune.
From the new pic, it doesnt look like leather which is great cuz it could be more affordable!! YAY!! With my luck, Im not seeing it right and its totally leather! I want it, I want it, I want it!!! : )
You could buy the Hermessence collection online now!!! How exciting!!! YAY!!!! : )
Yep. Wish they’d put the Discovery sets online.
*sigh*
LOVE the bottle, but really, REALLY don’t like anything that contains musk.
So this might be a pass….. but I’ll keep hoping, maybe I’ll like this one!
The various musk aromachemicals are so different from each other though…are you really sure you don’t like any of them?
Not the ones I have tried to date… and after a few negative experiences I gave up on musk altogether. I guess I should keep trying…. (although it cuts back on the yearly spending to eliminate off hand anything that mentions musk)
Ok, but have to say that most scents (other than naturals, obviously) use one or another (or several) musk aromachemicals. So eliminating only the things that mention musk doesn’t at all eliminate musk from your collection. But I’m sure you know that already!
yup
So excited about this! I thought the video was lovely (and it was nice to see animals instead of some model, LOL).
It’s a great video. They most always do a nice job on videos.
Huzzah! 35ml! I’m with you hoping the leather thing doesn’t cost a [relative] fortune, but I’m sure it will. Oh well, the juice is what’s important, right? Very interested in hearing more. Also, nice video.
Yes — 35 ml is wonderful!
first of all—hope springs eternal and all that–you know the leather thingy is going to be $$$ …..second–I’m so glad to see that my family aren’t the only ones running around shouting ” Huzzah! ” (at appropriate junctures naturally)
I see “huzzah” quite a bit lately. Seems to have gained popularity.
Brilliant! Hermes is one of my favourite houses and a fresh musky wood by Ellena is worth checking out in my book. Sounds like it could be a nicely wearable scent.
Beautiful video too.
One of my favorite houses too…and would guess they take a huge percentage of my fragrance spending.
Maybe the leather is optional? Though I guess the bottle doesn’t look that way. Oh well. The “fresh” is giving me a little pause too. Won’t stop me from sniffing when I get a chance, though!
What’s funny is that to me, Eau de Gentiane Blanche is a sort of “fresh woody musk” (as opposed to “fresh musky woods”), but I think it’s the iris in it that gives me the “woody” vibe. I truly love that one.
I can’t make up my mind on that one at all…it smelled very different both times I smelled it.
I love Gentiane Blanche as well, and it’s what I wear when I want to feel “fresh” as in straight-out-of-the-shower. It’s so light and dry but still has good staying power. Did you try layering with Pamplemousse rose? Grrreat!
I’m not even sure it’s leather…we’ll have to wait for more info/images.
It looks like white leather in the photo, but in the promo ad it looks shiny/metallic…so maybe not, after all.
Err, promo video. Late nights!
Added a new picture — it really doesn’t look like leather.
perfume bottle= IHermes?
That is a nice bottle design. I dont want to wait until april tho.
Hopefully Hermes boutiques will have it sooner…
oh dear, I was so sure I had attained the zen-like perfumista stage 4, back to stage 3 then
LOL! I think even in stage 5, some things are bound to break through.
Oooh! I hope this is a big release! I want to see that bottle in my local Sephora.
Horse + bird + fresh musky woods = ?
I’m drawing a blank, but Byredo’s Blanche is conceptually similar and they list the notes as white rose, pink pepper, Aldehyde, violet, neroli, peony, blonde woods, sandalwood and musk. So it could be anything..
Personally I’m hoping for violet, iris, neroli, and the dry earth and flint accords from Terre d’Hermes, maybe a little electric zap, but I’m sure Ellena has something exciting in store.
I’m pretty sure it is a big release, but we’ll see. Hope it’s more interesting than Blanche (no offense to fans, but it did nothing for me).
I was going to say the same thing. They could have dropped half the name and just called it Blah.
Poor Blanche! I happened to be pleasantly surprised by it – but not enough to shell out $200. It smelled better than what I expected “white” to be.
I’m still trying to figure out what Ellena’s fresh musky woods will smell like. I’m now secretly hoping it smells like the wet plaster in the Cy Twombley pavilion of the Menil Collection in Houston.
That sounds compelling even though I’ve never been there.
Wow as a horse lover that vid’s got me!!
So far the perfume I put on to go with my horses is Iris Silver Mist – think it must be those earthy carrotty irises with a bit of spice. If they are matching the wonderful visuals with the fragrance and Ellena’s genius, one would think it has to be a beautiful iris!
And darn, I thought I had my irises covered with ISM, Mythique, and Iris Ganache…
Oooh, I like the sound of a unisex equine iris.
No idea if it’s unisex or not, since I haven’t gotten around to it yet, but have you tried PdE’s Equistrius?
definitely want to try!! I love Jean-Claude Ellena
Me too.
MUST HAVE! MUST HAVE!!!! THAT BOTTLE! I think i may Faint! Just The Bee’s Knees! Merciful Heavens! I am loving it to bits and pieces! cannot wait to buy!
I am waiting to hear the cost — Hermes is getting more expensive all the time, and that leather (if it’s leather) worries me. But I end up buying most everything they do!
Ah. If I behave myself and wait long enough, this could be part of my second quarter spending. The anticipation won’t be easy though since this sounds gorgeous. I love musk, and musk and woods sounds even better.
Yep. Let’s pray it’s cheap. Ha.
I’m firmly entrenched in the GB-lover camp. Guess this means war. ;3
I’m pretty eager to try this: I also happened to love Paprika Brasil, which was woods, right? =o (Someone commented that they thought the travel sets were now pick-and-choose as well as the old policy: I hope that’s not true because then I’ll be waiting for another few months while I save up again for an iPod.)
Anyway, I’m kind of confused by the leather sheath comments. The case looks attached too me; they show is swinging closed. I’m imagining cardboard covered with some sort of synthetic polymer, like binders. Well, maybe metal–it is Hermes. Love it either way. Hermes always has fantastic bottles: that H on the bottom of Terre d’Hermes makes me try my sample over and over again. But no….
Yes, the case looks like it swings shut. It looked like leather, but you might be right that it’s something synthetic or even metal. Who knows — it’s not a great picture. In the video it looks like it could be metal, but it also looks almost like an animation, so ??
I kind of hope for something synthetic. Metal gets so fingerprint-y. I’m trying to think of what metallic bottle I had with which that was the case….
Repeating myself, but added a new picture & it doesn’t look like leather at all.
And now have replaced the images, and yes, it’s metal.
I didnt see this post. Its metal!!! YAY!!!! OK you’ll probably smell it and get to go to one of their boutiques way b4 I do so can you please oh please oh please get all the prices of the 2 bottles & refill. Ive had such a hard time getting the set price on the Hermessence collection. Im still dying to try Vanille Galante & Ambre Narguile!! : )
Luckily there’s a Hermes boutique in the mall near me. Will do!
I really hope I like the juice! This bottle is so needed on my perfume shelf! xO
Thank U Thank U!!! Ure the best Robin! Cant wait to read a review!! : )
Love the ad – I liked the logo bit at the end, too. Should be fun to smell.
Yep!
Sounds good to me…is Hermes jumping on the Tom Ford Musk bandwagon?
Gracious, I certainly hope not.
well… the Tom Ford Bandwagon Ain’t that bad a bandwagon to be on, now is it???? Really?
Me Loves Some Tom Ford Fragrances!
And I do hope it is not like Blanche – the smelt like straight up detergent to me.
Ditto.
“That smelt”…
I think I’m the only one who didn’t got excited with this launch from Hermes. And is strange to me, because I’m generally want to try them and i wait ansiously to test. I didn’t like the bottle, it looks on pictures like a cellphone. And the description of the juice (fresh musky woods) gave me an impression that Ellena will use – again – that saturated iso e super base that he has been using a lot since declaration pour homme. I have a feeling that we’ll get a iso e super fragrance from hermes. I hope I’m wrong
I love iso e super so would have no complaints. Hard to say on the bottle until I see it…but don’t hate it from the picture. We’ll have to see!
I alo like it, but to me it looks like all recent elena creations finishes on this note, and they look a little bit similar to the point you can’t tell which fragrance is if you spray them on skin…
i was kinda hoping the metal part would have been leather… but i guess Hermes will release such a special edition. for, like, $500 USD.
I wouldn’t mind leather but I’m sure I can’t afford it!
So I emailed them about where it will be launched and they said in April, only their boutiques. Bummer for me. But they also said it would be carried in wholesale accounts. Are those department stores? They didnt know the date of that. Thats all the info they could give me. : (
Yes, I would take that to mean it’s going to go through their regular distribution channels & so department stores will have it eventually.
YAY!!!!!!!!! Im so excited!!!!! It’ll probably take a yr to get everywhere else w/ my luck. : (
Oh, I don’t think so — I think this will be a major release. I heard Hermes boutiques might have it by late March, everywhere else by April. But of course we’ll have to wait & see!
Yes we will unfortunately. I hate playing the waiting game.
What a unique story! Once again Hermes does it like nobody else. Not the usual story of a man flirting with a woman. Something more subtle like all the fragrances from this house. Can’t wait to smell this new scent by Jean Claude Ellena.
I like it so far…
I am wearing this right now. I LOVE IT! I wish I was well versed enough to describe it all to you. I stopped in Hermes this afternoon to pick up a Vetiver Tonka and Vanille Galante and a sales associate said I just love the new fragrance. I asked for a sample and just sprayed on my first shot. The scent is gorgeous. I’m an Ellena devotee.
So glad you love it, I love it too.
I purchased this for my boyfriend and I regret giving it to him now because I love it so much myself. I’m a big fan of fresh minimalist fragrances and this one is perfect. I love how it’s citrus but doesn’t disappear in 30 secs, I can get a good 8hrs of wear from this. The initial burst is very fresh, greenish and citrusy and dries down to a light woody fragrance with a citrus edge. Such a nice alternative to the choke me from across the room orientals most people insist on wearing.
The bottle is nice but a bit unwieldy in the 100ml form. I expected it to be larger than the 35ml one and slim (easy to hold in one hand), but instead they’ve kept the form factor the same and just made it deeper. It’s a two handed affair to spray it. Not the kind of bottle you can throw into a handbag. The 35ml is much nicer in the hand. I can smell this all day long and never tire of it. Love it on him and love it on me too.
A bit of a surprise as it would have been the last scent I would have ever tried based on marketing alone. I’ve been searching high and low for a minimalist green scent that lasts and here in a most unlikely brand and form, it is.
Hope he will share!