The background: Twilly d'Hermès is the latest fragrance launch from Hermès. It's aimed at young women and was inspired by the freedom and creativity with which they "transform" Hermès scarves, and "appropriate Hermès’ codes to do other things".1 A twilly, in case you don't know (or care) from scarves, is the brand's long thin silk scarf (see example here), and indeed people wear them all sorts of ways: as neck scarves, as headbands, as belts, as purse accessories, etc. At the moment, a 32" x 2" Twilly runs $160 in the US.
The juice: Hermès house perfumer Christine Nagel decided she would likewise "transform" or "twist" her raw materials, which are ginger (reportedly an "enormous quantity"),2 tuberose and sandalwood.
The packaging: The bottle is meant to recall a carriage lantern and the cap is meant to recall a black hat. The neck is wrapped with a spaghetti strand of patterned silk, which can of course be repurposed.
The advertising: Compare the millennial pink assembly line for Twilly d'Hermès with the more conventional / romantic spot for Jour d'Hermès — it's not hard to see which is the fragrance going after the youngs.
What it smells like: A soft clean floriental. There is a spicy kick from the ginger early on, mingling with some mild fruity notes — mango peach jam? — which gives it some verve, but it is not a fruit bomb by any means, nor is it overly sweet, and once the ginger fades, it's not an edgy or assertive fragrance. The tuberose, to my nose, has been twisted into something that smells like molecular fractions of orange blossom and something else flowery — it could be tuberose, who knows.3 There aren't enough of the sharp and/or dirty bits remaining to tell any tales. The base is a pale woody musk, and likewise, I suppose it could be sandalwood. It's warm-ish, but nowhere near so warm that you'd set it aside for cold weather.
My verdict: Props go to Hermès for not giving us another fruitchouli clone. I would think any woman, of any age, could wear Twilly d'Hermès without pause. I liked Nagel's first pillar outing for Hermès, Galop d'Hermès, but it was a touch too restrained for my taste, and while I liked Galop better than Twilly, my reaction here is pretty much the same. Twilly smells good, but it does not hold my interest after the first 15 minutes or so.4 Now, Nagel's predecessor, perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena, also tended towards restraint, and I'd be hard pressed to put in words just why it is that his fragrances rarely bored me. Mind, I did not like everything he produced, but I am pretty sure there were never four Ellena releases in a row that I did not want to own. I'm at four now with Nagel: I did not feel the need to buy Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate, Galop, Eau des Merveilles Bleue or Twilly, except...
Oops: I bought a 15 ml bottle unsniffed. Oh well. Hopefully it will turn out to be swappable. Never buy unsniffed, folks!
The details: Twilly d'Hermès is available in 15, 30, 50 and 85 ml Eau de Parfum. Twice, the larger bottles have appeared on the Nordstrom website, and twice they have disappeared again. The official launch is in a few days, and so when they reappear I'll add the US prices. (If the cached copy at Nordstrom is correct, the 50 ml is $100 and the 85 ml is $130, in which case Twilly is much cheaper than Galop d'Hermès, and more in line with what they charge for the Merveilles series. Update: yes, those are the correct prices, 50 ml for $100 and 85 ml for $130. Another update: the 30 ml is $79 at Sephora.)
1. Christine Nagel, quoted in "Twilly d’Hermès Scent to Court Millennials" at Women's Wear Daily, 8/15/2017.
2. Ibid.
3. Twilly smells even less like tuberose than Stella McCartney Pop, another youth-oriented scent that was advertised as tuberose and sandalwood. Pop is bright and pink and fruity, though, while Twilly seems to be going for a more sophisticated audience.
4. Indeed, I wore it yesterday and today and I'm already pretty much done with it. I really ought to have worn it another few times before reviewing it, but life is short and I do not think I am going to change my mind about Twilly. If I do, I promise to post an update.
Hermes is not my house so I definitely won’t be running out to the try this. But I admit I find the packaging really adorable, especially the box.
Word to the wise, Booker’s gin also comes with a top hat.
Yes! That bowler hat tipped the scales for Booker’s the last time I was choosing a gin at the package store… I’ve since repurchased, as I think the gin is quite good! (and I’ve kept the little hats, but not sure what for : )
You can put them on your non-Booker’s bottles 🙂
Absolutely! Add a touch of class : )
The box is great, and what a cute gin bottle!
I sniffed this over the weekend, courtesy of a super sweet rep. I enjoyed it, like you said out smells good. I even got a spritz to wear, and i super liked it until it faded, which was within 20 minutes.
I’ll be sticking with my anticipated traveler set mix of jardins & Merveilles.
If I had less perfume to vanquish i would purchase. Or good gift for a friend who doesnt treat themselves often, perhaps.
And I totally agree with you re: Christine Nagel, Robin. Mostly misses for me. Olivier Polge has been hit & miss, so have expectations re: Gabrielle that I hope are not dashed.
I had no real hopes for Gabrielle, which is good because Angie’s review pretty much took care of any vague curiosity. I am not a Coco Mad fan.
Twilly lasts for hours on me (the base makes it through a shower even), it’s just not interesting for hours.
Oh, I am mildly disappointed but this is sort of what I expected. I am still interested in smelling it!
My early 20s sophisticated fragrance was Kelly Caleche, Twilly looks like its younger girlier cousin. (even in appearance: both are pink juices in square bottles!) I also find JCE’s creations being much more interesting than Christine Nagel’s.
I still like Kelly Caleche, and I’m eons older than you!
I still like it very much! It was my special ‘for days i need a bit more poise’ fragrance back in the days 🙂
Kelly Caleche seemed to be marketed to youth (or at least the small subset of youths who can afford Hermes) but I have often wondered if it hit that mark. It has always smelled both age and gender independent to me.
I agree re: age! I have always considered it a very ladylike scent but I guess it would work on a man too.
Yes, because of the lack of sweetness? And the leather of course, which to me is quite obvious but I know other people hardly notice it.
Yes — and would say the same of this one. There is nothing to link it to the rest of the youth market. A man who would wear KC, I would think, would have no problem wearing Twilly.
Robin I love your “oops”….. bet the 15ml bottle is adorable! Haven’t sniffed this myself but when I see it I will be sure to try it.
It’s the same 15 ml as the others that you buy in discovery sets, so fine but not really adorable. I love that they make them, though!
I bought this before smelling it. The box & bottle are cute. The fragrance is good, not great, & not original to me.
Glad I am not the only one who made that mistake! Here’s hoping we can both re-home our bottles.
Good luck to both of us????. I should know better not to buy impulsively!
Love that it comes in 15ml, but probably won’t buy it. I like things with a little more verve and backbone.
Do try it, you never know! You might like it better than I did.
Happy to see Twilly get a review! The bottle, the bitty hat and scarf, the pinkness, it’s adorable. Sounds like the scent errs on the side of being unobjectionable/vaguely interesting. Even so I do hope to have a sniff one day soon. Hermes scents so often work well for me.
It is adorable. I will be interested to hear what everyone here thinks of it!
The bottle is so cute, I’ll definitely cadge a sample. But I have several other tuberoses I truly love, so not expecting a purchase.
I didn’t even give it the tuberose tag, it just doesn’t make me think of tuberose at all. It smells like ginger + flowers.
Hoping to try it in the following days
🙂
My mom loves ginger and I’ve been weaning her from Sur la Nil (too pricy even at discount) to Pamplemousse Rose. Maybe she’ll like it.
I liked Rhubarb Ecarlate, and Galop was lovely if not my thing. Still I already miss Ellena.
It is? I would have thought way easier to find Sur La Nil at discount than Pamplemousse Rose — but have not shopped for either recently.
Thanks for telling us what “twilly” means! I thought it was a pronunciation simplification of “Tuilerie” which not only means “waffle,” but is the name for roof tiles made in factories before the Medicis turned it into a garden. I digress.
This fragrance works for me. I love the ginger, which keeps it from getting too sweet. I need a fragrance that is not a sillage monster. (I teach adults, so . . . )
And, because I am, let’s just call it “selective,” I dislike cedar, musk, big white florals, and oud. This one reminds me of a long ago Kenzo fragrance, but far more muted.