Brin de Réglisse is the seventh fragrance to join the Hermessence collection from perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena at Hermès. As I reported last month, Ellena hoped to “create an intense, dry lavender, like you would smell in the south of France in June or July” (other notes include licorice, orange blossom and hay); to accomplish that, he…
…turned to his colleagues at an independent perfume lab in Grasse. He asked them to slice natural lavender into 50 distinct groups of molecules, sniffed them all, discarded five and reassembled it. “My lavender had a much purer, cleaner smell,” he says, comparing it with the natural scent. “Then I had to find something to dress it up that would be a little unusual. I chose a touch of licorice.” (via Los Angeles Times, 10/28/2007)…
