Hermès will launch Twilly d’Hermès, a new fragrance for women, in August. Twilly is aimed at young women, and named for the brand’s narrow Twilly scarves…
Hermes Eau des Merveilles Bleue ~ fragrance review
It would appear that Hermès is doing a flanker to 2004’s Eau des Merveilles every so often, but waiting at least two years, sometimes more, between iterations. In addition to the original, we’ve now got Elixir des Merveilles (candied orange peel + vanilla biscuit) from 2006, Eau Claire des Merveilles (citrus soda + cosmetic powder) from 2010, and L’Ambre des Merveilles (amber + more amber) from 2012. Eau des Merveilles Bleue is the latest, and the first from house perfumer Christine Nagel. I was only middling excited about it, because it’s blue. I like the color, but in fragrance, blue implies a particular smell-meaning, and in this case the description followed the color-coding: “the magic of the ocean and the colour of the sky”, plus “washed in sea spray” and “the taste of water on pebbles”. That sounds suspiciously like many other blue fresh, sporty, aquatic / ozonic fragrances, which are not generally my cup of tea.
And so it turns out…
Hermes Eau des Merveilles Bleue ~ new fragrance
Hermès will launch Eau des Merveilles Bleue in February. The new fragrance for women is a flanker to 2004’s Eau des Merveilles, and follows 2012’s L’Ambre des Merveilles…
Galop d’Hermes ~ perfume review
It would not really be accurate to say I was worried about what perfumer Christine Nagel would do when she took over as house perfumer at Hermès. Plenty of other things keep me up at night, but not that. But certainly I wondered if Hermès would continue to take the bulk of my perfume-spending dollars, or if I’d have to find a new BFF brand to empty my wallet every so often. What I think of as the transitional fragrance duo — Eau de Rhubarbe Écarlate and Eau de Néroli Doré — that marked the passing of the baton from perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena,1 added to the uncertainty, given that I lost interest in Nagel’s Rhubarbe Écarlate within 30 minutes but fairly quickly bought a small bottle of Ellena’s Néroli Doré (and I’m still sorely tempted by the matching body products).
But perhaps I was too quick to judge. Nagel’s first pillar outing, Galop d’Hermès, is darned good, and while it makes its own way, it also eases comfortably into the brand’s existing line up…
Giorgio Armani Si Intense ~ fragrance review
A new Sephora just opened directly on the route of my daily commute, so I stopped in last week to check it out and try a few new fall fragrances. My eye was caught by the sleek black bottle of Giorgio Armani Sì Intense, a flanker to 2013’s Armani Sì. It was released elsewhere in 2014, but it just arrived in the United States this month.
The promotional boilerplate for this perfume reads, “The new version of Sì is designed for a strong and passionate woman who is brave and not afraid to take risks. Such a woman is conceived as very charismatic, confident, independent and sophisticated.” It was developed by perfumers Christine Nagel and Julie Massé, and its composition includes notes of black currant, mandarin, bergamot and freesia; rose de mai, neroli, davana and osmanthus; patchouli, vanilla, ambroxan and woods.
When I sprayed Sì Intense on my wrists at Sephora, I swooned with pleasure and momentarily considered purchasing a bottle then and there…