As previously reported, Givenchy is gearing up to launch a Harvest Collection, starting with a new version of Amarige this December. It will feature “the ‘green sensation’ of the 2005 mimosa harvest in its top notes along with tender orange blossom notes”, with the mimosa from Grasse making up 25% of the juice…
Continuing with Hermessence week, today I am wearing Vetiver Tonka, my vote for the best perfume in the collection. Like the others, it was created by Hermès house nose Jean Claude Ellena and launched in 2004. Hermès Vetiver Tonka is meant to suggest wool, and has notes of vetiver, neroli, bergamot, grilled hazelnut, dry fruit, cereals and tonka bean.
Vetiver Tonka starts off fresh and green, with vetiver and mild citrus. It is deep and rich — the top notes of Guerlain Vetiver smell like water in comparison — but it is not at all heavy, nor is it more than mildy sweet…
Like the others in the Hermessence line of fragrances (see Rose Ikebana and Poivre Samarcande), Ambre Narguile was created by Hermès house nose Jean-Claude Ellena and released in 2004. Ambre Narguile is meant to evoke cashmere, and features notes of benzoin, labdanum, musk, vanilla, caramel, honey, sugared tonka bean, grilled sesame seeds, cinnamon, rum, coumarine and white orchids.
All of the Hermessence perfumes are foody to one degree or another; Ambre Narguile is the dessert course of the quartet…
As long as we are talking about the Hermessence line from Hermès (see yesterday’s review of Rose Ikebana), I thought I would pull out my sample of Poivre Samarcande and give it a real try on skin. A quick smell on a test strip last fall had convinced me that it was too masculine a fragrance for me to pull off, but test strips are such a waste of time that I don’t know why I bother. Poivre Samarcande is meant to mimic velvet, and has notes of pepper, chili pepper, oak, cedar, chinese moss, and musk…
Once again, Marlen is joining me. Today we are bickering about Rose Ikebana, one of the scents in the Hermessence collection, a quartet of unisex fragrances created by Hermès house nose Jean Claude Ellena and released in 2004. Each perfume is meant to evoke a particular fabric: Rose Ikebana is silk, Poivre Samarcande is velvet, Vetiver Tonka is wool, and Ambre Narguile is cashmere. Hermès has said there will be more to come in the series, and it is rumored that the next perfume will be based on leather. Rose Ikebana has notes of rose tea, infusion of petals, peony, magnolia, pink peppercorn, zest of grapefruit, rhubarb and vanilla honey.
He says: Rose Ikebana was created to reflect the touch of silk on the skin, but in my opinion, is nothing more than another bland and uninspired floral. Yes, it is pretty. Yes, it is soft. Yes, it is silky. But is it new? Is it groundbreaking? Does it scream “Buy me?” I don’t know folks…there are so many rose scents on the market these days, that it is surprising to see yet one more, perhaps less interesting than the rest and yet more expensive…