Terre d'Hermes

As many have said before me, Terre d'Hermés is a fragrance triumph. Voted 'Best Fragrance of the Year' by FiFi in 2007 in the 'Men's Luxe' category, my love affair with this scent began whilst visiting Greece that same summer. Given the sweltering heat at the time, I was enamoured with the way it blossomed on my skin.

Its opening accords of fresh green/orange citruses are much akin to those found in Eau d'Orange Verte - another of my Hermés faves. However, it quickly shifts into an unusual chocolatey/jaffa note, before some rich earthy and elemental accords come to the fore. 

It is the scent of a long-forgotten orange orchard that is overgrown and untameable... one that can only be reached by cutting through thick, tangled undergrowth that has flourished over several centuries through abandon and neglect. There is almost a sense of an "electrical storm" hanging overhead... a threatening heaviness, accompanied by the sharp spike of ozone in the air that declares when clouds, swollen with precipitation, are set to burst. One can detect the aroma of dusty, turned earth as it is speckled with fat raindrops... soil that is littered with over-ripe, mouldering oranges that have fallen from the green canopy above. 

Terre d'Hermes is an elaborate synthesis of accords, but one that ultimately captures just a brief moment in time... a snapshot, which clearly records every detail and impression in vivid colour. It is basic, welcoming and familiar.

Jean Claude Ellena once again has approached its construction with great sensitivity, and the result speaks for itself.  Its projection is perhaps not the best, however it is worn close to the skin, and in doing so, allows the wearer this wonderful personal luxury.