A Trick of Light: Jour d'Hermes by Hermes

How do you make a floral that does not scream floral? Well I would go talk to Jean Claude Ellena because he has just done that and that is where this fragrance makes the most sense as in why I really like it. To explain it better, I should mention that I am not the woman who gravitates towards fragrances called floral, there are floral notes I love, but scents marketed in the floral category are usually not my ouvre.

Jour d'Hermes is such a wonderful trick though, starting off with a stemmy green milky mango rhubarb green peach skin grapefruit note that catches you with its zippy tartness yet strangely creamy quality. The scent moves on to opal like floral middle where facets of flowers move in and out of focus much like an opal in sunlight as you tilt it to see all the colors. I get rose then jasmine followed by sweet pea. Then a warm musk comes out just lifting the flowers up enough that the scent blends to the skin, at this point the fragrance is somewhat hide and seek, at moments I get rose then a shift to ylang-ylang or tuberose, and then a shift to gardenia all the while it maintains a gauze of musk. Some days it is very earthy on me with vetiver quite obvious other days it becomes a rather balmy tropical gardenia scent with the tart musk to never let it stray to much.

This scent is a changer and never in the same direction in a row. It is fantasy floral and in my mind it is the scent of the lovely flower rununculus that has no scent but has incredibly layered petals.

The amazing image above is from No Wordz Photography.