hermes hermessence santal massoia Archives

If you say Hermes to most people they will respond with Birkin Bag or Scarves. While the leather and silk are what Hermes is more famous for; among perfume lovers it also produces some great fragrances. Since 2003 Hermes perfumes have become almost synonymous with in-house perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. M. Ellena has produced an impressive body of work but there were some other Hermes perfumes worth remembering from before his tenure. If you’re looking to dive into the brand here are five I think would be good starting points.

My introduction to Hermes came in a shower at a luxury resort in the mid 1980’s. There was this striking colored miniature blue bottle with my toiletries which had this incredible smell of oranges. After asking I found out it was Eau D’Orange Verte. Perfumer Francoise Caron makes a perfume which lives up to its name with a fabulous orange and for the verte, lily of the valley and oakmoss. I still wear this a lot every summer because it is so good.

In 2004 perfumers Nathalie Feisthauer and Ralf Schwieger would collaborate on a more briny take on citrus with Eau des Merveilles. Opening on a blast of orange and lemon which lead to an ambergris accord. It all settles on a balsamic vetiver base.

One of the great collections within the Hermes brand is the Un Jardin Collection composed by M. Ellena. Of the five in the collection my favorite is Un Jardin Sur Le Nil. This is M. Ellena at his most evocative as he captures a night spent next to the Nile. The top notes of grapefruit, tomato leaf, and carrot are still one of the most unique accords I’ve encountered. Together they form a vegetal green accord with a hint of sulfur. The heart is the smell of the river from lotus and calamus paired with the lush fruitiness of mango. The base is the best part as M. Ellena captures the smooth river stones as incense skirls across the wet surfaces. Every time I wear this I feel transported.

In 2006 M. Ellena created one of the great masculine perfumes of the 21^st century in Terre D’Hermes. He placed a tart citrus top into a woody heart to end on another brilliantly constructed mineral accord. The grapefruit is rich and tart. The woodiness comes through a high percentage of aromachemical Iso E Super. This all ends on a parched earth accord. Terre D’Hermes was an instant classic from the very moment it debuted.

The other great collection within Hermes is M. Ellena’s Hermessences. These have often been described as M. Ellena’s olfactory haiku. He manages to create perfume with impact using a much abbreviated set of raw materials. That simplicity makes every one of the collection worth experiencing but the place to start is with 2011’s Santal Massoia. For this entry M. Ellena takes a candied coconut on top which segues into a creamy heart before getting to a transparent woody base of sandalwood and massoia wood.

Hermes is one of the best of the designer houses when it comes to perfumes and has shown their commitment to quality over the years. There is plenty to enjoy after trying the five above.

Disclosure: This review based on bottles I purchased.

–Mark Behnke

“I’ll take cream in that” is a common phrase when talking about the way you like your coffee or tea. When a perfumer wants to add creaminess to a perfume they are composing they mostly turn to one class of compounds called lactones. The names of these compounds are derived from the Latin phrase for milk, lac lactis.

Lactones were discovered in the early 1900’s as chemists found a way to cyclize esters. A beneficial side effect of this cyclization was it took esters that couldn’t be used for perfumery because they were so short lasting because of their volatility. The cyclic form could last on skin for hours, even days in some cases. The very simple case is shown above as methyl propionate is the ester on the left and when it is cyclized it is called gamma-Butyrolactone. Lactones are also found naturally, most prominently in tuberose. There are so many lactones in tuberose new ones have been discovered as recently as 2004.

Almost from the moment they were discovered the lactones became key components of perfumes. One of the most influential, in perfumery, is one called Peach Lactone. Chemically you can see it is an analog of the gamma-lactone with a long carbon chain attached to it and is called gamma-Undecalactone. For no reason I have ever been able to understand it is also called Aldehyde C-14 because it is not an aldehyde, it doesn’t even decompose to an aldehyde. The nomenclature craziness continues as a smaller lactone, gamma-Nonalactone, is called Aldehyde C-18 and also called Coconut Lactone. This kind of confusing way of referring to the molecules drives the chemist crazy. Don’t even get me started on Aldehyde C-16 which is neither lactone or aldehyde nor structurally similar to the two above.

Peach Lactone is the key ingredient in one of the best perfumes of all time, Jacques Fath Iris Gris. Dawn Spencer Hurwitz used it as a key component of her reconstruction of this fragrance for her recent Scent of Hope. Peach Lactone forms a gauzy fruity layer carrying smooth creamy components. Peach Lactone is also found as the source of that fruit in Guerlain Mitsouko. In almost every great case I can think of if you smell peach in a perfume this is probably the chemical behind it.

One of the most amazing uses of lactones has come recently in 2011’s Hermes Hermessence Santal Massoia by perfumer Jean-Claude Ellena. M. Ellena takes Massoia Lactone and uses it to bridge the natural creamy qualities of fig and sandalwood. Massoia Lactone besides the creaminess also has a rich caramel aspect and it is this which creates a dulce de leche accord in the middle of Santal Massoia.

If you smell fruit and cream in your perfume it is lactones which are probably responsible.

–Mark Behnke

Hermes 101- Five to Get You Started

Olfactory Chemistry: Lactones- Peaches and Cream

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