Hermes Perfumes
Hermès approaches perfume the way it approaches leather goods — slowly, expensively, and with a house perfumer given unusual freedom. The results are quieter than most designer fragrance and considerably more interesting.
The essentials
Terre d'Hermès is the masterpiece: orange, flint and vetiver, a fragrance about mineral dryness rather than sweetness, and one of the few men's designer scents that genuinely deserves the word classic. H24 is the modern counterpart, green and faintly metallic. The Jardin series — Un Jardin Sur Le Toit, Le Jardin de Monsieur Li — are light, literal and lovely. Twilly covers the playful women's end, while Hermessence Vetiver Tonka shows what the house does at full niche strength.
