At the start of this month, luxury brand Hermès added two new scents to its Les Colognes Hermès line, the Eau de Mandarine Ambrée and the Eau de Narcisse Bleu.
Created by the brand’s exclusive in-house nose, Jean-Claude Ellena, the two new scents are available in eau de toilette in two different sized sprays 100ml (€89) and 200ml (€117). Ellena has been working solely for Hermès since 2004, producing some of the brand’s best-loved fragrances including Terre d’Hermès and Voyage d’Hermès. Prior to that, he concocted scents for luxury brands including Van Cleef & Arpels, Balenciaga and Bulgari.
“Colognes are a source of instant wellbeing and pleasure; nowadays they are seen as intimate perfumes, filling a need for refinement and sensuality that we feel in ourselves and for ourselves. They are classic, original, sometimes surprising… and I have created them to be lived rather than worn,” said Ellena.
Described by Hermès as “cheeky yet gentle,” the Eau de Mandarine Ambrée captures the fresh acidity of mandarins, with some ambery complexity and a twist of passion fruit. The Narcisse Bleu scent combines orange blossom and galbanum with narcissus and finishes with a delicate woody drydown.
Masculine fragrances are having another impressive year, and according to WWD, scent sales at Hermès grew 15.5 percent last year.