Are we to believe the rumours? And why are they still just rumours? Why can’t people in the industry be more transparent about what’s going on? I’m referring here to the recent ban on the use of Lyral and Lilial in perfume compositions. That these ubiquitous - and, by all accounts, extremely useful - ingredients are banned is not in dispute: it’s a matter of public record. But true to form, perfume brands are being cagey about which of their scents contain substantial quantities of the stuff and have consequently undergone a major reformulation. What does this have to do with the subject of today’s review? Well, according to the ever-reliable rumour-mill, the reason we now have a new ‘fresh’ version of Terre D’Hermes - dubbed Eau Givree - is that the aforementioned ban has brought about the demise of the previous fresh version: Eau Tres Fraiche. I talked about this latest flanker over on YouTube last week. Here’s a link: Hermes Terre D’Hermes Eau Givree review.
It’s certainly possible that necessity led to the invention of this addition to the Terre stable. However, as I say, I don’t know that for a fact. In terms of its scent profile, Givree is at once a sharper and more shrouded take on the familiar Terre structure, when compared to Eau Tres Fraiche. After you finally manage to peer through the hyperbole in its press release, what you find is a suggestion that, when composing the flanker, Christine Nagel was genuinely trying to grapple with the idea of balancing heat and cold. It’s just the sort of conceptual conundrum I can see her trying to get to grips with. And I’d say she’s succeeded quite admirably.
Eau Givree opens with a bold, razor-edged, peppery citron note, and even though it soon moves to the nutty, cedar-y, vetiver-y, streamlined woodiness we recognise from the original, it places it within an encrustation that is part ice, part lava. An intriguing, highly wearable piece of work. But why can’t it exist alongside Tres Fraiche? Perhaps one day we’ll find out.
Persolaise
[Hermes Terre D’Hermes Eau Givree sample provided by the brand in 2022.]
—If you’ve enjoyed this post, please consider supporting my workby ‘buying me a coffee’ using the panel below.Thanks very much indeed.
—
Hoặc