Paul François Quinsac

It’s too early for some of us to fully celebrate Spring, thanks to our capricious weather – but that will NOT deter me from donning the very last fragrance Maître Jean-Claude Ellena created for Hermès before he passed his fragrant baton to esteemed perfumer Christine Nagel:Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine. I know it’s not yet May (the traditional timing for muguet), but I simply couldn’t wait that long, especially after my recent breakneck trip to Houston to visit my new family-to-be; everything was in bloom there, and I came home to snow. Each fiber of my beingcraved floral verdancy exquisitely underpinned with the animalic tones which contribute to both longevity and fascination. Muguet Porcelaine satisfies all such yearnings. I inundated myself in a veil of shimmering green, green as the wings of some glorious moth…

Muguet courtesy of Michel Roudnitska

Much has been discussed/disputed regarding 2016 Hermès Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine: some say that it feels derivative, an open homage to Edmond Roudnitska’s widely-adored Diorissimo. Other voices comment that they find it generic. My feelings are those of admiration for each great perfumer’s oeuvres: why I cannot love them both seems heretical. It’s much like preferring one child over another; I possess no desire to engage in it.

Hermès Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine takes no prisoners. It’s difficult to fathom that an eau de toilette can prevail so long, remain so vibrant, vibrate after many hours’ wear – but it does. Green pours straight out of the flacon in one unfaltering stream. Limpid as an aquarelle, expressive as French chanson, touching as a billet-doux from lovers past and present.

“Quand viendra la saison nouvelle 
Quand auront disparu les froids, 
Tous les deux nous irons, ma belle, 
Pour cueillir le muguet au bois.” ~ Villanelle, Théophile Gautier (immortalized by Hector Berlioz in his song cycle Les Nuits d’Été)

“When the new season arises,When the chills have vanished,We shall go together, my beauty,To the woods to gather lily-of-the-valley.”

The Kiss by Silvio Allason

ROMANCE. It commences as innocence only to emerge as worldly and knowing. One may seduce via many routes, and Hermès Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine elects not to cudgel the wearer with heavy woody overdosage, an excess of musks or cypriol as appears to be in fashion recently. It does not rely upon patchouli for earthy echoes. Yet one is fully aware of the sylvan nature of muguet, those tiny cloches which flourish in shady places. To my nose it’s a madrigal made contemporary while retaining its loveliness. Modern love and courtly love bound in joyous wedlock.

Butterfly  Robert Fowler

Pear is frequently combined with rose, but its marriage to green notes is a real coup. Lily of the valley positively glows in the radiant presence of hedione and neroli: it’s an aromatic coronation. White musk is soft, cottony and whispers of skin. When it melds with definitively animalic hues, its olfactory profile tilts the prism and we experience other facets which growl softly beneath the floral diadem of Muguet Porcelaine. This beauty is brainy as well, and perhaps not perfectly well behaved…

Jean-Claude Ellena

In the final analysis, one must decide alone: is it beautiful? Does it give pleasure? How does it make you feel? Only you must choose. Speaking for myself, I adore Hermès Hermessence Muguet Porcelain and its expansively delightful nature. I treasure it in the context of its being the last Hermessence of Jean-Claude Ellena, its evocative lyric olfactory voice.

Notes: green notes, pear, muguet, hedione,neroli, white musk, animalic notes

Fragrance from my personal collection. My nose is my own…

~ Ida Meister, Senior Editor 

~ Art Direction: Michelyn Camen, Editor-in-Chief

Thanks to the generosity of The Perfumed Court we have one 5 ml sprayer for one registered reader anywhere in the world. Be sure to register or your comment will not count.) To be eligible for the draw, please tell us where you live and what appeals to you about Ida's review of Hermès Hermessence Muguet Porcelaine, where you live and your favorite Hermès or Hermessence perfume. Draw closes 4/8/2018

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