Cologne

Hermes Eau d’orange verte Shower Gel Better Than a Shot of Caffeine

Bitter oranges

In the Netherlands it is wintertime. Days are short, tend to be grey and it can be rainy. For me it is one of the most difficult times of the year as we do not get a lot a sunshine. I compensate the lack of sun as much as I can by using fragrances and body products which are uplifting and energizing. One of the best to accomplish this is Hermes Eau d’orange verte hair and body shower gel (in short: shower gel).

Hermes Eau d’orange verte shower gel is not cheap* but I find it to be extremely uplifting, energizing and worth its price as you do not need a lot of it. Apply a bit of shower gel (the amount of 5 euro cents) on the inside of the palm of your hand, put your hands together so you get a bit of lather and smell for a few seconds. This energizes me more than a shot or two of espresso or ristretto coffee.

Hermes Eau d'orange verte showergel review

 

Nice to know

Hermes Eau d’Orange Verte used to be called Eau de Cologne Hermes and was created in 1979 by French perfumer Francoise Caron. It does not contain bergamot or so Hermes claims for some unknown reason. But it does contain petit grain lemon, mandarin, bitter orange tree (bigadier) leaves (orange leaf absolute plus probably petit grain orange) and peppermint, according to official Hermes training material from the nineties. According to different internet sources Eau d’orange verte contains/used to contain oakmoss and patchouly.

Fragrance Family

Rich Citrus (Michael Edwards)/ Floral Chypre Citrus (Technical Commision of French Society of Perfumers)

*The official Hermes price for a 200 ml hair and body shower gel bottle is 33 euro and can be bought online via the official Hermes website.

Do you use body products to uplift or energize you ? If so which one do you like to use most ?

Photographs made by L’Esperessence

Atelier Cologne Grand Neroli

image

Atelier Cologne Grand Neroli has been one of my favorite summer cologne this summer. It is fresh, not very longlasting, uncomplicated but uplifting, refreshing and wonderful on a hot day. Every time I wore it I kept spraying it during the day; the only remedy for it’s short longevity.  I bought a leather glove for the 30 ml refillable spray bottle which works quite well in a small hand bag.

image

I experience spraying Grand Neroli as refreshing as having a swim in a cold pool on a very warm day or having a cool glass of orange lemonade in the shadeimage.

Highly recommended !

rating: 4/5

origin of sample: my own

 

painting: Bodegon de naranjas  Raphael Romero Barros, 1863, Museo de Bellas Artes Cordoba, Spain

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Maison Francis Kurkdjian Cologne pour le Matin Fresh…ok, but exciting ?

The French/Armenian perfumer Francis Kurkdjian made one cologne for the morning and one for the evening for his own perfume line Maison Francis Kurkdjian (MFK). This is a different approach to classic colognes which are mostly used in the morning to refresh but not very suited for evenings.

image

Cologne pour le matin is one of my favorite cologne.  The image I get is the one above. At first you smell citrus notes, lemon and bergamot very shortly. Afterwards you smell cedar wood for hours, like scenting sharpened pencils. This reminded me of the perfume Autoportrait by Olfactive Studio. Giving a clean, fresh but warm feeling. 

Cologne pour le Matin is fresh but not very exciting. Much more stimulating is another evening scent from MFK: Absolue pour le Soir. Absolue pour le Soir, an animalic scent, reminding me of horse barns. Kurkdjian said he was inspired for Absolue pour le Soir by a photograph of Bianca Jagger lying on a leather couch during the eighties while wearing a little dress.

He got his inspiration for Cologne pour le Matin from the first lines from the book Bonjour Tristesse by the French writer Francoise Sagan. She describes being wakened by a sunbeam. Another inspiration was walking on the grass in the morning. I can imagine these two sources of inspiration but not a picture of Bianca Jagger. 

Cologne pour le Matin might be too clean or even a bit boring for some but I find it a refreshing scent during the morning or day. Different from classic Colognes like Muelhens 4711. Longevity of Cologne pour le Matin is excellent.

Official notes according to MFK website: bergamot from Calabria, lemon from Sicily, white thyme from Maroc, lavender, oranjeblossom from Tunis. According to the Fragantica website the notes are cotton and flax.

August 8, 2012

Updated: October 14, 2014

Photographs were made by me.

Origin of sample: my own