Despite the (extremely off-putting) technical glitches, I broadcast a few more reviews over on YouTube the other day, including one of an entirely unexpected Hermes exclusive called Paddock, composed by Christine Nagel. Other videos focused on Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale (Quentin Bisch), Ffern Spring 2024 (Elodie Durande) and the entire range from Eau D’Italie. Here are links to all the episodes, followed by further thoughts on some of the scents: Hermes Paddock review — Ffern Spring 2024 review — Maison Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale review — Eau D’Italie showcase review.
Top marks to Hermes and Nagel for creating something as out-of-character as Paddock — now they just need to make it more widely available. In response to my description of the scent, one of my viewers, @stjudetheobscure, left this comment: “When you want a sports horse to perform you feed it hay that’s been wrapped in black tarpaulin or plastic for a few weeks. This makes it ferment a little and elevates the sugars … It smells unique: beetroot, honey, swede, grass, nutmeg. Perhaps that’s where this is going.” And honestly, there is very little left for me to add to these words, because they capture the strangeness of the composition more succinctly than I can, despite the fact that the person who wrote them has yet to smell the perfume. All I’d add is that Paddock is perhaps more about hay, honey, spices and earth than it is about beetroot and grass. And that it’s highly wearable. The enjoyment Nagel must have felt in being able to step outside the usual Hermes aesthetic to make it is evident in every moment of its development. As someone else suggested, it has a distant cousin in L’Artisan Parfumeur Dzing!, but it is far weirder, hotter and less cuddly. I’m not sure how easy it will be to hunt down, but if you ever come across a bottle, do not walk past without sniffing.
Quentin Bisch tones down his beloved ambery woods to some extent in Crivelli Tubereuse Astrale, a misnamed, but compelling, leather-and-peach take on tuberose. Rhubarb is the centre of attention in Ffern Spring 2024 (Elodie Durande): a suitably naturalistic, citrusy composition, which certainly puts a smile on your face even while coming across as rather similar to some of the brand’s other offerings. Finally, my showcase review of Eau D’Italie shows that, sadly, the company’s more recent releases are derivative and do not live up to the promise shown by their earlier efforts, many of which have been discontinued. Still, there are some worthy of your attention, including Olivier Cresp’s Fior Fiore (a tender, heartfelt presentation of freesia and lily of the valley) as well as Alberto Morillas’ Acqua Decima (a modern take on Eau Sauvage, complete with sharp-jawed aromatics).
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General showcase 2:40
Acqua Decima (Alberto Morillas) 7:50
Jardin Du Poete (Bertrand Duchaufour) 10:56
Rosa Greta (Fabrice Pellegrin) 14:57
Fior Fiore (Olivier Cresp) 18:05
[Samples provided by the brands.]
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