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Post by Trésor
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I am a self professed cologne hater, I hate colognes…or at least that’s what I like to tell myself. “I am HARDCORE” I say, convincing myself that the only potions I care to anoint myself with are those so dense with utter depth and debaucherous subversion that they practically have fangs. This is all, of course, an incredible delusion because the truth of the matter is that of all the fragrances I own it tends to be the bottles of eau de cologne that I find myself emptying first. I’ve had my fair share of undisclosed affairs with an eau de cologne, a splash of Eau Sauvage here and a another of Eau de Coq there but there is one I return to each and every time: Eau d’Orange Verte from Hermès. A true study in how a fragrance can be so much more than just the sum of its parts.
Eau d`Orange Verte by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès 2009
Photo Stolen Fragrantica
Fragrantica gives these featured accords in one line:
Amalfi lemon, orange, mandarin, cassis, mint, patchouli, oakmoss
Eau d’Orange Verte opens with the most extraordinarily effulgent lightshow of photorealistic orange, so vivid in its juicy titian hue that you are left with the visceral impression of smelling a orange that has just been cut in half. I find this to be at the same time both inimitably refreshing and also a gentle act of hypnotism, leaving you entranced and transported into a dimension of glorious and gleaming sunbeams. It’s a powerful experience, mores than in any eau de cologne I have experienced.
There is an assertiveness and charisma in how Eau d’Orange Verte takes charge of your senses in its incipience but also a confident and effortless elegance. You wouldn’t imagine an orange to be the most particularly sexy note, but there is something I find so terribly seductive about this interplay of power and geniality. As the verdancy of the orange begins to diffuse the composition draws itself closer to the skin and the incredible sparkling radiance of the opening becomes a gleaming aurora of mandarin inflected with a delicate whisper velvet jasmine petals, not petals of a present reality but the tendrils of aroma encapsulated within a precious memory; blurry and fleeting but deeply beautiful.
Photo Donated Trésor
The dry down of Eau d’Orange Verte is one of silken emerald moss and the most graceful kiss of delicate patchouli, a chypre hologram; the traditional density stripped away but the spirit remaining in breathtaking entirety. It’s shortly after this that Eau d’Orange Verte finally fades into nothing and you are left with but a beloved recollection of the time you’d spent together.
The longevity on Eau d’Orange Verte is rather short. This time of year, when it is still rather cold where I reside I can get about 30 minutes though in the sweltering heat of the summertime an hour or two is not unheard of. The projection is very delicate as well, a treat for yourself and those you draw incredibly close. I urge you to give this precious little potion a whirl if you are looking to experience a proper, incredibly refined eau de cologne or just so happen to be in need of a little sunshine.
Photo Stolen WikiCommons
Further reading: Perfume Smellin’ Things and Perfume Posse
FragranceNet has $56/50ml before Coupon
My Perfume Samples start at $2/ml
Now tell me, what are your favourite eau de colognes?
Until next time, kittens.
Trésor xx
Australian Perfume Junkies 