Eau d'Hadrien (1981)
by Annick Goutal

Color me confused. Goutal gets a lot of high praise for Eau d'Hadrien,.

I don't get it with this one. Over several wearings of increasingly heavier applications, Eau d'Hadrien barely lasts an hour on my skin.

The initial blast of citrus is great: lemon without being furniture polish and a hint of green.

Then it's just kind of a confused, muddy citrus (not in a Terre d'Hermes way). Unfortunately it doesn't last long enough on my skin to create a solid enough impression one way or the other or to even ascertain the artistry of the scent. It's just a neutral.

The lemon top is too vivid and cutting for my tolerance. I prefer Goutal's Mandragore, which is slightly sweeter, deeper, and more interesting.

This review is under revision.

ALL THIS PRAISE HAS GOT TO STOP NOW!!!

Look, I've tried both versions of this and here is my summary:

Beechams Hot Honey & Lemon!

Now, do you want to really smell like that during spring and summer? I thought not…

Eau d’Hadrien opens with a very appealing (if not terribly original) blend of crisp citrus and green notes that’s pure Mediterranean. As others have noted, it’s also more than a little reminiscent of lemon scented furniture polish. To stretch the analogy, the furniture polish is soon applied, as a strong woody base emerges from beneath the citrus as the fragrance ages.

Over the course of the next half hour Eau d’Hadrien reveals a powdery note that rounds out the citrus and somewhat diminishes its resemblance to a household cleaner. Some light floral elements (is that a bit of rose I smell?) join in as well, and lend the fragrance welcome depth and some extra complexity. The citrus fades down pretty quickly, so that by the two hour mark I’m left with some woods and powdery musk, with just a hint of fruit and flowers shifting in and out of focus. All and all it’s pleasant enough, but nothing I’d get too excited about. For woods and citrus I go for the richer and far more complex Iskander from Parfum d’Empire or the more exotic and long-lasting Bahiana by Maitre Parfumeur et Gantier.

A very refreshing and bracing grapefruit citrus fragrance. Opens tart and stays clean and fresh throughout its life - about 2 hours. It's great as a summer tonic but don't expect it to be there very long. The opening fresh notes do not change or progress much. After using an entire bottle I realized that other than the fresh blast at the opening, I was just kind of bored with it. A number of citrus frags are like this - sort of one note wonders - Floris Limes comes to mind as well, only in lime rather than grapefruit. For a much more interesting fragrance that opens freshly with grapefruit but progresses through very interesting and clean stages, try Live Jazz.