Eau des Merveilles (2004)
by Hermès

Eau des Merveilles opens quite nice, nicer than I remember in fact. I get a bit of pepper immediately and sweet florals. Pretty for about 15-30 minutes. Then, Eau des Merveilles presents herself as what she is ... a boring, sweet woody. Inverted? Maybe. I'm picking up citrus about 2 hours out ... if I close my eyes and think real hard. But at this price point, I was expecting a lot more. A lot.

23rd October, 2011.

I think the opening is very feminine. Soft. Sexy. However, the middle and base notes slowly start smelling masculine. Salty. Musk.

16th June, 2011.

Captivating, bright aldehydic orange opening leads soon into a bitter and salty dry-down with that certain kind of floral/green plant feel to it, which to me, smells annoyingly thin and unsettling when inhaled too close. The sillage is more pleasant, but still hardly that enjoyable for me.

One of those fragrances which actually smelled interesting and rather good at the first time I tried it, but it quite soon lost it's charm afterwards and eventually I fell completely out of love. I can't stand it anymore, to be honest.

I've only tried EdT and have no intention to study other formulations.

21st March, 2011.

This is the one that's supposed to have an "inverted pyramid"; i. e., the top notes are in the base, the base notes are in the top, and the middle notes are... well, still in the middle. The EdT smells to me remarkably similar to the later Terre d'Hermès of Ellena, but it is missing that "silex" note that's said to remind one of the smell of sun-warmed stones. On the whole this is rather unisex to me, though it's labeled as being for women. The progression of this from layer to layer is rather hard to detect for me. It seems almost as if all the levels are present from beginning to end, making it a bit more linear than most Hermès scents. Still, it's something of a toudr de force, and deserves some credit for that.

2nd October, 2010.

*EDT is very very diffrent from the EDP (elixir)

This stuff's amazing. I smell in it... ambergris, a tiny bit of suede, dry orange peel, oak wood and some reisinous saltiness, and some ceder, but not much.

Thumbs up, unique perfume! I just with it had more suede... smells very good layered with a little solely-leather perfume.
It stays more like... a dry orange perfume with ambergris at the drydown.

24th April, 2010. (Last Edited: 24th December, 2010.)

I'm trying to expand my perfume repertoire because I have worn Frederic Malle Musc Ravageur for quite sometime and I am having trouble affording it-lol! It is also a wee-bit heavy for the summertime (for others, not me-smile)...I could wear it ALL THE TIME and be so happy. Anyhow, among many others, someone recommend I try Hermes Eau des Merveilles.

Once again, I have to agree with another contributor. I LIKE this scent, I really do. I was hoping it would be more unique, less mainstream, more outstanding, more outrageous. For me, however it is none of this :0( I really loved the initial vetiver, oak, cedar scents. I really dislike super powdery, floral, sweet scents on me. The spicy aroma and hints of incense really pleased me.

But I have TWO main problems with this scent. First problem...after the original WOW of the perfume, the lemony-grassy-orange citrus notes of the scent took over and within a half hour or so, the perfume smelled very nondescript. Not offensive, not horrible...just ordinary and run-of-the-mill...nothing too special.

Second problem...zero staying power on this body! I sprayed a LOT of this perfume on me, I really did. But nothing at all after 1 hour. This perfume seems way too pricey to have zero staying power, at least on me!

17th April, 2010.