Hermèssence Paprika Brasil (2006)
by Hermès

I am a huge fan of JCE, but did like this one. Sour and dry on me. Just not for me. But I would stop short of giving a thumbs down.

9th July, 2011.

Hello?! Anyone home?!

I mean.. seriously.. This is possibly the most impalpable fragrance I've ever tried..

And it's a shame because I think this would be not bad at all if you could actually smell something 5 mins after applying it..

3rd June, 2011.

Paprika Brasil comfortably sits between all other fragrances of the same line (Hermessence), with its thin and minimalistic structure. Peppery spices and woods pleasantly balanced to create a traslucent and very gentle smell. Nice and well executed but I expected a little more from a supposed"exclusive" line by Hermes. A serious contendant if just half priced.

16th April, 2011.

For a man who hates iris, give this one a try. I gotta say, I cannot stand iris notes, they come off dry, powdery, and as floral as floral gets -- not something I wanna smell like. Paprika Brasil and the brilliant nose behind it: JCE, does a great job of combining iris, woods, paprika and some other spices for a very smooth fragrance. What I mean by smooth, is it transitions through the notes very subtly, it can go unnoticed, and if ya don't pay attention, you would think this scent is very linear, but it's as opposite of linear as possible.

The opening is arguably feminine. I get paprika and florals. If ya hang in there though, it smoothly transforms into a wet dewy iris, paprika and pepper. The more it dries, the more the woods come in; I get guaiac wood, cedar and a milky creaminess in the base. The cedar is more spicy than woody, kind of reminds me of white cedar, but I don't get the Iso E so much in this one. Where Iso E can smell like a fake natural cedar, this actually smells like natural cedar, and although the differences between a real cedar note and Iso E can be very minuscule, I find them clear in Paprika Brasil's base notes.

The best thing about PR, at least on my skin, is the projection. It seems to project all the way into the base, you will get noticed with this, like many from the Hermessence line. I love how people around me can smell the top, middle and base notes. If they have been around me all day, they see the real artistic side of fragrances, they may think you put on 3 or 4 different fragrances since the projection is letting them smell all the phases in the fragrance -- I notice this being common with the particular Hermessence line. Longevity being 16+ hours is just another plus.

Paprika Brasil is probably one of the least talked about in the lineup. Its dry down may feel common if you know JCE's work, but it is unmistakeably gorgeous. If I had the money.. I would own a bottle of this, Vetiver Tonka, and Ambre Narguile from this line for sure. But saving up for each of them, is a bit ridiculous. The prices are outrageous, and still don't believe it's worth a purchase. But that's just a standard I have, and a personal preference. If you've got the money for these, then get them! They are definitely high quality, and unique.

24th February, 2011.

One of the weakest scents from the Hermessence line. Basically a dry-pepper fragrance layered with a rooty iris and a faint wood base. You have to keep your nose very close to the place where you applied it, because the scent has zero projection throughout the evolution. It does last, but it's so faint that it gives you an impression that disappearing after 30 minutes on skin. Not a bad scent, but you'd expect much more for 200 dollars.

22nd January, 2011.

In my opinion, the name of this scent is quite misleading. I don't find it reminiscent of Brazil in any way. I know the "Brasil" bit refers to Brasil wood but I would have named it different.

I sniffed the cap before spraying and -call me crazy- but I detect a light floral smell similar to that of Violetta di Parma EDP.

I sprayed it on my wrist and got suffocated by an intense cloud of Szegedi Paprika, the hot kind. This doesn't last long but is enough to keep me intrigued.

After this I got the aforementioned green violet note.

Then: beautiful, soft, dry, elegant and refined iris wich starts mingling with leather while keeping the impression of transparency all the time.

The drydown is iris-y and leathery and much colder in feeling than the initial capsicum blast.

Staying power is decent, about 5 hours. I don't find it has a lot of sillage, it stays close to the skin

13rd September, 2010.