A DELICIOUS black currant opening, not as authentic and juicy as Enchanted Forest, but still very good. A little hard to get at first, as it's masked pretty well with a lot of pepper. Once it mellow out though, it started to smell more fresh and green, earthy, floral, and patchouli. Or like some have said, sort of like a garden. Vetiver becomes noticeable to me, within 5 minutes, but not a typical citrusy or green vetiver. More of a brown, dirty, and dry vetier, almost smelling like it's ashy.
I think this fragrance is a great balance between earthy and dark, and earthy and light. It captures everything from the grass, to the roots, the surrounding natural flowers, and even a salty note in the air. A very artistic fragrance indeed, that is also balanced out well.
I'm not sure it's something I'd wanna wear, because it doesn't carry that universal appeal, to a green earthy scent like What About Adam for example. This is still a bit too avant garde for most average fragrance wearers, and even a bit for some who are deeper into it.
Try before you buy, very much love or hate.
‘Hermann’ is a scent that was made for solitude; its freedom, its mystery, and hum. This is an olfactory ode to the self and simply being. There is a line from a REM song,“E-Bow the Letter”, “Aluminum, it tastes like fear… Adrenaline it pulls us near”, that merely sums up the feel of ‘Hermann’ for me. Its cool air giving off a green petrichor of pepper patina overtaken by ozonic clouds of rose stems and frankincense, heightening the sharpness of the metallic capsicum, till a fresh, camphorous earthiness finalizes the linearity into noteworthy stony adage to deep thoughts… Wonderfully fresh, personal and mysterious.
Of late EldO has been trading in gentle weirdness – and this Quentin Bisch creation slots right in. Playing with synthetics that have a mineral, ‘purified nature’ aspect – the ozonic melon of calypsone and the salty abstraction of ambroxan – as well as the fruity-peony petalia, it teases the wearer with an almost pvc-like shimmer. But breaking up the synth-pop melody played here are some ‘real’ instrumental jabs (or are they?): blackcurrant bud tartness, paint-box red roses and the old familiar fog-piercer pairing of pepper and incense. It’s a fun real/fake mash-up, which would definitely be much more interesting had it been given a bit more body – it wears like a cool eau de toilette of the kind that threatens a disappearing act within minutes.
It hangs around longer of course, but the drydown is a grey mess – dry soil, pepper and resins ground and served up in an ozonic haze. And *that* makes it sound much more interesting than what the nose actually encounters.
Clean and clear and peppery at first. A green, resembling stems or leaves follows. Something here seems vaguely aquatic. There is a coolness... Vague, light floral notes. This frag is very tame, on me. I find it dull, boring.
I get a little incense and a little wood later. Neither of which are strong. Ambroxan and patchouli seem to amp up later on... I get a little minty scent or an astringent accord hours later. Yawn.
(Le Capitaine) in The Wild Boys by Bertrand Mandico 2017
Hermann is an overpowering, synthetic aquatic that settles, but never enough. Calypsone reigns here—it could be a hypersensitivity, as I frequently am overwhelmed by this element of such fragrances, but the earthy patchouli and floral incense remain all but hidden under this cloying exterior. I wish I were getting the dirty soil, but the best I can extract is a slightly camphorous note that rises just above the surface. It's not compelling to me in the least—a hard pass. [3/10]