Un Jardin sur la Lagune (2019)
by Hermès

On first reflection, this smelled like the inside of a bin. When challenged on this, I was happy to upgrade my evaluation to "inside of the *food waste* bin".

The woody aromachemicals have overtaken the garden.

Complete rip-off!

Smells like a cheap, more floral version of "Pathetique" (I hate "Pathetique") and the concept is stolen from "Venezia Giardini Segreti".

Un Jardin sur La Lagune opens with a refreshing, sparkling lemon on my skin, not as ripe and juicy as in Eau du Citron Noir, but imparting an equally natural feeling. Unfortunately, this fresh, aromatic lemon's fate also mirrors that succulent ripe lemon in Eau du Citron Noir: quickly tainted by acrid, screechy woody amber aromachemicals. Here, they're not as smoky as in Eau du Citron Noir, but mainly to provide a dry, almost dessicated texture to a salty, slightly mineral note, in order to imitate the ambient aroma of sea water in canals and stone walls in Venice.

Although I do detect the delicious, jasmine tea-like redolence of pitosporum on the test strip, on my skin, the floral notes in La Lagune remain frustratingly vague throughout the whole development. Once the fresh lemon note completely disappears after about 2 hours, Un Jardin sur La Lagune then remains this abstract, slightly salty floral musk with an unpleasantly fuzzy undertone of woody amber aromachemicals. The later eventually take over after 5 hours and turn La Lagune into an amorphous woody amber musk, not unlike the far dry down of many current masculine perfumes centred around these popular woody amber aromachemicals.

Un Jardin sur La Lagune has a moderate sillage on me and is pretty tenacious thanks to its woody amber musk dry down, lasting almost 11 hours on my skin.

Although I can more or less see why these elements are chosen to recreate the imagery of hidden garden behind stone walls with wafts of sea water through the canals, the abstract combined effect doesn't smell convincing to me. I guess this rather atmospheric treatment aims to be coherent with the rest of Les Jardins series, but the problem for me is that, while those scorching woody amber aromachemicals and inorganic-feeling mineral notes can work magic when they're cleverly disguised within other notes or when they're surrounded by vivid details, they often appear very artificial to me when they're laid out bare or without enough intricate details to smooth out the edge, which is more or less what I perceive in Un Jardin sur La Lagune. Because of the noticeable presence of woody amber aromachemicals and a resulting more harsh texture, I'd recommend it to those who enjoy Eau du Citron Noir and are interested in a slightly marine twist, rather than those who enjoy the previous entries of Les Jardins series.