Terre d'Hermès

Terre d'Hermès is a woody spicy fragrance for men, made by Jean-Claude Ellena for Hermès in 2006. Orange and grapefruit open it, sharp rather than sweet, then pepper and a mineral flint note pull it down into vetiver, cedar and patchouli, with benzoin adding a little resinous sweetness at the close. Ellena built it as a study of earth and roots, and it smells like it: dry, stony, faintly bitter. It won a FiFi award for men's fragrance of the year. It lasts a moderate while and projects moderately. Spring through autumn, in daylight.