Perfume Reviews by faustnotes

Search by Amouage

7/28/24 - This is a brief preliminary review. I've just received a little decant of this from Scentbird and have sprayed it on a card. I have an immediate favorable reaction to the frankincense. I can't get enough, it's like crack to me. Combined with the cade and guaiacwood, it's an intoxicatingly spicy, smokey, woody feeling. The lemon and vetiver are very subtle.

I cannot wait to try this on my skin. I'm sure it will be a different experience from smelling it on a card, but I have a good feeling about it.

Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée by Hermès

3/8/23 - This will be my first review on Basenotes.

Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée

I am a novice with fragrance reviews, despite my 50something years, so there will not be a lot of jargon or references to other colognes or makers -- I simply don't have the experience and knowledge. However, this being a relatively new fragrance to the market, and me having stumbled upon it recently quite by serendipity, and it not having many reviews yet here on BN, I wanted to put in a good word for it.

I love this product. Granted I have spent very little time in my life in serious pursuit of the ultimate fragrance for me. But this one makes me feel good, and it brings me pleasure from the first spray all the way to bedtime.

Projection and sillage are not huge, which is actually preferable to me. I'm a grown man who doesn't feel compelled to brutalize everyone within 20 feet around me with my odor. That's for obnoxious boys who mistake aggressiveness for confidence. If you can't interest someone with a look, I don't think an olfactory assault is going to mitigate that. Let them enjoy your smell after they get close.

Both my wife and I like it, and that's really all that matters to me.

Upon spraying, the first hit is lemony-citrusy, with slightly gin-like juniper berry in the background. I love it, it makes me want more. It's a rind-y smell, slightly sweet but nowhere near cloying. A bit like lemon zest. There is also a mineral-y note in there, I wish I could be more specific, but it's terribly nice. It feels like eating a whole lemon on a snowy mountainside covered in pine.

It tones down and softens with more woodiness, almost powdery. Is that the vetiver I keep hearing about? I wish I had the scent knowledge to describe it. It's almost edible.

Toward the end of the day, of course the projection is pretty minimal, but I still get random whiffs of the slightly intoxicating woody-earthy scent, with just echoes of the citrus and juniper berry. Perfect and relaxing for sleepytime (or other bedtime activities).

My nose needs more training, but to me the pepper must be located on a subliminal, subconscious level, because I don't pick it out distinctly.

All in all this is a fantastic fragrance to me, and I consider it a great first step in what I hope is a journey of discovery... if there are more fragrances out there like this, I want them.