Equipage Geranium

The dry-down smells like the vintage Equipage. I agree with Colin Mailard that Hermes makes the best designer fragrances. Equipage Geranium could be in the Frederic Malle collection. It is close to a masterpiece in how beautifully blended it is. The rosewood and pepper accord, stunning. This may have some unlisted musc. It reminds me of Musc Ravageur by Frederic Malle, same vib, but this is better. This is one of those fragrances that was challenging at first, then it becomes a favorite! Vintage Equipage has been my favorite classic, this is more modern, but still has a beautiful rosewood, and floral aspects, yet stays very masculine. My signature frag now. I can't believe people haven't discovered how great this is. It's better than my top niche fragrance, mostly. I'm acquiring a taste for the spiciness. Some of my very favorite frags were challenging at first. The sharp spicy opening was too much at first; never liked very spicy frags like Spice Bomb. But now I like the sharp spicy opening that does settle after 5 minutes. It then settles to a soft and fresh spiciness, reminding me more of the original Equipage. I recommend reading Colin Mailard's review towards the end here. He uses words like sharp, herbal, edgy, dry, spicy. Those are the best adjectives for this, the minty geranium is there, but in the background. This feels like it has a bit of Clary sage, which the original has. This has a touch of citrus, maybe bergamot, that ads some freshness, and balances the sharper spices. Sometimes I get a welcome fruity tone, possibly from a clove note. The spiciness was to harsh at first, but the juice feels more balanced and we'll blended now, on the second day. This is an aromatic, fresh spicy, and not very floral: Geranium is a green, minty floral anyway. This would make a great fragrance to wear at the office, it's casual, sharp and bright. I am picking up the floral now. It nicely balances the spices. The floral smells like lavender and carnation to me. Carnation was the dominant floral in the original Equipage. I do need to mention this has a smooth sandalwood, reminding me of the original. I almost think I'm picking up some rosewood. When I first got my bottle, all I smelled were a lot of hot spices, and sandalwood. I have some great geranium fragrances, Diptyque Geranium odorata, and Creed Vetiver Geranium, so I know Geranium, and I'm not picking up much here. Kind of dissapointed, I feel like a bad blind buy, but I remember it being better. Maybe my taste has changed, or I got a bad bottle, or it needs to breath, being on the shelf for a few years. The fragrance did smell better on the second day, more balanced. It does remind me of a more spicy, sharper version of the original Equipage. The spices:. I would guess, cloves, nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, coriander. From the mid-drydown, the spices cool down, and then it reminds me more of the vintage Equipage. This is a grower for me. I really like the distinct spiciness and geranium combo now. I raised my rating from 8 to 9.5. A quality fragrance, with very good performance for edt. Rating: 9.5/10 God bless. John 3:16

I'm comparing, side to side, the new Equipage Geranium version and a regular Equipage, vintage version. Regular Equipage begins with a citrus blast -- with all the herbal and spicy stuff in the background it reminds me of Dior Eau Sauvage or Chanel Pour Monsieur. After 15-20 minutes, I'm left with mostly leather and oakmoss reminding me of Aramis Aramis, Versace L'Homme and Polo Green. And I really seem to get a rough tobacco note with the leather. A "blast from the past" type of fragrance. Equipage Geranium doesn't begin with aforementioned citrus blast -- instead, there is a green medicinal accord, probably geranium. After 10-15 minutes, the composition starts to make sense and I'm getting a lot of sandalwood with some spices reminding me of cinnamon, but not as sweet. Some herbal stuff. The leathery-tobaccoish nuances are subdued and there is a certain airiness or space between the notes. All in all, much more balanced drydown. But there is one similar (and much cheaper) fragrance that comes to mind -- Maurer & Wirtz Tabac Original! Sandalwood, carnation, spices... Equipage Geranium has more nuances, but there are some similarities. I prefer the opening of the original Equipage, but as to the drydown, Equipage Geranium is much more elegant. There seem to be more shades to the accords. Of course, my vintage mini bottle might be off and I can't comment on the current formulation. As to the longevity, there's not much difference.

I worked in retail in the 90’s and the Hermes rep was nice enough to give me a bottle of Equipage. At the time I was young and wearing Joop!, Egoiste and Tsar, so Equipage was too mature and stuffy for me. I ended up giving it away. When I recently heard about Equipage Geranium I was curious. So curious I blind bought it as I feel I can wear a stuffy cologne now that I’m old, and Hermes has never let me down. At first sniff I was reminded of Tiffany for Men, a fragrance I was never fond of. It has that same sweet baby-powder vibe and the sandalwood note is almost identical. Fortunately Equipage Geranium has a spicy note that is complex, masculine and very very interesting. It’s hard to pin point but it maybe it’s comprised of clove and pepper, and has enough of a bite to it that makes me love this. In spite of the spicy background, Equipage Geranium is soft and powdery overall. A very subtle modern update of the original I feel works. This is a clean, mature and masculine scent that is easy to wear, but I still cant see a young guy wearing this. It’s more daytime and dressy, and perfect for work or a wedding. I wouldn’t reach for this if I was hitting the town or a nightclub, but for an everyday scent, this is perfect. Everything Hermes produces is classy, refined and elegant and this is no exception. A big thumbs up for this one and a blind buy I do not regret for a second.

This come across as a real mans fragrance as it is brutally masculine in the opening which does smell a tad dated and medicinal, this disappears in about 30 minutes and then it becomes spicy, fresh, clean and warm, one hour in it becomes a little soapy and you can smell the soft sandalwood coming through in the late dry down. The blending is wonderful as the accords are all balanced perfectly and its also unique as I have never smelt a fresh, clean, soapy yet spicy and warm scent. The scent does sit close to the skin and remains a civilised skins cent so perfect for the office, I do get that old school classy gentleman vibes Dean Martin, Sean Connery, Don Draper, Humphrey Bogart but not present day old man vibes. This is a distinguished gentleman's scent that just excludes a certain level of class and sophistication. I can see this being worn by a man in his late 30s and up, dressed conservatively in smart casual, Chelsea boots, Oxford shirt with a nice woollen coat and scarf in Winter or a cold Autumn day. Longevity is moderately ok 7 hours, not exactly great but not bad either. Will scent again. :) Edit: The fragrance came alive again when I went to the gym so that was a good 10 hours after application. Therefore, the longevity will seem longer in warmer weather or just when your body heat goes up.

I adore the original classic Equipage (I have a review there as well) and was therefore hesitant to reach for a flanker for fear of being let down. However, that is far from the truth here. Equipage Geranium is a magnificent variation on a theme, with geranium pushing it into a more aromatic and somewhat green realm. Furthermore, for those where it matters, if they find original Equipage to be a bit too stuffy and dated (suit yourself!) we see it having a sort of more modern make-over, but without any of the trite attempts often seen in modern flankers of classics. Rest assured, this has all of the soapy, spicy, woody elegance of the classic retained, with some additional flair. The opening is a gorgeous blast of aldehydes, saddle soap, and verdant, mildly rosy geranium. What a showstopper. This soon mellows to a sheer spice heart; my nose detects clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, coriander, among others. The geranium becomes just a bit rosier as the signature Hermes leather underpinnings become more evident. Further into the dry down, the geranium subsides and smooth, supple sandalwood takes its place. Equipage Geranium is yet another example of Hermes bringing exemplary quality and refinement to its mainstream designer offerings, leaps and bounds beyond many other designer houses. What a terrific release.