Hermessence Paprika Brasil

Applying Paprika Brasil on my hand, is like as if I just sliced open a fresh chilli pepper, and its juice full of vegetal sweetness and spiciness got on my fingers. But this initially fresh spicy scent turns drier and more fiery in no time, as if the fruit is being dried and turned into paprika. I can also smell some peppery nuance around the edges. The spices reach its peak at around 15 minutes and gradually cools down afterwards. The fragrance is then dominated by iris after about 2 hours. The iris here is gently rooty and carroty, which pairs brilliantly with the vegetal characteristics of the chilli pepper, allowing a seemingly unexpected yet seamless transition between chilli pepper and iris. Just when I thought Paprika Brasil would remain a subtly spiced powdery iris, the clove starts to emerge after about 5 hours. Its spiciness turns the fragrance into a spicy violet. I can even catch a glimpse of its meatiness. Paprika Brasil remains close to skin throughout its 9 hours longevity. I'm not familiar with brazilwood, and wasn't able to discern it from the woody base. Instead, iris plays a such important role that I tend to agree that Paprika Brasil seems to be a misleading name for this fragrance. Although there're plenty of excellent iris fragrances out there, combining iris with chilli pepper is quite unique and works surprisingly well in Paprika Brasil. The hot spices and cool iris make an interesting contrast, while both present a vegetal quality that keeps the fragrance coherent. Moreover, comparing to L'Artisan Parfumeur Piment Brûlant which is almost entirely of chilli pepper, Paprika Brasil's elegant iris drydown makes it more wearable and all the while stay interesting. I think Paprika Brasil definitely worths a try, especially to those who are interested in fragrances with a certain vegetal quality.

This tickles me—I mean, it really does tickle my senses, it has a trigeminal effect for me. The trigeminal nerve responsible for sending pain, touch and temperature sensations from your face to your brain. Here is a bit of this tingling, electric sensation, and I experience this when I smell a cut red pepper or smell and taste paprika itself. I happen to find this quite pleasant as I imagine many do. However, in large quantities of, say, capsaicin, for example, this sensation goes from tingley to spicy hot. Here, the subtle tickle I feel in Paprika Brasil enhances all else in play here, the way it seems to "refract" with the vegetal viridescence and is rendered a bit smoother by the buttery, suave orris root that is the crux of the composition. Like a number of others from Jean-Claude Ellena in the Hermessence series, this feels like a watercolor, dreamy and delightfully obscure. In its heart, there are suggestions of the reseda flower, green-spicy, verging on allium-like, with violet undertones. It feels like smooth skin, waxy petals, suggestions of fresh green peas, tangy, tart facets, that grow drier and woodier over time. There is an ever so subtle smokiness that surfaces as well, the vaguest smolder beneath the foliage and roots. Overall, it all just stops short of feeling culinary (something L'Artisan Parfumeur could not avoid, as fascinating of a concept it is) and the end result is a big love for me: a compelling creation of nuanced botany and perfume impressionism.

I managed to find a more-than-half-full 100ml bottle from a reseller and I'm so glad I did. I'd read lots of reviews of Paprika Brasil, including from editors when it first came out (all seemingly negative). There were many different opinions, but I did pick up on bits and pieces that I agree with, and many that don't match my experience. I wonder if this one just needed time to come alive versus a fresh spray from a new batch? It was love at first smell for me. Someone else noted papery flowers - a great way to describe it - over rich, spicy wood. I don't pick up much on the individual spice notes, I think they are absorbed and unified into the underlying wood for me. It's very evocative and mysterious; delicate but tough; there is something classical but fashioned in a novel way. Everything is in perfect balance and it's a one-of-a-kind fragrance to me. Some of the original reviews compare it to Dzongkha - a great scent I know well, having gifted it to my sister - but I don't smell any parallels, other than maybe in the general somber mood. It's perhaps the longest lasting of the EDTs in the line, though it's always a skin scent, as one would assume. A precision unisex scent. It might be my favorite JCE Hermessence. It's really a shame that it was discontinued; I will wear mine sparingly.

The opening is spicy, with wafts of iris threaded through the hot pepper, which gives the perfume a noticeable metallic tang almost reminiscent of certain Serge Lutens perfumes. Very soon it veers into violet candy territory, which you either love or hate (I love it), before taking a lovely sharp green edge that stops it from becoming cloying. The woods come through as a general sense of warmth, comfort and class, bringing depth and power to something that might have turned out a bit too church-lady or granny-ish. Projection and sillage are weak to medium and longevity is medium (I got about five hours out of it). Paprika Brasil is definitely Hermès to the last drop: it's chic, it's confident, it's timeless, it smells polished and expensive, and it has that purity and clarity you can't get from anyone but Ellena. Is it incredibly thought-provoking or cutting-edge? No, but it's still beautiful and unique in its own right, and almost 15 years later it still smells relevant. The work of a master never goes out of style.

Truly stunning fragrance. So very sad it was discontinued. The unexpected combination of woody cedar scent with iris smells like summer for me (the part before all the grass dries up and dies in July), when the crepe myrtles are in bloom and their scent fills the air with a soft powdery iris smell, and there are hints of cedar shaving smells drifting on the breeze. I live in a hot climate and this scent seems made for that. Despite the unexpected combination of ingredients, I don't find this an aggressive combination at all. It's very pleasant. I compared it to the newer Cedre Sambac release (cedar and jasmine) and definitely prefer this scent as more warm and comforting over CS. I plan on spinning out my big bottle for a loooong time.