Jour d'Hermes

Essential Hermès DNA... First Impression: for me, this scent is the essential tag, or signature that I notice in many Hermès scents. Signed by perfumer Jean Claude Ellena, this beauty opens with a burst of solar, musky citrus. The grapefruit here leans musky, and includes the musky, salty skin facets from pith, which distinguishes it from pomelo. As it transitions to the heart, the muskiness is continued by a musky white floral blend with what reads like the salty skin & baby wipes facets of jasmine, soft mushroom facets of gardenia and faint clean touches from residual citrus blending with the white-florals. There is a pleasant shampoo vibe on the skin that sweetens as it's drying down to settle out into a sweet-pea & musky woods base with aromatic-herbal touches. With it's soft focus blur of mutable florals, this could be worn at any time for any occasion. I find the performance slightly above average, but the musky skin elements may cause some to think it's quickly become a skin-scent. Overall: Above average performance with a versatile wearing experience, this sophisticated beauty is for fans of musky citrus & musky white florals. Enjoy! Contrast to Acqua di Parma Magnolia Nobile: These are different, but they've been compared, and there are some similarities with the combination of citrus & white-floral. Jour d'Hermès has a much more forward musky quality that I find in many Hermès scents. Magnolia Nobile reads more clearly as magnolia. Both have above average performance, but the citrus component of Magnolia Nobile is longer lasting, while Jour d'Hermès is less linear. Contrast to Un Jardin Sur Le Toit Hermès: These are different, and UJSLT I get primarily a fresh green rose. However, the opening of UJSLT has something similar to the drydown of Jour d'Hermès, and the longer it's on the skin, the more the Hermès DNA comes out, with the musky, salty skin facet from fruits & florals (like grapefruit & jasmine), that I notice in quite a few Hermès scents. It's strange and a bit like they're flipped, where the opening of UJSLT is like the drydown of Jour d'Hermès, while the drydown of UJSLT is like the opening of Jour d'Hermès, although not exactly. Performance is slightly stronger for Jour d'Hermès. Contrast to Le Jardin de Monsieur Li Hermès: These are not the same, although the openings are quite similar. Jour d'Hermès dries down a lot sweeter on the skin, and while LJDML does sweeten as it dries down, it doesn't go as far, settling out at a sweeter shampoo. There are similarities in the openings where both open with a musky citrus and both seem like the work of Jean Claude Ellena. Update 03/20/25: Sprayed this on today. Enjoyed the opening which reminds me of water with slice of lemon. As it transitions to the heart, I do get the gardenia which is fresh & green-leaning. Also the sweet pea, which gives me a passing reminder of My Burberry, and some indecipherable musky-creant florals (I wanna say maybe a soft magnolia & soft jasmine?). The floral heart has some creamy, musky and almost leather-like facets which are delicately done. This is a great scent for this time of year (spring) where I'm noticing the freshness. Summer brings out the musky white florals more. It's definitely become more of a spring-summer day scent for me, and I'm appreciating it more as time goes on. Love it.

Found a tester of this in a forgotten in a corner and tried this lazily at home... An ordinary glass vial with the name hand written on the label by a sephora employer.. Could something so unremarkable contains one of the most beautiful fragrance I ever smell? Yes of course! How wonderful does this smell? Candied cedar framed with watery-dewy accents. I've recently start to understand which are really my tastes in therm of fragrance, regardless what is considered a trend or a must have. I have a wide spectrum of parfumes that I like, and equally wider range of ones I dislike. But recently I've found myself caught by man's colognes with citruses and woody notes. Really, how many times I have thought that men colognes are better than most of that musky-ambery-patchouli bombs that are in many woman's parfumes nowadays? So not surprising that I've loved this at first smell. Of course it is neither a cologne nor a masculine smell, but it is a woody ripe citrus, sweet, yet also green and aquatic. Most Incredible, that citrus sweetness (no, on me these citruses are sweet, not sour,) remains prominent all the time, whereas this kind of notes are always so volatile! No, that delicious opening don't fade, never shaded or overpowered by the beautiful withe flowers and the aquatic notes, which add a discrete gentle touch. The drydown goes a bit further on the woodsy side, but do not change too dramatically. No musk arrives at my nose (and I very glad of this). Overall I am totally in love with this. I am also impressed because the longevity seems pretty good (5-6h, and consider that I made only a single spray from an old tester). The sillage is intimate, that's the only non positive notes. Of cours this isn't the kind of fragrance that are supposed to fill a room (and the heads of the poor guys inside), but maybe considering the price it could have been a bit stronger. I've read many time about the genius of Mr Ellena and in particular during its collaboration with Hermes, and, based on this, I can't but agree.

Joy, light and grace were the words that came into my mind when I first smelled this fragrance and I immediately envisioned Grace Kelly in the movie High Society wearing that white dress and sitting around the blue pool while men swirl around her languishing for her. This is the scent of an elegant, beautiful woman, restrained and passionate at the same time. This fragrance is not sexy but it makes you feel sexy in a subtle way. People around me seem to love it. One day a young colleague that wore Mademoiselle asked me what was the suave perfume I was wearing. I had to laugh inside of me because I think that Mademoiselle has a similar dry down but it is louder, scratchier and overwhelming at the point of being almost unbearable whereas Jour is a smooth operator with low to moderate silage but exceptional longevity. I remember when it came out some parfumista where disappointed because it wasn't something really groundbreaking, but I really liked it because I love all Jean-Claude Ellena's scents, especially the Jardin series, and I missed something very similar, only more explicitly feminine, a sort of Jardin de Femme, for those days when you want the freshness of the Jardin fragrances but also want to feel exquisitely feminine. I think that he nailed this one, at least for me. I love the citruses that make it refreshing, luminous and sparkling, I love the delicate white flowers that make it creamy, feminine, elegant, and I love the mysterious woods and spices that make it so exotic, so unmistakably Hermes. The name Jour is perfect and the refillable bottle is very elegant, even if I would have loved the cap to be more balanced with the rest of the design, like the one of the pure perfume. In case you like this scent but is seems too expensive, there is a perfume from the Italian house L'Erbolario called Osmanthus that is 90% identical and extremely affordable. The shower gel and body lotions are SLS free and also divine.

I fell in love with this at first sniff, and have been through several bottles over the years. This is, as many have remarked, a "watercolor" type of scent, consistent with JCE's typical "style." If it were a color, it would be diffuse and soft -- not bold or deep. It brings to mind images of cloudless, pale blue skies, green grass in varying shades, and dainty little wildflowers -- all painted in broad, sweeping strokes. One fleeting impression bleeds into the next. There are no harsh or discernible transitions. Regardless of what the marketing might say about "flowers, and nothing but flowers," I get quite a bit of citrus out of this. (In fact, it's one of the only perfumes with a citrus note that lasts on my skin, and it holds up relatively well in high temperatures/outdoor conditions). The citrus leans more toward the grapefruit/grapefruit rind side (acidic, with a touch of bitterness -- but it's energizing, not off-putting). White flowers (fresh -- not sweet or indolic or cloying) lend support, but they never steal the show. There is always a hint of "green" at the edges of the composition, but nothing that pushes it into a different category. Any musk or woodsy notes serve only to anchor the fragrance and extend its longevity. While I have found this perfume to be perfectly suitable for indoor wear (it's not suffocating, it doesn't own whatever room it wafted through five hours ago, etc.), it seems to be most comfortable and expressive when worn outdoors... I love wearing this on a sunny day while strolling idly through a park. (It will last about 3-4 hours in warm conditions outdoors, which is pretty respectable for a citrus-floral, and about 4-6 hours in climate-controlled environments.) The Absolu version of this leans a bit more floral (I own both) and it a tad denser -- so if you liked this, but wanted something a little different, give the Absolu a shot.

I have the pure parfum, which comes in 7.5ml refills for a golden locket. I found such a bottle for 20 bucks. That's outstanding value for a pure parfum from a famous French house. But then again, maybe not. The truth is I have dimestore fragrances with similar impact - say Women Secret Coconut Temptation. Not the same notes, not a dupe, but it's similar! This fragrance is gourmand. There's no doubt the top smells of quality - here luxury citrus fruit jellies (the kind offered by artisanal local confiseries in Europe), and French and Italian fruit-based liquors. It's not syrupy sweet rather more like a champagne cocktail made with such liquors. Citrus rind oils - but not an oily smell. Sitting on DEWY white flowers. There is a comestible impact to this fragrance all the way through - thus - a gourmand? It's light, somewhat subtle, optimistic, honest, innocent and pretty. It would make a nice gift to a teen. If a pop star made this for 25 bucks it would sell gazillions of bottles and nobody would suspect it's a luxury product, rather they would love that it smells great. Or, imagine the perfect Avon citrusy white floral from a bygone era. Or compare to a dimestore take, like the one mentioned above. Nothing says it can't be unisex. It could be an effective mood changer. My pure parfum doesn't have impressive longevity. Summary: pretty innocence.