Le Jardin de Monsieur Li

LUCKY GARDEN of CIVILIZATION. There's an allegory here, of a wild & bestial nature tamed by luck, and pressed into service of a well-mannered Chinese garden. Signed by perfumer Jean Claude Ellena, this solar jasmine scent opens with a forward kumquat note with its tart, sweet, citrus-lemon-pine & bitter nuances enhanced by aromatic mint. A picture of civilized behaviour, kumquat is symbolic of good luck in China, where it's often kept as a houseplant and given as a gift during the Lunar New Year. Almost as if to bestow luck the minty kumquat continues nearly throughout, acting as a lid to a clipped & declawed jasmine heart, resting on a tree-sap base. Here in the heart, Hermes DNA is present, and the jasmine is a tamed & trimmed version of the animalic and musky variety. Some scents eliminate this animalic facet of jasmine, but Jean-Claude Ellena takes this bestial side of jasmine and makes it conform inside the Chinese garden. Rather than being "molested against the wall" by a salty animal hide, we get lucky pennies thrown into a koi pond, wet rock and contours flous white-floral up to a civilized baby-wipes note. The result is a very unsettling but civilized jasmine scent, with a feeling that chaos may brake loose in the next unfolding, and yet it remains poised on the precipice of an imagined descent into a savagery. Contrast to Jour d'Hermes Parfum Hermes: These are not the same, although LJdML could be considered a sheer Jour d'Hermes, or an 'Eau Fraiche' in the Jour d'Hermes line. The white-floral/jasmine is similarly musky & animalic, although Jd'H 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 the baby wipes note sometimes associated with jasmine. There are similarities in the openings where both open with a musky citrus and both seem like the work of Jean Claude Ellena. Jour d'Hermes outperforms. Overall: This wasn't love at first sniff for me, but I've come to appreciate and enjoy it. Although it was released in 2015, it's still a contemporary and sophisticated approach to a light wearing summer jasmine scent with above average performance - no one will mistake this for a body spray. This is the perfect scent to wear when feeling in need of a a little luck or a civilizing influence. It's a love for me. Jasmine lovers. enjoy! Update 06/25/24: Wowza, this is smelling really good today. It really shines in warm weather, with a sparkling clear quality that isn't bubbly like a carbonated beverage, but yet cool, clear and citrus-aromatic-floral. Love it. 10/10.

Having been a Mediterranee devotee for years, I finally got my hands on a sample of this. It's a personal record for shortest time between sample and FB order. The opening initially, for approximately 2 seconds, had an astringent alcohol tone that didn't bode well but instantly vanished and was never heard from again. The rest of the opening is a delicate interplay of soft kumquat and even softer jasmine, the least indolic jasmine I've ever had the fortune to experience. It never veers into laundry territory despite that gentle hint of almost - but not quite! - soapy jasmine. Aromatic mint, fresh and cool but still gentle and well blended, joins the party next and it begins to develop into that "zenlike" vibe often referenced. Oh, and I dislike jasmine in almost every scent I've ever tried. I love it in this. I can only assume JCE sold his soul in return for magical powers. Once the aquatic note makes its entrance, the fragrance has me vividly recalling an ornamental water feature my neighbours had when I was a kid; that scent of cool water running over pebbles, tinged by the grass growing around it, is a core memory I didn't even know I had. There's nothing in the notes to give away what grounds this fragrance, but there is a depth to it on the dry down that is, perhaps, faintly woody and aromatic. It never loses that dreamy, meditative quality. Projection and sillage pretty much don't exist, and longevity is slightly worse than others of the line, but despite the poor performance, I really, REALLY had to have this. It won't irritate or offend anybody nearby, mostly because they won't be able to smell it. You can wear it at night to maximise that dreamy mood, and/or... all the usual suspects (office-friendly, spring/summer, you know the standard Jardin recommendations). It's a fictional dusk in springtime, dancing close to your skin as the sun disappears. Who wouldn't want to smell like that? Also, because it isn't a hit like Sur Le Nil, you can get it waaaay cheaper than any of the others in the line. That did help my decision to buy it!

“I remembered a smell of ponds, a smell of jasmine, a smell of soppy stones, of plum trees, kumquats and hulk bamboos. It was all there, and in a ponds there were even canopy usually operative towards their hundredth birthday.” — Jean-Claude Ellena. I was able to buy this latest creation this weekend and the good thing is that it matched my expectations : it is a very typical JC Ellena creation and unfortunately his last one at Hermes. It is definitively part of the whole Jardin family and he brought good tribute to what we could imagine as a typical Chinese Garden. Don't expect that typical fizzling almost Fanta kind of citrus opening, it is more a citrus whisper. I definitively recognize the kumquat aroma, after that soft opening, you can smell that typical green body with a non indolic Jasmin, an "aquatic" jasmin interpretation. I don't smell the real mint note, it is more the green, fresh muskiness which Ellena always master to create in his Jardin series, closer to a juicy "fig" note than really mint which would have been too harsh for balancing this very delicate composition. The Kumquat citrus has a bit more sweetness and juiciness than any other citrus note, it gives a little honeyed aspect to this perfume. Some people will be disappointed that this is just a simple & linear perfume but I think JC Ellena wanted to close his chapter of the Jardin by honoring his master pieces in all modesty and not with lot of bravura. It is if he wanted to introduce his successor Christine Nagel already by giving her the opportunity to succeed him in all serenity and softness...Is it a cologne ? No not really : it is a delicate, introvert perfume. A minimalist intimate scent you would like to wear for yourself, allowing you to transcend from the daily routines and bringing some peace in your hectic life.

I went to the shop just to try this perfume I had heard about, just to understand the simplicity of this Chinese garden, but that was already enough. I gave my last money for 30 ml of this. And there comes why this happened... When I sprayed it on my wrist, I went back in 1989 when I was a child. I was at hospital very far from home, I had pain after my leg surgery, I was already sick of that hospital food, it was raining or snowing all the time, I desired to go home, but I couldn't. And then one of nurses gave me that fruit. In 1989, Latvia was in the Soviet Union, there were no exotic fruits. You couldn't just like that walk in a shop and buy them. Even an orange was a miracle then. I held the fruit in my hands, smelled it, admired and couldn't believe how lucky I was. That was a kumquat. Then I started to peel, and I remember this aroma - fresh, a bit bitter, juicy and so uplifting. The scent of life, my ray of light in that awful place. And the opening of this perfume is exactly that aroma! I got tears in my eyes, those memories came back! The sales assistant even asked me if I was OK. Of course, I bought it. Gave all my money, for it's not just a perfume for me. Memories, the kindness of that nurse, those times. The jasmine is present, pure, covered in rain drops. The mint adds some green vibe, makes the perfume more sparkling and fresh. Fresh, slightly bitter, very realistic, uplifting and calming. Simple, but exquisite, very feminine, slightly shy. The aristocracy hidden in a sophisticated simplicity. A real reflection of the secret garden.

I truly admire the fragranticans who are so well versed with scents that they can tell different notes, how well something is blended and how elegant a perfume is - and most of the time how eloquently they can put this into words. I can't. So here's my unrefined commoner's take on this. I love this. This reminds me a lot of D&G's Light Blue and Jo Malone's Wood Sage & Sea Salt. I'm not entirely surprised they're not listed in the "This scent reminds me of..."; that's probably due to the aforementioned unsophisticated nose of mine, i.e. "floral citrus? = smells like Light Blue". But I find this prettier than Light Blue. It lacks the woodsy note and the drydown is a lot more floral in this while the citrus remains at the forefront while I always felt that in Light Blue it (unfortunately) takes a backseat rather quickly. I also find Monsieur Li more refined, more elegant smelling somehow, like a polished version of Light Blue. It's very smooth with its citrus managing a beautiful balancing act between sweet and acidic. It might be the floral note that ensures this quality. I'm not usually a fan of jasmine but in here, it's a very well executed support for the citrus so it can shine at its most gorgeous and pleasing. It's just a beautiful, airy fresh scent perfect for warm weather. Unoffensive and stays close to you. I do find it lasts pretty well for an EdT, especially one from the Jardin line whose longevity is somewhat infamous for being not great.