Un Jardin Apres la Mousson

The garden after the monsoon, to strictly translate it. Many places experience monsoons, most notably in South Asia where the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean collide. Some areas in Central America experience it too, like Western Mexico, but also Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, and even Arizona and New Mexico. Africa as well, just south of the Sahara Desert. Having never experienced a monsoon myself I don't know how it shifts the landscape from an olfactive sense, and I suppose that would depend on the specific geographic area. Keeping this ignorance in mind, I still have to say that nothing about this perfume conjures images of torrential downpours or the aftermath. You would expect a very wet fragrance, much in the way Apres L'Ondee legendarily presents the sensation. While this does feel a bit "wet," it's more on the side of damp. To me this is a petrichor scent: green, aromatic, and earthy, like damp black forest soil has just been turned over in front of your face by a big shovel. There is a ginger, cardamom, and coriander accord at the top during the first few minutes that sort of calls India to mind, or somewhere in South Asia, but that association feels weak and timid. After that there is definitely a smell of freshly cut tomato stems - something Hermes tends to like quite a bit in their summer freshies; one more attempt to push the South Asian vibe. But what shines through in this perfume is the damp vetiver that sits at the base. It's a lovely vetiver. It is a bit salty, but not at all swampy; it is wet, yes, but it's aromatically wet, like you are smelling water infused with vetiver rather than freshly-cut salty and/or swampy vetiver (and certainly not dried, woody, or resinous/incense-like vetiver). Vetiver is certainly very South Asian, but in this presentation it is not a South Asian vetiver. It is extremely pleasantly smooth and clean... which sort of doesn't mesh with the overall creative direction of the perfume, presumably to smell like somewhere in South Asia after it has been ravaged by a downpour. Monsoons are big, destructive, and inundating with water, destroying many things in its path through floods and winds, turning over earth and washing it away like a broom at some dust. Un Jardin Apres La Mousson doesn't go there at all. This doesn't smell big, it doesn't smell destructive, it doesn't smell soaking wet, it doesn't smell messy and dirty like areas just hit by monsoons would; it's very clean, very presentable, very agreeable, like you've walked out into a beautiful South Asian herb and spice garden after a pleasant rain shower, bending down to the garden bed to get a whiff of the very happy plants that just got a pleasant drink. In a monsoon the plants or garden bed likely wouldn't be there still. All of this gets to a very simple, if trivial point, which is that this perfume is either misnamed or did not deliver on its creative mandate. I want to set aside this point for a minute because looking at the bigger picture of this perfume, it is indeed a trivial point: this perfume is gorgeous. As a clean and fresh summer scent it is very original with its presentation of South Asian spices, tomato, and vetiver accords. I don't think I've smelled a perfume quite like this before. Those accords are a bit challenging, but in a very pleasant, very pleasing and relaxing way. Un Jardin Apres La Mousson is expertly blended, the materials are of superb quality and they sing in perfect volumes and harmony together. Whatever the imagery this perfume is supposed to conjure I guess is up for debate, but, honestly, it's not a debate I'm particularly interested in because this perfume is so good it doesn't really matter.

UPDATE I finally caved in and got myself this one and I don't regret it at all! However, it has somehow morphed into something that offers more than just the ginger-dry notes I remembered from the last time I tried it. If the previous impression I got was more like a very short story, the new impression feels more like a long travel journal. On my skin, it starts off warm and gingery as before, but instead of offering a dry and spicy drydown, Un Jardin Après La Mousson now offers dewy, greener notes. Think of garden after rain: moist, cool, somewhat tainted with that distinct after-rain smell but refreshing all the same. After a while, I could detect melon (or cucumber?) notes frequently mentioned by others. The middle notes are spicy but mixed with the melony notes, they offer a very pleasant and grounded olfactory journey. The drydown remains green and moist with sweet undertones but thankfully Après La Mousson never turns cloying even in hot weather. From top to bottom, the fresh garden-after-rain scent is never overwhelming and instead it stays fresh all the way: this may be due to the softness of Après La Mousson as I found that compared to its sisters, this cool spicy falls on the softer scale. Sillage is acceptable--if you want to increase sillage try spraying it near/on your hair--and longevity isn't too shabby either. I went to town on this and sprayed it liberally (about ten sprays around the neck and on hair) and I found that the gentle dewy-ginger smell radiates within arm's length. Overall, Après La Mousson has really grown on me and within the first few days of making it my vanity staple I've received some compliments about how refreshing and wonderful it smells. Granted, it's not a head-turning type of scent but that's how Après La Mousson works: it's shy, earthy and gentle. It's not flashy. It's not gorgeous, even. It's beautiful, and very breathtaking in the most austere ways possible. It's not for everyone, but to know it is to love it. New rating: 9.5/10 -- Like its sisters, Un Jardin Après la Mousson is eclectic and intriguing. All perfumes in the Un Jardin series are excellent, but Sur Le Nil and Sur Le Toit are so similar they could be twins, and Un Jardin en Méditerranée has a very strong personality that must be handled with care. This one, however, is the mellower sister of Méditerranée. Its opening is like a loud but harmonious orchestra: bright, though not too bold, and exquisitely balanced. It's like love at first sight. Après la Mousson dries down into something dry, though, and quickly loses its sillage. I can definitely smell ginger all the way, and the spices are more pronounced as it dries--the sweeter notes fading away as quickly as a short summer rain. Overall, I adore this and I wish I had bought this instead of Méditerranée. Un Jardin en Méditerranée has too much sass for me, whilst this one is more agreeable and delicate. If you love spices, you'll love this. I always associate spicy scents with fall or winter because the ones I like tend to smell heavy and rich (think Opium/Mitsouko), so finding one that works in spring/summer is like excavating a rare gem. Rating: 8.5/10

A sweet spicy perfume but not warm. Cardamom and ginger usually can't be cold but here they are! Cold like mint or melon. Mr. Ellena wanted to make a perfume with the smell of Indian jungles after monsoon rain and he used mineral watery notes beside vetiver to do it. Ginger and cardamom make it fresh and sweet and have an important role in our perfume. Also I can feel black pepper in this aroma. It's a good idea for having a good day in summer. . تصور اینکه مخلوط هل و زنجبیل بتونه یک رایحه ی خنک و تابستانی بسازه سخته اما در عطر ان ژاغدن اپغ لا موسون این معجزه با دستان هنرمند جناب النا اتفاق افتاده. . . "اپغ لا موسون" به معنی: "پس از باران های موسمی" قصد داره فضای جنگل های کرالای هند بعد از بارش های موسمی رو ترسیم کنه. این هدف با درهم آمیختن نت آب، و کمی وتیورِ خیس و خاکی محقق میشه. فلفل سیاه هم برای قدرت بخشی به بوی خاک باران خورده در عطر، از حس زمینی و خنک و کمی فلفل دلمه ای مانندش مایه میگذاره. . هل و زنجبیل در این کار به زیباترین و پالایش شده ترین شکل ممکن ارائه شدن. اینجا از گرما و سنگینیشون خبری نیست. از هل فقط شیرینی مطبوعِ ادویه ایش قابل لمسه. حرارت و گزندگی زنجبیل هم تحت الشعاعِ نَم و سرمای نت های ابری و بارانی قرار گرفته. اما در عین حال این دو ادویه به صورت بسیار برجسته با کیفیت خوبی در عطر محسوس هستن. عطر رو تند و فرِش میکنن و انتظار مخاطب از فضای شرقی که با توجه به طرح جعبه و توضیحات جانبی ایجاد شده رو برآورده میکنن. اما خب شرقیِ سرد! . . کلیت رایحه ادویه ای، خنک و شیرینه. خنکای عطر بوی طالبی نعنا مانندی داره. به من حس جویدن همزمان آدامس نعنا و طالبی رو میده. حالت نمناک و باران خورده، تمام عطر رو در برگرفته و تجربه جالبی برای کسانی هست که دنبال بوی باران در عطرها میگردن. برای فصول گرم مناسبه و فضای متفاوتی از روایح خنک رو در اختیار شما قرار میده که در عطرهای دیزاینریِ تابستانی، زیاد باهاش مواجه نمیشید.

What a surprise! The moment I sniffed it I knew this, but it took a few hours untill I realized what it was - "Nu" from Yves Saint Laurent. They do have a lot of notes in common, cardamom being the most prominent. Also black pepper, bergamot and vetiver are in common. I am even pretty sure that NU used to have ginger in the eu de toilette making it very fresh. The only note they dont share is the strange, but not unwelcome; cucumbery/melonlike heavy wetness. It even suits this disguised NU with a little twist in this direction. First out the bottle is a blast of the cardamom (something incense like too?), then after a short while comes fresh black pepper. The fresh wet cucumber/melon thing is quite prominent for the better part of an hour, but cardamom and pepper still lingers in the background. Then it becomes "Aqva Divina" from Bvlgary only without the creamyness from the beeswax (it is more green here). Dry out comes in 3-4 hours and is a hint of ambroxan and vetiver that creates the salty ocean (very subtle now). It really is a chameleon that changes all the time, nothing remotely linear about this one. However if you dislike very spicy og incense rich scents you should try it first. Edit: This has SO many secrets. Today it was a little cold and after 2 reappliances, it smelled different all of a sudden. A slight trail of powdery bourbon vanilla emerged. Not sweet but very powdery and discreet.A little like the powdery scent "Habanita" from Molinard. What a chameleon this is.

During my first visit to the Hermes shop, my initial impression was, "Hmm, nothing particularly special, it's quite fresh, but I need more floral notes." However, as I decided to purchase their 15ml set, which I ended up with La Mousson, Terre EDT, H24, and L'ombre, along with an additional 30ml of La Lagune (I truly adore the floral essence in La Lagune). Fast forward a month later, before bedtime, I decided to apply La Mousson, and to my surprise, I fell in love with it. I could distinctly perceive the scents of ginger, pepper, and cardamom, which I hold in high regard. It was akin to sitting in a rainforest by a tranquil lake during cool weather. The fragrance resembled a refreshing, beautiful, and gorgeous blend, providing a soothing aroma that resonated deeply with me. PS: I live in Jakarta, Indonesia and the scents makes me feel fresh and cool and calm at the same time... so I don't know how it would smell on the other country Update 22/08/2024 For me, this is the best scent in my Hermes collection. I truly adore it; it smells like I'm by a crystal-clear river, surrounded by lush green grass and a garden of ginger plants stretching along the riverbank on a cool, beautiful afternoon after the rain.