Ombre de Hyacinth

Being a huge fan of Hermes Eau de Gentiane and Grey Flannel, I really wanted to buy this as I was sure I'd love it based on the notes and the reviews here. I'm a sucker for natural scents and fragrances that emulate fresh vegetation, plants, woods or flowers. Most scents marketed to men are too harsh or smell like they were made for hitting a nightclub. Nothing necessarily wrong with that, its not my first preference for an everyday cologne. I've got to be able to live with a scent. I finally tried it and the first impression I got was Ombre de Hyacinth could almost be from the Chloe line (especially Chloe Love) as it has a clean effervescent flowery vibe to it. Also, I get the Grey Flannel references, as they have a lot in common. If you took out the oakmoss in GF and replaced it with a hefty dose of natural purple lilac type notes, you'd pretty much have Ombre de Hyacinth. It's clean and flowery that is sweet and bitter green, but slightly veers more toward the sweet side. It's light but it projects like crazy, I smell it on me all day when I wear it. The dry down is very nice; soft, clean and soapy. Overall it's very unisex, and very very natural smelling. Ombre de Hyacinth is strictly a daytime scent. If I were all dressed up for a night out, I probably wouldn't reach for this. But it's the go to scent for brunch, a matinee, or a wedding. I also think it's a perfect scent for the workplace, for a man or woman. I only wish it was a little woodier and less flowery. But layered with Grey Flannel or better yet, Tom Ford Oud Wood, and this becomes a masterpiece. Too bad it's discontinued. Its a great fragrance.

I wore OMBRÉ DE HYACINTH today to the doctor's office. I, alone, was in the waiting room with my husband, who wears no cologne. A group of ladies walked in and immediately one announced, "Someone smells fabulous in here!" and another lady immediately agreed, "Oh, yes! What a nice perfume!". They had to be talking about me because, well, I smelled fabulous!! The sillage on this frag is a monster and the longevity approaches 5+ hours. This is a lovely, clean, green perfume where the hyacinth is the stand out star. This fresh flower is complimented beautifully by the violet leaf, pink pepper, benzoin and galbanum. The musk lends to the freshness of this frag and creates a soapy facet in combination with the other notes. This perfume has a wonderful calming effect. Which is why I chose to wear it to the doctor (I mean, who likes going to the doctor?). This is a perfect summer and spring scent that I would highly recommend when your looking to just "feel good".

I was to be honest really afraid that this would be a rather dull giant soapiness. If i had to rely on some bloggers this would be a huge misser but i am so glad i tested it on my own skin. And woow, this perfume develops in all its glory : i get a very dark/green opening, earthy bitter from the galbanum and then the magic starts : beautiful smoky floral, consisted of violet leaf, magnolia, olibanum and hyacinth. It even changes into a warmer creamy drydown due to jasmine, benzoin and musk. Some bloggers consuder it a very restrained floral, it is indeed not an outgoing loud Diva shouting for instant attention. I truely love this one and unfortunately this one is discontinued but since i have that huge decanter bottle i think i can enjoy it for a century..

Well, I love this. Its a clean, lovely, nice floral, and yes, very similar to, bur for me is better than, Bas de Soie, which is "sharper". Another contender for a green hyacinth scent was Eau de Euskadi, which also has more soapy sharpness. Of the three I prefer the Ombre de hyacinth, and I do not get ANY "cheap aftershave" vibe that other reviews mention. I do find this interesting, as that overly barbershoppy fougere category really bothers me, and since I think I am sensitive to it, the LACK of it in this one is delightful. For reference, I enjoy other greens scents like No 19 and Very Boheme, but not the more vintagy ones like Eau de Soir.

This fragrance is pretty bizarre, but in a good way. I initially trailed this on my skin and my clothing and instantly thought, nope its too much of a day time perfume for a female. However, as it died down I could not stop thinking of how amazing it was - so good. Its very earthy, like flowers, soil and soap - but damn good, suited to country blokes like myself whom now live in the city. Another thing was all of my male housemates commented on how good i smelled - they are all the super-masculine "jock" type if we must stereotype - if they knew that it was essentially a flower perfume they would have been shocked.