Hermes Parfum des Merveilles

Hermès launched Eau des Merveilles in 2004. For years I have loved, or I should say I thought I loved Eau des Merveilles, but this was in theory. The truth is, I never, ever (ever!) wear the stuff. Honestly, all this time I thought I loved EdM but what I enjoy is the idea of it, not wearing it. The thing is, I still think Eau des Merveilles is wonderfully original and phenomenal in its ability to capture the sensation of a day at the beach. It is such an amazing rendition of ambergris; I literally feel as if I’ve been at the beach all day, slightly salty, sweaty, earthy smelling skin. My hair and bathing suit filled with bits of sand. You know that feeling when you’ve sunned and funned all day and you’re sleepy and content on the drive home but the thing you want to do most in the whole world is take a shower? I mean walk in the door and get into a shower pronto? This is why I never wear Eau des Merveilles; it makes me feel gritty and dirty and salty and I Really want to wash the stuff off ASAP. So, for several years, when I’ve had the desire to wear Eau des Merveilles, I have actually worn Elixir des Merveilles instead. Elixir is sweeter and basically a gourmand version of EdM and manages to wear like a perfume on me instead of gritty, salty, screaming-to-be-bathed skin. Maybe there’s a bit childhood pathology in my desire to wash EdM off immediately. When I was a little kid, my grandmother would take me to the beach and we would stay All Day – I mean from 9AM to sundown. By the end of the day I wanted to be home and clean so bad I could have cried. Plus, you might imagine I suffered a good deal of sunburns from these all day outings, which I usually made worse with the application of baby oil (it was late 70's-early 80’s, we didn’t know about skin cancer yet).

From the back of the closet: Youth Dew, Eau des Merveilles and Anne Pliska

The quest continues, maybe I should label this as a series. Today I decided to wear some more forgotten gems, oldies but goodies, which are in the back of my closet. During the day I wore Estee Lauder’s Youth Dew (!) and this evening I changed into Hermes Eau des Merveilles on one arm and Anne Pliska on the other.

First, I love Youth Dew (there I said it!). The first 15 minutes are “old classic aka little old lady” but once the fragrance settles and blends into my skin I love it. Youth Dew isn’t a sweet little old lady but one with a Harley in her garage. While Youth Dew has a sort of “dated” aroma it’s also aggressive and edgy. I’m a firm believer that anyone can wear any fragrance especially if they toss aside preconceived notions and simply allow the scent to meld with their own essence. On me, Youth Dew is so spicy it growls.

Youth Dew notes: spicy notes, orange, bergamot, peach, aldehydes, clove, rose, ylang-ylang, cinnamon, orchid, amber, tolu, patchouli, benzoin, and vanilla.

In the evening I wore Hermes Eau des Merveilles and Anné Pliska edp. I’ll start with Hermes. I chose Hermes EdM because a commenter mentioned it the other day after I reviewed Bvlgari Black. Hermes EdM is a gorgeous fragrance and while I would always include it on my “top perfumes” list I just never wear it. It seems to be a novelty for me, something I love in theory but never get around to wearing. Well, tonight I wore it. I really do love this salty, woody, ambergris aroma. EdM takes me away (I think of the commercial “Calgon…take me away”) to a beach on a cool breezy day. As a rule I love salty scents and the combination of salt with woods, amber and pepper are simply dreamy. Note to self: Wear Hermes Eau des Merveilles more often!

Hermes Eau des Merveilles notes: elemi, bitter orange, Italian lemon, Indonesian pepper, pink pepper, ambergris accord, oak, cedar, vetiver, balsam of Peru and tears of Siam

The last fragrance of the day is Anné Pliska edp. I used to like this but things have definitely changed. I’m not enjoying Anné Pliska at all. I love amber but tonight Anné Pliska is smelling like an orange creamsicle – yuck. There was a time when I thought
Anné Pliska was the superior ambery oriental to CK Obsession and a nice modern interpretation of Shalimar. Now I think Obsession is easily better than Anné Pliska and Shalimar will always be the gold standard in the amber/citrus arena. Bleck – it really does smell like an exact fragrant replica of an orange creamsicle…. I need to scrub my arm and apply Hermes EdM to both.

Anné Pliska notes: Bergamot, amber, patchouli, geranium, musk, vanilla