Jack & Hill: A Beauty Blog - make-up, cosmetics, perfume, and the substance of style

Terre d'Hermès wins big

I'm pleased to see that my beloved Terre d'Hermès won the Best New Prestige Male Fragrance award last night in London. Nadine says it is:

surely the most wonderful men’s fragrance to be formulated for years.

It's great on women, too (and I'm not the only one who thinks so; the guys on the floor at Harvey Nichols told me that they get more women buying this for themselves than for men). It's a real comfort fragrance for me, one I spritz on myself if I'm cold and lonely. I don't think Antoine's ever worn it even once. Despite its global popularity, it's all mine - or so I like to pretend.

Terre d'Hermès redux

Yesterday was crazy, what with work, cooking for our 4th of July party, a doctor's appointment, and getting my favourite Blink Eyebrow Bar artist, Hemini Patel, to sort me out. She did another amazing job, and I left with a complimentary Blink eyebrow pencil in a shade called Indian Chocolate (a much better colour match for me than the one I had been using). But I still thought to myself, "Self, you've been working hard. It's hot outside. You have certainly earned a treat." All this to say that I broke down and bought a bottle of Terre d'Hermès.

The Harvey Nichols fragrance dude who sold it to me said that this decidedly male fragrance has been more popular with women than with men. I can only guess as to whether these women are buying it for men or for themselves, but as I told myself when trying to justify the purchase, it is something a couple can share and delight in with one another, and as such is not an indulgence but a highly sensible acquisition, if not downright frugal. (The smell lasts and lasts and lasts, by the way, which makes it even better value. Loving it.)

Terre d'Hermès: Quickie Review

Shopping with Claire, my boyfriend's mother, I sprayed some Terre d'Hermès on myself. (The internal debate I have over which fragrance to sample usually drags on far too long, so I'm trying to choose within thirty seconds now. It's not as easy as it sounds.) I didn't realise then that it was a men's fragrance; when I asked Claire what she thought of it, she replied, "No. Too sweet." I respectfully disagree.

Later on in our shopping trip, we wandered into another department store's fragrance floor, and I made a beeline for the Terre d'Hermès. "You do know that's a men's scent...?" the assistant asked politely. "Yeah," I lied. Don't ask me why I didn't tell the truth, but I didn't, and I felt bad about it but didn't want to get into a moral discussion with a Fenwick shopgirl. I'm evil.

So it's a men's fragrance, but a musk-free one, and I'm kind of wild about it now. According to Fashiontribes.com, Terre d'Hermès includes Atlas cedar, grapefruit, gunflint, pepper, vetiver, baies roses, and...patchouli. Oh dear.

The end justifies the means, though, and I'll be holding my cami up to my nose for the rest of today to bring back the scent. Two thumbs up.