Terre d'Hermès is a fragrance launched by French luxury brand

Hermès Hermès International S.A. ( , ) is a French Luxury goods, luxury fashion house established in 1837. It specializes in leather goods, silk goods, lifestyle accessories, home furnishings, perfumery, jewelry, watches and ready-to-wear. Since the ...

in March 2006. It was created by

Jean-Claude Ellena Jean-Claude Ellena (born 1947) is a French perfumer and writer. He served as the in-house perfumer at Hermes from 2004 to 2016, prior to the appointment of incumbent Christine Nagel. He has collaborated with other major brands such as Van Cle ...

, who was the exclusive in-house perfumier of Hermès.

Overview

Jean Claude Ellena, who was formerly the master perfumier for Hermès, claims that his inspiration for Terre d'Hermès was French author

Jean Giono Jean Giono (30 March 1895 – 8 October 1970) was a French writer who wrote works of fiction mostly set in the Provence region of France. First period Jean Giono was born to a family of modest means, his father a cobbler of Piedmontese descent a ...

, who, Ellena claims "He is a man who loves the richness of nature". As a result of this, many of the scents found within the fragrance are vegetal and mineral based, including

Cedar Cedar may refer to: Trees and plants *''Cedrus'', common English name cedar, an Old-World genus of coniferous trees in the plant family Pinaceae * Cedar (plant), a list of trees and plants known as cedar Places United States * Cedar, Arizona ...

Patchouli Patchouli (also spelled patchouly or pachouli; ; '' Pogostemon cablin'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Lamiaceae, commonly called the mint or deadnettle family. The plant grows as a bushy perennial herb, with erect stems reachin ...

and

Vetiver ''Chrysopogon zizanioides'', commonly known as vetiver and khus, is a perennial bunchgrass of the family Poaceae. Vetiver is most closely related to sorghum while sharing many morphological characteristics with other fragrant grasses, such as ...

. Ellena would also state that he decided not to use any

Musk Musk is a class of aromatic substances commonly used as base notes in perfumery. They include glandular secretions from animals such as the musk deer, numerous plants emitting similar fragrances, and artificial substances with similar odors. ' ...

notes within the fragrance, as "Musk creates a mask on the skin", stating that his reasoning for not including this mask was to create a fragrance which was unique to each wearer.

Variations

Originally released as an Eau de Toilette, Terre d'Hermès was reinterpreted as a Pure Parfum which was released in 2009, this was subsequently followed by a Tres Fraiche version 2014. In 2018, a new variation called Eau Intense Vétiver, created by Christine Nagel was released, and was described as being fresher than the original. Terre d'Hermès Eau Givrée Eau de Parfum was released in 2022 with main notes such as citron, timut pepper and juniper berries. The newest one is Terre d'Hermes Eau de Parfum Intense, released in 2025. Top notes are Bergamot and Black Pepper; middle notes are Coffee and Licorice; base notes are Woody Notes, Lava and Stone. The original Terre d'Hermès and the Parfum versions were designed by Jean-Claude Ellena, and the rest were designed by Christine Nagel.

Scent

Terre d'Hermès is a fruity-spicy-woody fragrance, meaning it features fruity top notes, in this case

Orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

and

Grapefruit The grapefruit (''Citrus'' × ''paradisi'') is a subtropical citrus tree known for its relatively large, sour to semi-sweet, somewhat bitter fruit. The flesh of the fruit is segmented and varies in color from pale yellow to dark red. Grapefru ...

, its middle or heart notes are of

pepper Pepper(s) may refer to: Food and spice * Piperaceae or the pepper family, a large family of flowering plants ** Black pepper ** Long pepper ** Kampot pepper * ''Capsicum'' or pepper, a genus of flowering plants in the nightshade family Solanacea ...

and its woody base notes, include cedar, patchouli and vetiver.

Reviews

Terre d'Hermès garnered generally favorable reviews from critics and the general public alike. The eau de toilette has a rating of 4 out of 5 stars on the fragrance website

Basenotes Basenotes is a United Kingdom-based online fragrance resource which includes a fragrance database, message boards and editorial. The site was launched in August 2000 by Grant Osborne as an information site for men's fragrance and grooming. In 20 ...

based on an average of over 2000 votes, whilst the pure parfum distillation has a rating of 4.5 stars out of 5 across an average of 316 votes.

Luca Turin Luca Turin (born 20 November 1953) is a biophysicist and writer with a long-standing interest in bioelectronics, the sense of smell, perfumery, and the fragrance industry. Early life and education Turin was born in Beirut, Lebanon on 20 November ...

rated it three out of five stars.

Awards

Terre d'Hermès won the Men's Fragrance of the Year - Luxe award at the 2007 FiFi Awards, and also won Best Classic (Men's) Fragrance for 2012 from Basenotes. Terre d'Hermès won a variety of awards from GQ magazine, including 'Launch of the decade' and the Readers Favourite fragrance in 2009. It was named Best Classic Fragrance from

ShortList A short list or shortlist is a list of candidates for a job, prize, award, political position, etc., that has been reduced from a longer list of candidates (sometimes via intermediate lists known as "long lists"). The length of short lists varie ...

magazine.

References

External links

Terre d'Hermès
at

Terre d'Hermès
at Fragrantica
Terre d'Hermès
at Parfumo {{DEFAULTSORT:Terre d'Hermes Perfumes Products introduced in 2006 Perfumes by Jean-Claude Ellena 21st-century perfumes Hermès