Un Jardin en Méditerranée 
Hermès (2003)

I think this is a good example of how different we all are. I like fragrances that smell pretty, or no more than moderately unusual. This would suit either someone who loves the smell of figs, or who prefers a scent that is more challenging. Or possibly just somebody who loves the feeling of smug superiority when people of conventional tastes look horrified and edge away from them when they catch a whiff of what they're wearing.

Alchymia. Perfumare. Magnum Opus.

Hermès’s Jardins, or an olfactory masochism in a bottle

I rarely venture into the world of mainstream/designer perfumery and I usually get punished for that. This was no exception. Only with a vengeance.

I find the concept of a series of Perfume Gardens (“Jardins”) fascinating and deeply enticing and, despite my grounded suspicion towards mainstream/designer perfumery, I first sampled Jean-Claude Ellena’s take at them some years ago. The result then was disappointing. Recently I decided to have another go at them. To no avail.

All of the Jardin perfumes share an inherent aromatic disharmony and lack of character, direction, and cohesion, which at the end makes their existence pointless. There is a crude, uninspired and crafty attempt to project something elaborate, even sophisticated, while the means to create this illusion are cheap and disingenuous. The Jardin series is the same skeleton disguised and garlanded with different garments and twists. If one doesn’t have much experience, it is easy to think that more effort has been put into these perfumes – not to make them great, but to hide their simplistic, technical and soulless essence. However, to me, Hermès and Jean-Claude Ellena are not even trying that hard to hide it. It is not even a mockery with the perfume lover. It is a sheer commercial act aimed at the uncritical and, dare I say – self-disrespecting – clientele. It pains and saddens me to see how a talent as awesome as Ellena’s has been sacrificed at the altar of the mediocrity and meaninglessness of modern lifestyles. One can only imagine what masterpieces he could have created under different and more – and I will be direct here – spiritual conditions.

"Un Jardin en Méditerranée" specifically starts with a cloudy semblance of a symbolic Mediterranean Garden and the idea of such, which haunts the olfactory heart and dreams of so many of us. Few minutes into the experience, on my skin, this pale semblance of a Mediterranean Garden turned into strange bitter and dirty, asphalt-like smell. Definitely untypical, but still on the brink of salvation, for lovers of Annick Goutal’s "Ambre Fetiche", for instance. And if your Mediterranean Garden has a lot of olive trees, this could still work, under the condition that it would still develop into a mellower and nobler scent later. Far from it, another few minutes into the experience, the real face and monstrosity of the concoction showed its face. A mishmash, a cacophony, an olfactory salad of rotten and decaying fruits and vegetables. And it is sticky. And it is persistent. And to add insult to injury – hard to remove despite deliberate efforts under the kitchen sink. With a vengeance.

Hermès, Un Jardin en Méditerranée:
Composition: 4/10
Complexity: 5/10
Development: 5/10
Naturality: Come on… (3/10)