Fragrance Notes
Le Jardin de Monsieur Li
The Jardin series is the part of the Hermès catalogue people collect, and Hermès Le Jardin de Monsieur Li Eau de Toilette is among the sharpest entries in it. Jean-Claude Ellena composed it in 2015, and the recorded materials are kumquat, bergamot and sambac jasmine. Kumquat is the unusual one and the reason to try this: it is more rind than flesh, bitter and bright at once, and it has a greenness that ordinary citrus lacks. Bergamot sits alongside it, sharp with a bitter edge of its own, keeping the opening crisp. Sambac jasmine arrives underneath, the richer sort of jasmine, and it softens the citrus without sweetening it much. The result is cool and clean, closer to water and leaves than to fruit.
Ellena built his reputation on exactly this kind of restraint, and the perfume shows it. There is very little here and it is arranged so that nothing crowds anything else, which is a harder thing to do than piling material on top of material. Three entries on the note row, and none of them wasted. Toilette strength is right for it. This is a perfume for heat, for daylight and for the first warm weeks of the year, and it is meant to be applied generously and reapplied rather than hoarded. It stays close after an hour or so and lasts a moderate rather than a long time, which is the usual trade for something this transparent. It reads as unisex.
The house behind it was founded in 1837 in Paris by the harness maker Thierry Hermès and has occupied 24 Faubourg Saint-Honoré since 1880. Perfume has been part of its business since 1951, and the Jardin series is one of the lines it keeps adding to.
Please note: images are a guide only. Packaging and bottle design may occasionally differ from those shown due to manufacturer updates or promotions.
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